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Forum Post: Let down by an occupier...

Posted 13 years ago on Oct. 14, 2011, 4:09 p.m. EST by j13 (5)
This content is user submitted and not an official statement

This just came in from my brother, a realtor:

Walked by the protest for an apartment showing this week in a three piece suit. Protester: "nice suit a*ole. It's going to belong to me in a few weeks. It's going to belong to all of us!!". I am the 99 percent, but I am so not the 99%.

Really? I do hope that protestor is in the minority. Just lost a chance to show someone who looked different (in his 3 piece suit) a little kindness and respect. Is this movement about us vs. them -- or about trying to create real, lasting change?

12 Comments

12 Comments


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[-] 4 points by LincolnCA (160) 13 years ago

Police one another, make sure we uphold the pledge of non-violence, and that includes rhetoric in our verbal interactions.

[-] 2 points by j13 (5) 13 years ago

Exactly.

[-] 2 points by hairlessOrphan (522) 13 years ago

Tribalism is a deep-seated human instinct. It is physically (as in: brain-structurally) difficult for us to conceive of conflict without an "us vs. them" dichotomy. And that dichotomy makes us dehumanize "them," anything we suspect might be "them." And so there will always be idiots on every side of every conflict.

I wish we could teach them all, but until the magical day comes when we learn to be fully human and transcend our baser instincts, all I can do is apologize for them.

[-] 2 points by angelofmercy (225) 13 years ago

Your not the only one. There have been many complaints from others about these protesters. Make a complaint to the city. At some point when enough people get fed up with this type of behavior , maybe something will be done about it.

[-] 2 points by j13 (5) 13 years ago

Well, I wasn't really talking about "these protestors," just one protestor who was quite rude. I am sure that the majority are decent people, taking a stand for governmental abuses that have gone on for too long. Truth is, most of us in the USA (whether conservative or liberal in ideology) -- we're just average Joes and average Janes. It's about time someone took a stand for the average.

[-] 1 points by angelofmercy (225) 13 years ago

I doubt there there was just one protester that has been acting rude. You may have only encountered one of them that day.

[-] 2 points by ComplexMissy (291) 13 years ago

OMG, I hope that is not what's happeing with everyone. I for one do not think it is about us vs them. We need to be logical, stay calm and not be inflammatory! :/

Have you seen this video? It goes along with everything we're trying to do here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3Qz1C-dAGc

[-] 1 points by j13 (5) 13 years ago

Thanks for the link... will watch.

[-] 0 points by Lork (285) 13 years ago

Most likely an infiltrator like the shit flinger in the restroom.

[-] 1 points by NachoCheese (268) 13 years ago

Of course...

any and all acts that reflect poorly, must be "infiltrators".

Does anyone know what day/time the "ideological purity purges" begin? I soooo hope I am "revolutionary enough"...

Seriously, why not admit that there are asshats involved, a small minority but they are still there, and they are not "infiltrators".

[-] 1 points by Lork (285) 13 years ago

Then we must either boo them, tell them to stop, publicly denounce their behavior, apologize to the victim of the asshat, etc.

OWS does not endorse this shit.

[-] 2 points by NachoCheese (268) 13 years ago

Correct.

But that can only begin once you acknowledge that they are not "infiltrators".

Call them out in front of their target (in this case the poor guy in a suit just trying to go to work) and make in clear as loudly as socially acceptable considering circumstance, that their idiocy is NOT what this is about.