Forum Post: We can't shout in the cold forever...what is this getting us?
Posted 13 years ago on Oct. 18, 2011, 1:40 p.m. EST by crawfordjoanne
(11)
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
EVERYONE: with today's technology, we can protest and email our congressmen at the same time! We may have different individual complaints, but wouldn't a Constitutional Amendment requiring only public financing of political campaigns be a huge step in the right direction?
Come on people, we can't just continue to stand around shouting. Contact your congressmen and DEMAND that an amendment be written to separate politics and money. That's where all of these inequalities stem from! Bombard your elected officials' inboxes!
The media, politicians, and bankers "don't understand" what our message is and therefore can dismiss us easily. Give them something concrete...just one thing, one goal would help tremendously. They are not going to offer up the solution stated here on their own. We have to take our country back!
The entire OWS experience is getting me more fleas than ever before.
We expect recent efforts to boycott products produced by companies owned or controlled by the Koch brothers, (Charles and David), (pronounced "coke"), to grow in 2011, and will eventually include an effort to have pension funds drop the company's bonds.
Their company, Georgia Pacific, has $10 billion in outstanding bonds.
The organizers of the boycott are suggesting people not purchase things that their company produces, including: Brawny Towels, Dixie Cup Products, Angel Soft Toilet Paper, Mardi Gras Napkins, Quilted Northern Toilet Paper; and Stainmaster Carpets.
term limitations...done deal...you get 6 years to make a difference and your done...it doesnt matter if your in the senate..congress or the prez...6 and your out...no do overs..no mulligans....go now !
housing bubble crisis parody..how wall street got greedy!. RAGE AGAINST THE CORPORATE MACHINE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zj_9lTp-2k
I will agree with this post. The message for demands is unclear. This one change alone of removing money from politics, I believe will solve a lot of the corruption and favoritism that is occurring in our country. "Separate money from state".
Making too many ludicrous demands that will never be achieved in a single month will cause this movement to fail when they are not achieved. I can understand you are aiming high, but there is a lot of individual demands in the message so far. Please get organized and state simple demands that can be attained for the benefit of ALL Americans, not just students, not just the jobless, not just the poor.
Yeah, my demand (which is not unique and can be found posted by others) is simple. Email your elected officials...constitutional amendment, baby.
I do agree with Ratso about term limits as well...but 6 months? You can't even make a baby in that time, maybe 2 years would be better. Plus, we'd get election fatigue with such short cycles.
We can also refuse to show up for work, pay for products, or vote. We can refuse to pay taxes.
Obama, a constitutional law student, hasn't said a word about forcing Congress to obey Article V.
From what I've seen happening on this forum, I give up completely. Can't we just start throwing molotovs into political buildings and get the point across already about how much we hate these people for what they've done?
They already know you hate them.
They are busy right now convincing the people who actually make things that you hate them, too.
When the violence starts, you will have been effectively turned into a symbol. Symbols are the most important thing nowadays. Once you've been demonized, and the public perception is judged to be adequate, you can be liquidated safely.
Like the incineration of the Waco children. "They deserved it"
Or the sniper killing of Vicki Weaver. "She deserved it"
Or the executive death sentence on an American citizen. "He deserved it"
Yeah, so go ahead, advocate violence. That's what you'll get. Maybe not in the way you dream of, but ....
I'm just frustrated with everybody. The 1% and government are treating us poorly and will continue to ignore us, and the 99% is so unorganized that my constructive efforts are also ignored. A lot of people's constructive efforts are ignored. Betcha people won't ignore violence... I wish it didn't have to come to that, but in too many situations it's been the only thing that produced anything different.
If this country's education was any better, I might have actually learned how to program, and would be making up my own application right now that would organize and mobilize us, but I have no clue and never picked it up very well due to poor teachers. Where are the skilled programmers that want to help? Where are the simple organizational codes they can type up in 15 minutes? This is really the best we can do???
If the economy and this situation gets any worse, violence will be right around the corner.
Wow.
I just told you about what violence will get you.
The word 'constructive' implies 'creating'. Trying to get a crowd to follow your lead is not really creative. Especially when the crowd is angry and apt to be destructive.
And being destructive does lead to 'something different'. One of the reasons your teachers made history class boring, was so you would be ignorant of what 'different' means. What it means is mass graves being filled with bulldozers. You'd better wake up about this. Be careful what you ask for. They probably taught you that income disparity is the result of too much freedom. Well those on the bottom rung are the ones that need their freedom the most. And if you demand someone else's demise, the power that you hand over to government will be used against you. This has never failed to happen, ever. Not ever.
You are complaining about bad teachers to a self-taught man. My teachers were bad too. We have a communist funding model for elementary through high school, and have had it for almost 100 years. What do you expect such a system to turn out?
You end your message with a prediction of violence. Please read my post above once more, carefully. Think about 'what people say'. "They deserved it." That one phrase is used to excuse genocide. Think about it. I don't want them saying that about you. "They deserved it."
I'm self taught too, in computers, networks, minor hacks, dynamic creativity, art, remodeling, and landscaping. I'm only 24.
I want them to say that "I deserved it." That i deserve solar power, an electric vehicle, universal healthcare and education, less stress, better air quality, cigarettes to be banned, and so on.
Seriously, where the hell are the sympathetic programmers??
You know what they taught me in school? Not about politics. Not about anything other than "America is the best in everything". Not about world history. Not that a college degree doesn't guarantee you a job. Not a lot of important things...
I recommend the following;
1) Watch Money As Debt, free on Google. How our monetary system works (which they will not teach in school) in 45 minutes without ever cracking a book.
2) This is a little harder, but I did it: Get a introductory physics textbook from a used bookstore, read it, learn it. At the very least it should teach you the basics of thermodynamics, forms of energy, how energy is converted, and how it flows. Then you will not be so easy to scam with 'alternative energy' schemes. There is no 'alternative energy'. There is energy. There are fuels. There are different kinds of fuels. The only ones worthwhile are the ones that give you more energy back than it takes to get it in the form you need. The tax-and-stock swindle schemes violate this basic principle. They violate property rights, too. Please don't fall for it, part of the package deal ends up with you being a peon to some surly bureaucrat who is in charge of you because she is someone's sister-in-law. Making you a literal victim of everyone else's ignorance.
3) This one is even harder; google The Virtue Of Selfishness pdf. It's an unauthorized download, the book is still in print (after years and years, people are still buying it). It's tough going. It's a series of articles. Read it one article at a time and see what you can prove wrong. It might alter the course of your life for the better.
Most people can't be bothered. They fall for this ruse:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xbp6umQT58A
Good luck to you. Most of your self-directed education will consist of undoing the damage done by the establishment memes drilled into you your whole life, and wondering, WTF??
Only if we can divide the military in two.
That bald kid shot that congresswoman in the face. I think a few of us can tiptoe around the military :P How would we look to the rest of the world if we had to declare martial law? If Obama had to do that, he'd probably be embarrassed as fuck at the next UN meeting...
We need a focus demand that will represent the 99% of our people.
http://occupywallst.org/forum/our-1st-demand-needs-to-be/
It is getting attention? That is the entire point of protests, to make governments and the people of countries to see that the people have an issue that must be resolved. If this does not work the inevatability of an actual revolution is certain.
Is it certain? Most Americans don't know how to grow food, slaughter a pig, or use a gun. This isn't 1776. I don't know how to use a gun and I don't own one. Better buddy up to the Michigan militias...but I have a feeling they are not on our side!
you do not need to know those things to reform a government and to change corporate influence, neither do you need any of those abilities to start a revolution. In fact you need no skill at all to fire a gun as it is literally point and pull. I am not saying to take down all business either, as you seem to imply, but that it needs to change, either voluntarily or forcefully, but it will have to change.
I agree, my point is that we should try to avoid an actual bloody revolution if possible. Peace out!
Yes, but as I said change must happen, if governments and corporations refuse to reform than the people will do what they always do and make them reform. There is only a few ways this will end, reform through peace, reform through violance or slavery through force from the government and corporations.
yeah, yeah I get it. Again, these lofty, vague goals aren't getting us anywhere. But, you are right, this is getting us attention. And that is the necessary first step. So, what are the next steps? I say contact you elected officials. That is what I did this morning and that is what I will do tomorrow and the day after and the day after....etc. It's the one thing I can do because I live in a tiny town in the midwest. I have to go work now. Keep up the good work!
You too thank you for the support, hopefully the next step will be to sit down and make new rules and guidlines, right now we need the voice of the people so everyone knows there is a problem, than we can start fixing the problem. This, like everything else will take time, months maybe even years but it must and therefore will happen. Have a good day at work!
Also, I'm new to this site, but reading some of the comments...geez. Guys, stop being such jerks to each other. Hate gets us nowhere. It's really disappointing. Don't be the stereotype that the media or any other political party is portraying us to be. It's easy to hate...much harder to love and seek understanding.
those are not supporters, they are either troll children or people bought by corporations. The view of the hatefull is not the view of the majority.
"Wouldn't a Constitutional Amendment requiring only public financing of political campaigns be a huge step in the right direction?"
YOU BET it would be.... but I think OWS is presently moving at just the right pace. Look at the MOMENTUM of this Movement! Already 70% of the American people sympathize with our cause... after barely a month! That's an amazing achievement in itself, but we must gradually become even more popular, and as the Movement grows stronger, it will be natural to take further steps that will get BOLDER and BOLDER.