Forum Post: I'm not a hippie
Posted 13 years ago on Oct. 6, 2011, 12:26 a.m. EST by anygirl
(41)
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
I am not dirty. I am employed. I am not a democrat. I am not against capitalism. I am against illegal immigration. I am against corporations buying our politicians. I am for accountability of Wall Street. I am for the severing of the relationship between our politicians and corporations. I am for single-payer health care. I am against "Obamacare". I am for reform. I am against religion. I am for freedom to choose to be deluded by religion. I am 25K in debt from student loans. I am not rich- I don't have enough money for food this week. I am not a label and cannot be categorized into a neat box so stop pretending you know who I am, you media twits.
Bravo, and to the comments too.
You must realize that they will try to define you as the most ridiculous bogeyman they can so they can scare their audiences and then relieve that fear by ridiculing you.
It means you're hitting a nerve. Keep it up. NEVER expect fair treatment by the press. Gauge your success by how BADLY they misrepresent you.
Take it from an early Tea Partier. Remember us, the NeoNazi racists? Haha! The thing is, they think we should beg for our rights. But our rights are ours, we always had them, they cannot be granted or taken away, they can only be violated or respected. It is up to US to seize them, exercise them, and not allow anyone to presume to grant or deny 'permission'.
Thanks for all you do in support of our freedom.
You're not "deluded" by religion. You are offensive. You have no money for food. No loaves and fishes for you then.
I am sorry you are offended. I am offended by most religious beliefs but I will fight for everyone's right to hold those beliefs. People can believe whatever they want, but I don't want your beliefs forced upon me and I don't want my freedoms or choices limited because of what you choose to believe. Beliefs are opinions- not facts, and those who think that their beliefs are truth and the only truth are deluded.
And how very "religious" of you to deny food to someone (in virtual theory) because they don't believe what you do. I don't know if by not believing in god/s that is a kind of belief system, but if it is, I am proud that my belief system dictates that I would give food to someone who was hungry no matter what they believed.
Thank you for putting it that way. A lot has to be done to make people realize that their perception of the movement is absolutely prejudicial in nature. You have your morals and I have to say that defines you as a person to respect.
The beauty of my point was that you don't believe in religion, there for the story of the loaves and fishes would not exist to you. Sorry I shouldn't have used a reference from a work that you wouldn't have read. Your delusion comment implies your beliefs onto others in a way more sinister than actually forcing a point. Un religious people seem to do that, I've never understood why. Believe whatever you want that's fine, but no sneaky remarks either :)
Jesus didn't preach religion, people made religion. He wants everyone to eat, he doesn't restrict anyone from eating the fish and bread, Jesus wants us to occupy wall street!
Great post. We need to stand up as individuals to the media and prove we are not pot smoking hippie socialists. I am 43 with a bachelors degree working as a web developer. I have a family and a house. I recently lost my job with one of the largest banks because they moved my position to Mexico and India. I was lucky enough to find another job quickly which I had to take a $15K pay cut to get.
I am part of the 99%, and I demand change.
I'm unemployed and will not be discounted for being so
Thank you.
Thank you.
I am for medicare for all. Universal healthcare.
Who pays for it?
Tax payers. Just like every other civilized country in the world.
Great post!
(Btw, I've been going to OWS every day after work for the past 3 days and intend to keep coming. Even if it's just for a free apple. :)
Can we put together a wall of simple statements such as that, from various protesters, just to give people taking a quick peek in at us from their busy lives a good sense of the diversity in beliefs associated with the movement?
we should flood news media with these statements
I think we should. I was going through these things in my head today and I thought, why do the media keep portraying the protesters as young, clueless, hippies who don't want to work and who don't know understand the issues? When I look around, I don't see mostly young people and that was the first thing that really annoyed me. Then I went through their lists and thought, I'm not these things and it would surprise much of the media pundits to know some of the things I AM so that's why I wrote this. Put that in your media wheel and spin it! Lol!
I don't know the first thing about where to create such a page or how to do it, but I think it should be no more than 5 or 6 concise lines about your background, and with one line about supporting the movement in every one of them. See if we can contact the site administrators and have them set something like this up (maybe in survey format?).
Oh, I thought you meant at the protest. Like creating a rolling scroll of sorts. People can come up and write one thing they are not that the media has characterized them as being and one thing they are which the media has not mentioned.
I want something that is the first thing the media sees when they investigate who is protesting.
!!! :)
That's awesome! Thanks so much for speakin' loud and proud!
Now this is a good way to get a voice out.
I am no Hippie, I am not a democrat, I am not against democracy or capitalism, I am a legal immigrant who believes that something needs to be done about illegal immigration, I am for accountability of wall street and the politicians, I am for a single properly run and funded health care system, not the mess of "Obamacare". I am for reform, and I believe that all people have the right to choose their beliefs and to openly display those beliefs, even if someone disagrees. I am not rich, though I have little to no debt I do not earn enough to save and buy healthy food.
I am me, an individual who cannot be labeled or categorized into a neat box, and I support this movement as a positive way to be heard over the massive vote buying power of the corporations.
This is what I have been trying to explain to even some of my closest friends who don't understand that this movement is really about everyone, from all backgrounds. And that this is a good thing, not a hindrance to the movement.
Agreed. They try to marginalize via stereotypes, but as anyone who actually goes to a protests and pays attention knows, OWS supporters are of all different types.
Thank you :) You are an inspiration of an individual. Don't let them confine you into their boxes! Don't let them divide you by definitions! We are ALL in this together! For common goals!
Thank you for sharing more than most just to prove a great point.
are you marching on Wall St?
unfortunately I am not. I need funds from my job to pay fro basic necessities such as food, water and electricity. However I am with you guys in spirit
See how this capitalism has enslaved all free human spirits for their basic necessities. This is modern slavery and this slavery needs to be reduced. It will be reduced when economy does well. Economy does well when the rich pay their fair share of taxes and control their greed.
cool! Unfortunately I am in the same boat - have not even taken a week off in 2 years.... I do have a great time though - no pity needed!
where are you originally from?
See how this capitalism has enslaved all free human spirits for their basic necessities. This is modern slavery and this slavery needs to be reduced. It will be reduced when economy does well. Economy does well when the rich pay their fair share of taxes and control their greed.
I don't follow your logic. How has capitalism enslaved people from basic necessities? That makes no sense whatsoever. How does the economy doing well reduce slavery? It seems like you are confusing issues. The entire economy is not based solely on taxes. Capitalism works when it is kept in check. One major problem has been deregulation, which allowed Wall St and the banks to make all kinds of illegal and risky bets which ultimately led to the collapse. Another major problem is money in politics- specifically, money given to politicians from special interests, the rich and corporations. There are a lot of real and serious systemic problems, but saying that capitalism is modern slavery does not even make sense.
I support well regulated capitalism. I never said, capitalism is modern slavery. I said this capitalism which means the current crony capitalism in US has enslaved people. Let me give you some examples of how current crony capitalism has enslaved individuals. The home prices were artificially pushed up due to speculation and other mismanagement by govt and corporations. The homeowners who had to pay 300K for their house have lost half of their house value. Now they have taken too much debt, while wages are cut and there is no job security, or job openings. What do you do ? You have a family to take care of, you are afraid of losing your job if you don't work hard. You can't quit. So you spend extra hours and weekend at your job to keep your job. You are forced to work harder and harder to keep your job. Bottomline is this, debt = slavery.
On the other hand when economy is doing well, you are not worried about losing job since you know there are lot of job openings elsewhere so you don't need to work extra hard and during weekends. You can expect wage hikes which enable you clear off your debt quickly and may be do some savings and start your own business.
Finally, the reason you need high income tax for the rich is to keep their greed and speculation in check. Once their greed is controlled, you don't need thousands of regulations whether financial or environmental to prevent them from cheating for more money. That is the logic/relationship between high taxes and sound economy.
OK, gotcha. Thanks. I agree.
Happy, that you could agree. I don't hate rich people.
Most of the rich people are good hearted just like anybody else. The problem is, they handover their money to wallstreet bankers and traders to get returns on their investment. These wallstreet people have to get higher and higher returns to maximize their commissions. So technically, it's wallstreet people who cause havoc with other peoples money by speculation and corruption. So we need both wallstreet regulation and high taxes for rich people and wallstreet executives themselves to put brakes on their greed for profits and in turn speculation and corruption.
I work because I want to. A slave is forced to do something. I choose what I do. Kinda like most people in the US. Where are from?
Unfortunately people's time could have been better spent somewhere else, instead of the job that they don't like but still have to do to earn a living. If you like your job, keep it up !! Give your colleagues a break from you sometimes. ;)
how do you get by? how can i expect to earn a living if i don't do something for somebody else?
You'd have to start a business.
the right answer would be be a subsistence farmer because when you start a business you sell services to other people and you may not even fare well with it, not to mention lose your existence by going bankrupt. subsistence farming while being the drive for the settlers going to the US is now impossible without serving others too because all the land of the earth is owned by now and people want to exploit you for using their land for your own good.
Actually this is true. We no longer have the ability to make of us in the wilderness, which is what our Fore Fathers were able to do.
The world population does need a new or corrected system.
Boo
Originally I am from England and Married a Texan. :D
There's no such thing as an illegal immigrant, nationalism is a disease, don't be a typhoid mary.
I don't cow to political correctness. Undocumented. Whatever. My meaning is clear.
Give me a simple definition of political correctness and I won't laugh at you for using the word and sounding stupid in the process.
Political correctness is the biggest fucking strawman around, and if you're a nationalist, you still haven't got a fucking clue.
There you go, labeling. You are calling me a nationalist without any basis for that. You have just proven my point and are as bad as the media. If you do not understand or do not want to discuss rationally the complexities of illegal immigration (and yes, there is such a thing) then I suggest you move on and focus your anger elsewhere because you are only showing you have no legitimate argument and are unable to articulate your viewpoint.
Whinging about "illegals" is a nationalist red herring.
So my views are "whining" and yours are valid? I did not "whine" about it. I made one short, simple statement. (sigh) So here we go. You totally missed the point of my post, but whatever. I should not even bother responding to your immaturity and name-calling, but I will in the hopes that you will not be so quick to rush to judgement in the future.
I am absolutely not a nationalist. I am a strong supporter of immigration from any and every country in the world to this country, done through the proper legal channels. I also support refugee and asylum immigrants. It is unsustainable and unrealistic to say anyone and everyone can come here to live. Those that come here to live with no documentation and without trying to obtain legal clearance, should be deported, though exceptions should be granted for individual cases. I do not support groups and organizations that demand immigrants here illegally be protected from deportation or given privileges afforded to legal citizens. I think that aside from the arrogance of such demands, it is unfair to those who come here legally and those who would like to come here.
Furthermore, those who believe that anyone who does not support illegal immigrants are nationalists, racists, and/or xenophobes, ironically, are the ones who are prejudiced.
We need immigration reform in this country. It is one of many issues we need to work on in order to fix things and to pretend that it doesn't impact the country economically and socially is ignoring the facts. I didn't expand on my initial statement because that would defeat the entire purpose of my post. I'm sorry you didn't get it.
lol
Do you want to debate an issue or are you going to simply dance around and try to personally attack me?