Forum Post: OWS to the next level
Posted 12 years ago on Jan. 24, 2012, 12:26 a.m. EST by Underdog
(2971)
from Clermont, FL
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
Is the funding of OWS registered in the millions of dollars? If not, it will have to raise it to be effective against the established power-elite who can afford to pump millions (if not billions) into nationwide TV propaganda, lobbying and PACs, and who knows what else in order to preserve their status quo.
In a battle of this nature, one has to work within the system to change the system. This will require money, and LOTS of it, so that OWS can get its counter-argument/message across in the media and exert the influence in Congress the way the power-elite have.
Creating a very large income stream to be used for the above purposes should be one of OWS' top priorities.
It simply wouldn't be possible for OWS to compete on this level for funding, even if it was advisable, which I don't think it is. This is a truely grass roots movement, and in order to keep it's integrity must stay out of the high finance game. We can use petitions, run candidates, and above all educate ourselves about the voting records of our representatives and act accordingly, but lobying and paid advertizing would merely tar our integrity to no avail at all.
Pls see my response to Builder elsewhere in this thread.
I read it, but we will have to agree to disagree:)
Disagree.
Creating lots of free-to-air video and content on the internet is what #ows needs to focus upon.
Following the leader will be fruitless seeing as how most of the corporate-owned media will not support our agenda.
Vimeo, youtube and blogging is the way to get the message out there.
And keep sending emails to every congressman and representative you can find. Call them up on the telephone. That's what they are employed to do.
Google all the talk-back radio stations in your area, and call them up. Talk to them. Every day.
Disagree with your disagree.
The Internet is an incredibly powerful medium for communication but, with all due respect, it can't hold a candle to the power of money. Let me provide some examples.
1) Let's say you are a politician up for re-election. You've got 100,000 emails (or a million, or a billion, the amount doesnt matter) representing one side and $1,000,000 in PAC contributions on the other side. Which do you think the politician is going to pay more attention to? He know he needs the $1,000,000 to keep his campaign running and, without it, stands no chance of being re-elected. Even if he agrees with the email side, he can do nothing to address the concerns/demands contained in them if he can't get re-elected.
2) Despite the power demonstrated by the Internet in recent years, TV continues to be the primary medium for reaching the greatest number of the masses. I know you may not think it matters, but there are a lot of people out there who still have never held a keyboard or mouse in their hands and are extremely unlikely to ever do so -- but they can turn on their TV or read a newspaper and be influenced by the advertising and infomercials of candidates during the election season. Politicians know this, and spend millions of dollars (there's that money thing again) to reach the widest possible number of potential voters. They know that they stand little chance of being elected without an effective TV ad campaign.
3) Now for the dirty side of it -- lobbying and "influential" contributions (aka bribes). If big corporations or other wealthy members of the power-elite could influence politicians simply by the power of the Internet, for free, wouldn't they save themselves a lot of money and do so? Money talks, and BIG money talks REALLY loud. Money ALWAYS gets you a lot of attention and influence. Always has, always will.
Remember, you are working within a SYSTEM to change the system. That system runs on money (that's why it's called the Capitalistic SYSTEM). I like your heart kid, but I think your idealism about the degree of what the Internet can do alone is just a tad bit naive.
There is no way that we are going to compete with the money coming in from people who want to maintain the corrupt status quo. This movement has come as far as it has by being defiant and working outside the system. By trying to work within the system, you are legitimizing a system that does not deserve respect. Gandhi knew that he could not work within the system to change the injustices that they (the system) benefited from. The principle is the same here.
I simply would rather be out in the streets than to be in the gutter with those guys. At some point when we have the numbers, that will change, but for now, we are doing the right thing I believe.
That is a highly idealistic response. It is very admirable and warms my old heart a bit to see the purity of your convictions. But purity is difficult to maintain in the ugly, polluted world of politics. If you are representative of the majority of other members in the OWS movement, I am sad to say that I believe OWS will ultimately fail. That would be a real tragedy, because it is the first effort I have scene in my lifetime in this country that has the stated goal of attacking the evils of capitalism, and if OWS does fail, so does the hope of the wage-slave underclass. That would be a shame.
Just in the last couple of days, I heard that something like 85% of the population is pessimistic about the future, then approximately 90% don't think congress is doing a good job, and a whole bunch of people have been negatively affected by the crony capitalism that we live under. We need to get those people on our side, which I am sure you agree with.
It is our job to help people to start connecting the dots as to what caused the 2008 melt-down which has clearly started to happen, despite the corporated owned news media. We will not be able to afford commercials any time soon to further this goal, and we have to get out of the idea of sound bytes if people really want to understand what has been going on and continues to do so. The knowledge that people gather as to why and how we got to this sorry state of affairs has to be transformed into a rage that cannot be ignored.
Many older people in particular still haven't gotten past the sensationalism generated by this movement, ie. the civil disobedience, the arrests, etc. They still don't know what 'this' is about. At some point they have to ask themselves, 'what is this really about?-Why are these people so angry that they are willing to risk arrest and their well-being?' They hopefully will search for the answers and may find that their discontent and anxieties are not so different than ours and that our cause is a noble one.
I too would hate to see this movement fail and it is the first time in my life-time that I see a chance for hope. It's just that the corrupt system are masters at maintaining the corrupt status quo, and if we play by their rules (at his point), I feel we are doomed to fail. So I guess we both want to get to the same place, we just have profound differences in how we get there.
Those are all good ideas and as I have said before, letters to the editor is another good way to get the word out to the timid.
OWS had alot of donated money.. and then they blew thru most of the donated funds. Coulda shoulda woulda.
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I don't agree that we have to work within the system at this point. The system is far too rotten. The Boston Tea Party people,King, and Gandhi all knew that in their struggles for justice. When we get the numbers, that's a different story. At that point, we won't need to put up any commercials.
Pls see my response to Builder elsewhere in this thread
Maybe a better answer? http://www.thesocialistrepublic.org/index.html