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Forum Post: Putting money to work for us, mark bills with the Occupy hashtag

Posted 12 years ago on Feb. 5, 2012, 10:18 a.m. EST by rrazputin (18)
This content is user submitted and not an official statement

The average lifespan of a dollar bill is 22 months. That really isn’t that long is it? We’ve all found pennies from decades ago. But still, think about it for a second. 22 months is a long time to be spreading a message for. This is what I want you to do. Go around your house and get every dollar bill you can find. Doesn’t matter what denomination, ones, fives, tens, twenties. Grab them all. Now flip them over on the back, the side with the great big white house or capitol building or Lincoln memorial on it. Look how blank it is, it’s like a canvas isn’t it? Grab a sharpie marker and write “#Occupy” across that big beautiful canvas. Now spend the dollar. Tip a waiter with it, give it to a homeless person. You know what you just did? You just spread our message.

Assuming that your dollar was halfway through its lifetime, it will be kicking around your city, or hell maybe even the country for the next year bringing the message of occupy everywhere it goes. A year is along time. That’s one revolution around the sun, 365 days of protest, maybe even twice that if it’s a new dollar. Keep doing it with every new bit of cash you get.

Of course, you can artificially duplicate the message. Take a twenty and write occupy on it, then take it to a cashier and have them trade you for two tens. Take those tens and write occupy on them, then take the tens to another cashier and have them exchange them for four fives dollar bills. Repeat the process for twenty ones and write the message across all of those. With twenty dollars you have spread the message of occupy twenty-seven times. That is one “#Occupy” for every seventy-four cents. Not bad. Now imagine doing it with a fifty, or a hundred dollar bill. Imagine all of those dollars zipping around the country. Imagine someone getting a dollar in change from a cashier and seeing “#Occupy” written on it. Imagine what they will think.

Right now in America, money equals free speech. Its sad, and it needs to be changed, but its true. So I say that’s fine. Lets use our “free speech”. Spread the wealth, spread the message.

15 Comments

15 Comments


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[-] 1 points by ShubeLMorgan2 (1088) from New York, NY 12 years ago

Just please let people know that it's against the law to do what you are suggesting.

[-] 1 points by rrazputin (18) 12 years ago

As i said before, during nonviolent protest, it becomes necessary to break the law in order to achieve change. This proposal does not encourage property damage, defacement, or injury to any persons. During the civil rights movement, african americans broke segregation laws in order to see them changed.

[-] 1 points by DKAtoday (33802) from Coon Rapids, MN 12 years ago

It would be interesting to see if the OWS marked money started to show-up in any quantity. Or if new bills were put in circulation to pull the marked bills out.

It's too bad so much of every day purchasing is now done electronically.

[-] 1 points by rrazputin (18) 12 years ago

Well then that means that it would be easier to mark up all of the cash in the US!

[-] 1 points by DKAtoday (33802) from Coon Rapids, MN 12 years ago

Not really. It just isn't getting the circulation it used to.

[-] 1 points by BradB (2693) from Washington, DC 12 years ago

I suggested this months ago.....

print #Occupy Dollar bills ... put "Not legal tender, yet" on it... and distribute it among the Occupations ... it would become a novelty, another pet rock...

and watch... while StarBucks .. and other biz's advertise "we accept #Occupy Dollars" ....

just for the prospect of collector items if nothing else ...

[-] 2 points by rrazputin (18) 12 years ago

Thats a pretty good idea too. An alternate currency would be a sweet way to undermine the big banks.

[-] 1 points by BradB (2693) from Washington, DC 12 years ago

I like your idea 2 ;)

[-] 1 points by gestopomillyy (1695) 12 years ago

thats a great idea!

[-] 1 points by rrazputin (18) 12 years ago

Thanks, glad to help out.

[-] 1 points by MsStacy (1035) 12 years ago

You'd better hurry, it won't be long before paper money is obsolete.

[-] 1 points by Mooks (1985) 12 years ago

"Imagine someone getting a dollar in change from a cashier and seeing “#Occupy” written on it. Imagine what they will think."

Most people probably won't think anything good about a group that illegally defaces currency.

[-] 1 points by jph (2652) 12 years ago

lol,. because defacing currency is such a terrible crime? Perhaps you should be more concerned about the value being raped out of your money by the 1% than some ink added to the paper debt notes.

[-] 1 points by Mooks (1985) 12 years ago

Oh I don't care one way or the other. There are a lot of more conservative people though, who also make up the 99% obviously, who would be turned off by that.

I used to work in a small-town Wal-Mart in high school and a lot of customers would refuse change if those bills were marked in anyway.

[-] 1 points by rrazputin (18) 12 years ago

It's nonviolent. Sometimes you have to break the law to change the law. MLK did.