Forum Post: Answer to "protesors are wearing designer jeans, using iphones" etc
Posted 13 years ago on Oct. 11, 2011, 5:12 p.m. EST by jjjwithyou
(0)
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
I keep hearing the press question the integrity of protestors if they happen to be using a computer or wearing a designer label etc. When questioned about this - one protestor replied "good point". It's not really a good point at all. I don't think anyone is asking that corporations dissappear. I don't think the point is to not ever consume a product. I don't think all protestors are absolute minimalists looking to live in a barter society or commune (although this should be explored :)) Anyway, if it comes up again, the answer should be along the lines of - this protest is not about what we consume - it's about corporations receiving bail outs while americans lose their homes, the lack of trickle down of stimulus and bail out money, the lack of jobs being created here so we CAN consume and the fact that our elected officials are the puppets of corporations and the greed of those who run them - in particularly the entire financial industry which has done extraordinarily well at the cost of the 99%. The oil industry etc. I don't think owning an iphone is hypocritcal and it's not a good point to say that it is.
They want to continue using the drug but without the consequences or destructive symptoms. Junkies protesting for cheaper drugs and blaming the dealer for their suffering.
I agree that there are many excesses but some of you guys seem fairly naive about how the world works and in particular about business/finance. You really need to center in on exactly what you're targeting as problems.
How do you think Apple or other companies finance their businesses so that you have these products to buy? Where do you think that the funding for the bonds that build that factory or cool new bike trail come from? How is a company supposed to ensure that they have adequate supply of cotton to make the denim for those jeans and transport if they can't contract for future supply/delivery and hedge against that investment? All of that relies on capital markets and "Wall Street."
Even if you want to focus in on bail-outs, for example, most of the GM bail-out went to pay union bond holders so that their pension plans didn't default. Rather that we didn't do that? OK by me but there are some fairly serious consequences. (And again, no defense for AIG guys paying big bonuses, etc. and shit like that.)
The world's a lot more complicated place than most here seem to consider.
(Also, you have to admit that seeing somebody wearing a $200 pair of organic raw denim jeans and streaming video on a smartphone with a $70/month unlimited data/text plan looks kinda sketchy when they're complaining about not being able to pay their bills. lol)
I agree, we are not complaining primarily about the clothing or the phone industry(although we are complaining about some aspects), we are complaining about the financial industry and business interests utter domination of our government.