Forum Post: Occupy + Credibility
Posted 13 years ago on Nov. 1, 2011, 9 p.m. EST by ConcernedKid
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I’m a teenager currently attending high school and I support the Occupy protests. Don't get me wrong. It's delightful to see a truly democratic, grassroots organization which has shone a glaring light on the issue of income inequality in developed countries.
However, I would like to point out something that has come to my attention: a lack of credibility.
Last week, my parents happened to drive by the "tent-city" in Occupy Vancouver stationed around the Vancouver Art Gallery. Just out of curiosity, I opened my window to listen to the protesters’ discussion. What did I hear? Not much, other than some random rock band playing music.
Oh sure, there were many dedicated activists camping out on the sidewalk holding signs and exercising their freedom of speech. But as soon as the music drifted into my ears, the movement already lost its appeal to me and my parents drove away. I am sure many average citizens feel the same way. My parents, for that matter, dismissed the protest as silly and stupid, going as far as to question why they were even protesting when things were relatively good in Canada. (Disclaimer: they happen to be pretty conservative and voted for Harper in the last election)
At the price of sounding like a pretentious 16-year old prick (well, I am 16, but that’s besides the point), I feel that all you protestors have to understand something: if you claim to be representative of the majority of the population, you have to act like it, and carry a certain standard of professionalism in your protests.
Banging on drums at 3 in the morning and smoking pot (like I heard from some mainstream media sources), or having a rock band perform while you should be discussing realistic ways to implement legislation to follow your goal(s) drive the organization’s credibility down and turn it into a farce, not to mention it turns off the appeal for the “99%” to actually support your movement. (Oh yeah, and it provides a propaganda coup for Fox News, so there’s 2 reasons not to do stuff like that.)
In addition, there’s been a lack of goal-making since the very start. When the movement first started, that was understandable, as members congregated to just express their sheer frustration with Wall Street, among other symbols of corruption. But now? Now it’s been 2 months? I think? And the organization still hasn’t clearly articulated their goals.
With the Arab Spring, the ousting of dictators like Mubarak was the central objective. But there’s no centralized objective in any of the occupy movements around the globe. When you’re protesting just for the sake of protesting, who’s going to listen to you?
Just throwing out a suggestion here, but overturning the ruling in the Citizens vs Federal Election Committee court case would be a good start for the neighbors down south in the United States.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens_United_v._Federal_Election_Commission
Link for those interested.
Well? What does the “99%” think?
You, my friend, are the real 99%. What's happening at the park is slowly drifting out of the conversation; they are rowing the boat furiously out of relevance.
But that conversation, the one they started, is one you will have to pick up. Don't think for a moment that you're too young; you're already more of an adult than most of the tent-city drummers. For whatever other stupidities Occupy has picked up in their quest for irrelevance, they've re-introduced the ideas of the meaning of citizenship and the priorities of a just society as central tenets of responsible existence. Well, good news and bad news. Bad news: we're probably passing the buck to you. Keep an eye out for it. Good news: you'll be better equipped to handle it than we ever were.
Overturning Citizens United is one goal, but the larger picture must be the reclamation of governance from money to people. From that, all else follows.
I think that you have good instincts personally. I think that this movement will likely disappear kinda like the WTO protests in the late 1990's. Those actually turned violence in some cases and 10 years later no one remembers them and they accomplished nothing. This is on a bigger scale but the protester at large do not seem to actually grasp much more than "stuff sucks right now."
Yeah, and this depresses me. Still, who knows. Maybe we'll have an American Winter. Eh, that sounds even more depressing.
Satyr, you're ignoring my points. My main point being: how does playing rock band music and banging drums help the movement besides turning off the average citizen who MIGHT AGREE with the principles you stand for, yet are disinterested because just from a passing glance it appears that your organization isn't serious or even has a coherent plan for reaching its goals.
It's not just about "getting your info from the source." It's also about ensuring you have a base of recruits to depend upon to broadcast and repeat your message, as well as acting in a professional manner so right-wing media like Fox News can't point to one or two people and go: OH LOOK THE HIPPIES/ANARCHISTS/POT-SMOKERS/BANDS/DRUMMERS ARE AT IT AGAIN WHY HAVEN'T THEY BEEN ARRESTED YET?
This organization needs legitimacy and credibility, as well as an actual objective. Until all three requirements are fulfilled, this movement will be regulated to the dark closet of history while the 1%ers laugh all the way to the bank.
Playing music is a great way to ease tension and so is listening to it. Protesting can create a lot of tension for people protesting and the people are not. Music is also a great way to get a message across to people. Think about it. Music much like every art form transcends boundaries like race, religion and so on.
Music is indeed a great way to transcend boundaries like race, religion, and more. However, conveying a message? Not as effective.
You don’t hear Obama belting out a rap about the Jobs Creation Act, or Mitt Romney making an opera about corporations being people. You might see the two making pages-long written arguments for both stances, but they don’t sing it out loud to crowds.
And the reason for that is, like I stated above: music is not effective at communicating a message and, contrary to popular belief; it doesn’t look (or sound) slick at all. It also reinforces the stereotype held by many that the protestors are just “hippies.”
When you’re tackling a huge issue like climate change, or extreme poverty, or civil rights, or, like it is now, income inequality, you have to put forth a coherent message or argument that can be understood in layman’s terms. Fox News has done an excellent job of doing this, propagating the myth that 47% of Americans pay no taxes at all using misleading statistics, but with a well-furnished argument that can be understood by everyone.
Occupy should do the same (without the misleading statistics, of course). They have to come up with a coherent platform on how to tackle the broad issue of income inequality, as well as equally important but slightly smaller issues such as political corruption due to the influence of corporate money in campaign donations.
All I can say is that you are one very smart and observant 16 year old, and definitely not a prick, or at least you don't come off as one in your post. :)
Well...you didn't sign your name for one. So I will start with mine. My name is Michael. I am a former United States Marine. I am also a Retired Professional Firefighter. I read your piece thoroughly. You are very articulate. You seem to have a very good grasp of the world around you as it is today. But I will try to respond to you without any punctuation because I am legally blind. Let's see if I can. When you were six, I was on duty at my firehouse. 343 of my brother firefighters gave up their lives that day. Maybe you were in class? 1st Grade? Kindergarten? Maybe? But none the less, over 3000 Americans died when you were in class one sunny day, when you were six. A few years before that, (in fact, before you were born) (In October of 1983) 2 terrorists driving an old Toyota PU truck laden with almost 2 tons of C-4 explosives broke through a barrier at the entrance to the airport in Beirut, Lebanon and drove about a quarter of a mile to the Barracks of the 2nd Bn, 7th Marines, where they drove it into an underground entrance and then detonated it. The Marines were at the Airport as part of a multi-national Peacekeeping Force. The explosion killed 220 U.S. Marines, 17 U.S. Navy Sailors, and 4 United States Army Special Forces Members. Are we ready to go on...? Because I can.. Can You? Michael.
The Declaration of the Occupation of New York City
http://www.sparrowmedia.net/declaration/
http://vimeo.com/29513113 This might help you to understand. Thanks for asking.
Grab your sleeping bag...and a sign dude....
Your basing your assumptions on what you seen and heard while driving by a "tent city"? Do your self and your family a favor and don't base your opinion that. If you want to know what OWS stands for and what our we want to you need to make an effort to get your info from the source. Some thing tells me if you do this you will understand what OWS is about and you will end up agreeing with us, you might even want your family to join us.
I've been to zuccotti park, its not much different there