Forum Post: Why the OccupyWallstreet protests failed.
Posted 12 years ago on Oct. 11, 2011, 6:25 p.m. EST by thejunkie
(50)
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
Just like the Israeli tent city protests and other social protests this protest is doomed to failure.
You do not realize that it is not possible to continue using the drug and hope for the end of it's symptoms like war, poverty, inequality etc.
You are determined to avoid the one thing which will instantly and automatically bring balance.
STOP BUYING SHIT.
How many shirts in your closet and who owns the companies who provide your funky outfits, laptops, ipods, iphones, hamburgers, chips and other useless things?Just like the Israeli tent city protests and other social protests this protest is doomed to failure.
You do not realize that it is not possible to continue using the drug and hope for the end of it's symptoms like war, poverty, inequality etc.
You are determined to avoid the one thing which will instantly and automatically bring balance.
Stop buying shit.
How many shirts in your closet and who owns the companies who provide your funky outfits, laptops, ipods, iphones, hamburgers, chips and other useless things?
Stop buying shit.
And all the associated symptoms you are now crying about will evaporate with their suppliers and the dealers will have no one to deal to.
Your basic message seems to be "This is hopeless."
If that's so, then please, continue on your merry way and don't waste your time with us 'hopeless' protesters. We don't need your negativity.
nothing has failed as of yet
I don't think that this is hopeless. I am listening to the problems of my fellow Americans, noticing where my issues meet and diverge, with the community. I am thinking of how to best articulate a sound and reasonable plan of action, for an effort, I intend to launch, parallel to this effort. While I am unemployed and I can't just pull a string to land a top position, I do know and can access the family members of a politician, a Democrat speech writer and more than a few Harvard MBAs and former CEO types. I also have access to the Internet and I can reach out to economists and others, to help me articulate a plan that will enrich and advance the political elite, Wall Street and Main Street. HR types might not value my MBA, but I actually know a few things about business, economics and managing people.
I also know that there are experts, we can reach out to, willing to talk with anyone looking for a domesticated, pragmatic mutually beneficial solution to our problems. There are many ways to make money. There is no free lunch either, but that it par for the process. There is no reason why Wall Street and Main Street can't see eye to eye. I believe that Wall Street and Corporate America can make a killing off of advancing MBAs, like me and make a killing off of advancing skilled American Union workers. We can put even the utterly inexperienced to work, without costly training; we live in an age of computer simulation, after all.
We can create an economy that attracts the Global community to our shores, in a way that favors both shareholders and Unions, so we do not compete with the World, but share a common economy and a common Government, with the people of the World, right here in the USA; with an internal economy that is highly self reliant, diverse in commercial enterprise development and free from undue rationing out of business investment, due to unnecessary Government accessing of debt securities markets and the other intrusive things a country with a growing population, can surely avoid. We can lower taxes across the board and fund social services and pensions, as we will have a growing population.
I am really confident that CEOs and I- Bankers will want to work on making money off of re-imagining the USA, as a dominant and forward looking Political Economy; since successful people tend to favor ambitious projects and bold visions. One of the problems with challenging the current Global order is that we have yet to advance an order of grander vision and sounder economic policy. If my efforts face setbacks, I will ask everyone I access to guide me, as to what they would need to see from me, in order to reinitiate a dialogue; so if a door closes, a window opens and we move forward. Best Regards, MJ Morrow
Funny, but impractical, and although I'm all in favor of taking down today's ineffective and inefficient Top 10% Management Group of Business & Government, there's only one way to do it – by fighting bankers as bankers ourselves. Consequently, I have posted a 1-page Summary of the Strategic Legal Policies, Organizational Operating Structures, and Tactical Investment Procedures necessary to do this at:
http://getsatisfaction.com/americanselect/topics/on_strategic_legal_policy_organizational_operational_structures_tactical_investment_procedures
Join
http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/StrategicInternationalSystems/
if you want to support a Presidential Candidate at AmericansElect.org in support of the above bank-focused platform.
The TEA party protests didn't need Unions, Soros and Kayne West to send it blankets, tarp, shelter, water, food, internet access, buses and condoms to be successful for a month.
And all along it had negative media attention, every individual needed to provide the money to bus them self there, shelter them self, take the day off and feed themselves.
And call me crazy...But didn't those last for a mere day and make the intended point?
Not buying things will not do much in itself, as eventually people will have to buy again. However, a strike organized by the workers would have a similar effect and could do quite a bit of good. Such a strike could be organized by the occupation, so don't make the mistake of spelling doom. This occupation has already done a lot of good to raise awareness and still has great potential to create real change
I don't agree with the assumption of eminent failure! But I do feel based on some comments that there is a trend to get off message and move towards a direction that could be a dead-end street for what you are trying to accomplish. It's great to see all of the comments posted on this site and the expressions of passion many of you feel. However, this movement can not be a "Fix All" for the future. Life is not like a modular home where in one day all of the pieces become a home. There must be a foundation built and that will likely be the hardest work. If you fail here it will hamper all future efforts to rebuke the current system and bring about real change.
The core of the problem is as old as humanity - power, greed, and corruption. These are systems that have been skillfully put into place over decades/centuries. Designed to ultimately serve the purpose of the"1%" who benefit from it. The biggest problem is getting past the false perceptions we have all been taught. We have all been taught about freedom, but few of us have really experienced it. We have been taught to be part of a society which is nothing more than a resurrection of the feudalistic systems from the past. You have no ownership of yourself! And at the choosing of your government or courts all can be taken away from you. When God gave man freewill, this was not what he intended. We are not free!
The "1%" continue to pass wealth and possession on from one generation to the next. Each building upon the systems passed down. How can they do this? Because we allowed them to define what the very essence of life should be. Their wealth and power is fictional. They are only wealthy and powerful because you have given them that power and wealth. The one fact that they are truly fearful of. If we no longer recognize their systems of wealth, their whole system will collapse. Remember, their millions/billions of $$$ in the bank(s) are nothing more than a fictitious number stored in a computer somewhere.
Getting back to the Occupy Wall Street, there must be a specific goal(s) to this movement. There must be true reform to the financial systems or we must be willing to abandon them. Go cold turkey! Build our own work around if we must. I have started a facebook page "No bonus for Wall Street" which I hope many will join. Essentially, we need to de-fund Wall Street and the to-big-to-fail banks. I know many of you have lost a great deal in the past year(s) and will pray for all of us to have the strength to go forward. Be mindful for there are those who want this to fail and will take measures both legal and illegal to portray you in a way that will turn away others from joining.
I'm not sure if the protests have failed; I doubt this is a fair assessment given they've only been going for a month or so. I think the OP touches on an important point, though- much of the housing and credit crises were caused not only by banks which practiced predatory lending, but by people who irresponsibly bought into the idea they could own a mansion on a janitor's salary. Part of the protest's strength is going to have to come from cutting some materialistic ties; it can't all just be sign waving and slogan chanting. Fight on the corporation's terms and boycott.
What would really be interesting is to see if we could make a list of the companies in America who don't have our interests at heart, and boycott all of their products in favor of those made by companies who do support our goals. (This would also require a coalescing of what, specifically, "our goals" are, but that's for another post). Assuming we could make that list, we could disseminate it to all the Occupy splinters.
So what you are suggesting is that only the drug dealers who do not supply the chosen drug at a competitive or decent price and do not take care of the interests of the junkies should be boycotted and that drug dealing and drug use should continue and it's consequences ignored?
Do you see how addicted you have become?
I think that expecting people to "stop buying shit" entirely is unrealistic; if one has to buy something, it might as well be from a producer that has more of the consumer's interests at heart, rather than less. A car from a company who produces from a 0-landfill factory on American soil, for example; coffee from Fair Trade plantations. Things like that.
Not negativity and not hopeless.
My posts are clear.
Will succeed if use of drug is stopped.
Will not succeed if use of drug is continued in any amount.
The end result will be the same whether the 99% stops the buying/greed/addiction wheel or whether it is allowed to run it's course.
The incredibly huge difference being that the amount of destruction and despair through the latter will leave an earth ridden with violence, war and hatred.
The 99% has a great opportunity, but will not succeed if they continue using the drug even if only in small amounts.
The truth is clear, but I am not sure they are ready to face the fact that they are the main wheel in their own suffering and that the 1% are only stupid/ignorant beings who have no real wisdom or intelligence, like animals who think life consists of eating, shitting and sleeping.
I think the middle class has for the most part stopped that cuz the're broke. but imagine how much of the're shit we could buy & how much F-ing richer they would be if they'd just fix this SHITHOLE with just a small amount of common sence.
I feel that many protesters would be OK with corporation-Citizens if they were more transparent and regulated to ensure that their bottom line doesn't dictate their behavior as it relates to the environment or the economic stability of the society as a whole. I haven't heard anyone crying for the end of Corporation-Citizens as much as the loopholes they use, the environment they rape and destroy, the people they exploit for cheap labor, and the irresponsible manner in which they clearly affect our political system. But yeah, if we wanted to end all Corporations, that's how we'd do it, by not buying shit. Given enough time, and without a course corrections, the 99% will no longer be able to "buy shit". And it will all be thanks to the Corporations, who will still be fat yet not sated with their profit injections.
obvious troll is obvious.
to get serious requires a few things they don't have. like chat admins who aren't ego serving propaganda tools, a wiki, 1001 sub forums, an actual game plan, a straight up political platform... you know.. basic organizational things sane people do BEFORE protesting.. like figure out a diplomacy and logic centered metaprocess to give their chatadmins so that they don't really just drive out even more people than the trolls. Adminatrolla. trollaAdmin. Whats the difference to somebody whos got the truth facing a propaganda tool abusing admin powers to push their agenda? how can you prevent such a thing? Metaprocess. did i mention metaprocess? and science diplomacy science psychology science sociology and all those textbooks to read B4 protesting?
you can't have capitalism without a free(SLAVE) market. but you can have a free market without capitalism. And thats strangely the only way it CAN work.
Marketing 101 was fascinating. I admit thats a lot less than a bachelors but its sure more than enough to see whats really going on given the other things I know. Capitalism is not the problem since it does not exist. corporate oligarchy is the problem. capitalism has never been tried. I am a democracy guy. in order for real democracy to function a free market system is required. Thats not capitalism. thats a free market system. there is a subtle difference there which most people would miss. I will again repeat. Neither capitalism nor marxism nor communism nor socialism has ever existed. All of those governments were oligarchy pretending to be something as a con scam. Telling that simple truth gets one banned out of the Chat by either a capitalist or a socialist whos pissed you just said their pet ideology isn't real. It isn't. anybody who thinks that it is is accidentally playing for team corporate oligarchy as a tool. the ONLY system worth talking about is DEMOCRACY. how democracy HANDLES a FREE MARKET system is dynamic and interesting and NOT capitalism.
o. yes. no. yes. what? making change is not reliant on changing the money system one tenth as much as it is on changing the informational ecology. Going to a gold standard as an idea is a proof of ignorance, not a solution. Really the end game is we evolve out of money. To do that we evolve first new currencies and new economic strategies. this leads to economic singularity in about 50 years. If everyone is a millionaire how much you get depends on exactly the material valuation of that money. Which is to say that by the time money becomes obsolete everyone will live like the current millionaire. Tangible items to other tangible items? the real economy is about ideas, change the ideas and everything changes. the problem with the tangible economy is it does not change; its a static reality. you can't make a meaningful gold standard with only enough gold to represent on millionth of the economy. You can make a purely imaginal money system work; but it has to be subject to moral and ethical laws. This is about pinning down those moral and ethical laws and implementing them in new currencies; not trying to imagine a control freak impossible non solution because of the simplicity with which you go about thinking over the problem.
once again. there has never been a socialist or capitalist economy. in all instances such nations were oligarchies. using a mask and a con scam and telling their dupes and pwns that they were something other than oligarchy. the big hump to get over is that the USA oligarchy and the Soviet oligarchy are in on this lie against the rest of us TOGETHER. Neither of them was ever anything other than an oligarchy. both claimed some other system in order to have US fight over the ideals of THAT system while they secretly shafted us all playing a completely different game.
http://occupywallst.org/forum/stop-playing-the-devils-games/
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150343790359248&set=a.10150264906064248.348293.511989247&type=1&theater
hey, you stole my line!
er. sorry. you want it back slightly used?
I am amased at how Occupy works. Would like to have your input on the movement to understand it better by answering 10 questions. http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/Q3NF7QB Please, take some time for it and I am happy to share the results. Thank you!
Cant click on more than one answer in a column. Anyone else having this problem?
I was under the impression that Occupy Wall St didn't have socialistic tendencies like you are endorsing.
Don't protest wealth, protest their influence in politics.
I think the middle class has for the most part stopped that cuz the're broke. but imagine how much of the're shit we could buy & how much F-ing richer they would be if they'd just fix this SHITHOLE with just a small amount of common sence.
Life is not fair and never will be. You all should be thankful for the lot you have been given in life, for billions of people have it far worse than you do.
They want to continue using the drug but without the consequences or destructive symptoms. Junkies protesting for cheaper drugs and blaming the dealer for their suffering.