Forum Post: Spread the word any way you can--this movement includes those from left, right and center!!!
Posted 13 years ago on Oct. 9, 2011, 1:26 a.m. EST by sillyhat
(2)
from Queens, NY
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
Our city of Bellingham, Wa. stands in solidarity with you! At a rally on Friday I talked to folks from the left, the right and the center--truly this movement is about the corporate destruction of the middle class and that affects everyone--rich and poor, young and old. Without a redress of the criminal acts that were committed by the undue political influence of the 1%, this country is finished... Here's my cheesy attempt at documenting my Friday evening in downtown Bellingham (note-during the Great Depression people could not afford musical instruments like guitars so they made their own out of cigar boxes like the one I'm carrying here: http://www.cigarboxnation.com/video/occupy-the-world (this isn't a promo for this site--I don't have a youtube channel or a facebook page and I'm trying here to spread our message to folks on this-mostly-- conservative site--I'll probably be kicked off for posting it--we can't count on the 'media' to spread the word so we have to do it any way we can)
consumer strike
this movement is just gathering everybody to discuss problems everybody faces. some people don't get it. it's ok. we will still keep it open for everybody
this movement supersedes religions, politics. it supersedes everybody, everything. it is not about hatred. it is about love
Believe me Iam trying.
hi!
Given the events achieved little, and I assure you the solidarity of the Hungarian people. The media does not talk about you, but also in Hungary live in 99% of human tricks. We try to inform all the Hungarian people: http://zeitgeisthungary.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=576&action=edit
I am with you!
Daniel
I'm from the right (in a left leaning area) and I'm not feeling this "movement". Good for you to find some who have yet to disagree... but we're still waiting on "official" word from the organizers as to what it's all about. Stay tuned.
[Deleted]
The recession did hit me personally. I was 7 mo pregnant, un-hirable, and my husband up and quit his job. We blew through our savings and paid out of pocket for the delivery and midwife visits. He got his contractors license and then was able to land a job, the same week our savings ran out... but we'd planned ahead and had months of savings in the bank and that got us through. If I had needed to, I would have begun working right after my son was born...
I do agree that campaign finance reform is the start... term limits should also be way up there (my rep is Pete Stark.... yea, lets not talk about that!). I'm ALL for a movement to reform our government to get to corrupt and career politicians out, but I don't think this is it. I wish it were... we need it so badly.
Term limits are just one of the many reasons why California's government is as dysfunctional as it is.
Leanne, take a look at what happened earlier today when I tried to suggest that it would make a lot of sense for these protesters to vote:
http://occupywallst.org/forum/vote-or-else-this-will-all-be-a-pointless-exercise/
Absolutely nothing happened. It's one of the few posts on this form that got absolutely no response. It's just not where their heads are at.
[Deleted]
Yes, I'm from Florida, and the Rick Scott voters from the Tea Party have definitely succeeded in changing some things. They're going to continue to win unless people like you and I who disagree with their agenda vote against them. That's why I'm so disappointed in this protest, because it's not aimed at effective action.
I know. They don't care. The feeling I get from this movement is a feeling of wanting to complain and not wanting to act. I am a tea partier.... I've been to rallies, I'm in a group devoted to the "cause". They acted. Those moved quickly and made things happen.... it may not be the be-all end-all, but it was something. This movement is going nowhere fast because it is "leaderless".
Well, I run a playgroup. I know it sounds silly.... but we have almost 200 members and we run lots of charity events! Without me (the leader) we would be nowhere. No direction, no solid answers... just a lot of "well.... I want this". "well, I want that". That gets you nowhere! People die quickly without solid leadership... it's just the way of humanity.
Yes, these guys are living out the Lord of the Flies, and pretending that they're accomplishing something. I spent a while trying to get some of them to think about what they want to have accomplished when they look back on all of this from the year 2014. But the idea of accomplishing goals is just some kind of alien concept to them. And they're wondering why they can't get jobs...
[Deleted]
I'm totally transparent because I'm just some guy who is worried about conservative political power and disproportionate Tea Party influence who showed up here to find out what all of this is all about. Conclusion: it's not about much of anything at all, and this movement appears to have no hope of countering the Tea Party. The people here on this site, and you in particular, are completely failing to sway my opinion. If the only people who you're capable of convincing are people who already agree with you then this whole thing is hopeless futility.
Did you read the short essay that I wrote about voting? It pretty much sums up my opinions:
http://occupywallst.org/forum/vote-or-else-this-will-all-be-a-pointless-exercise/
We didn't read the lord of the flies in school... I actually read it in summer school because I found it sitting on a desk in a class that was ultimately boring.
I see the major issue here as one of entitlement (I know, cliche)... everyone gets upset when the economy is shit and this seems to be the response. They don't want real change, they just want change that effects them for the better. See... I may pay alot in taxes, but I'm ok with that. I want to see REAL change for the better. I don't want anything out of the deal except a better future for my kids. What happened to that? When did we become more important than the future?
I completely agree. My first-born is currently negative six months old, due in April, and I worry about the future that he/she will live in, because the people who will be 40 or 50 when he/she is 20 are clearly not qualified to take over running this country, because they don't seem to understand the concept of taking responsibility for the future. Instead of voting and participating in democracy, they want to scapegoat Wall Street for their problems. Instead of learning new job skills, they want to demand that the government should create new low-skill jobs for them. They want to pretend that they don't have any responsibility for their own situation. Instead of wasting four weeks camping out in the streets to blame Wall Street for their problems, they should spend that time working on their own problems. What kind of struggling person has the luxury of taking a month off to go and camp out and generate no income, learn no skills, and do nothing at all to better themselves?
[Deleted]
We have money and got work because we saw to it. If my husband would not have found a job, he would have started working for whatever money he could get with the trade he spent 10 years learning and a year getting a license to do. I would have gone to work to make whatever I could to help support our family. That's what you DO.... if it meant moving 200, or 2000 miles, we would have. We were lucky to stay close to family, sure... but luck did not land us where we are now, hard work did. It's a lesson that many stand to learn. My husband never even graduated high school, yet we reside in the top 10% of earners in this country. Why? Because we worked for it. It's all about the desire to succeed.
My savings have been wiped out by Wall Street mistakes before, in the dot-com crash. I had about five very hard years, while most everybody else was doing just fine. I took responsibility for my own future and it never even occurred to me to protest against somebody else for my problems. Now I'm the CTO of a company that eliminates low-skill jobs and creates new high-skill jobs. I guess maybe that does make me your enemy.
The Fox News rhetoric is only going to further alienate somebody who this morning was a potential supporter. But you're a tiny fraction of the reason that I can see that Occupy Wall Street is a waste of my time.
Well, congrats on the new baby and don't get so caught up in the depression. It's easy to do, I know... but you will hold that little bundle and then there will be nothing else in the world. We will live on. It's scary... but it will happen. It always does. We can only teach our kids about personal responsibility and rally for real change, as we see it. Maybe come up with a catchy name and slogan and find a way to get attention? ;)
You and I see the value in "personal responsibility", but that's definitely an ideal that polarizes people politically. People on the left tend to focus more on the responsibility of the government to take care of them, and this web site and the protest are manifestations of that. Almost every one of the list of demands that are being voted on right now is a demand for more government regulation. 'Government, I demand that you take care of me!'
I'm from the center and I'm not feeling it either, because they barely know what they stand for, other than class warfare.
Yea... it's such a pity. We're all so blinded by ignorance that we can't see the forest for the trees.
[Deleted]
The mark of an extremist is to label anybody who doesn't disagree with him as being from the 'other side'. I came here today to find out what all of this is all about. I figured out the answer a few hours ago: not much. If people start branding me as the enemy then that will confirm a second hypothesis: that there is a distinct left-wing extremist odor around here. (It smells like patchouli.)
[Deleted]
Yep, there you go. There is no better way to alienate a centrist than to accuse him of being on the other side. I've gotten a feel for Occupy Wall Street today and this was a very appropriate way to call it a night. People here have no goals. They have no consensus on any issue. There are a lot of very extreme viewpoints that won't ever be shared by the mainstream. And most disappointing of all, the people here have absolutely no interest in voting. It doesn't really matter whether I'm for this protest or against it because it's going to fail all by itself. Here is my detailed explanation for why that is:
http://occupywallst.org/forum/vote-or-else-this-will-all-be-a-pointless-exercise/
Good night, and thank you for helping me to confirm some of my suspicions.
[Deleted]
No, I'm a potential supporter who this site has failed to win.