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Forum Post: Your Media Outlook

Posted 12 years ago on Oct. 6, 2011, 4:44 p.m. EST by sujigu (7) from Detroit, MI
This content is user submitted and not an official statement

I am not at the protests but have been watching with excitement from home. You guys aren't looking so hot except when liberal commentators portray you. The forums on other news sites portray you as dirty, smelly college students looking for a handout. We can dispel all of these preconceptions if you get your messaging right. I have some suggestions to counter some of the spin they're putting on you guys:

Quickly come up with a set of demands. Don't call it a manifesto. Be sure not to sound anti-capitalist (even if you are) and not too anti-corporate, otherwise you seem like anarchists. Pick some spokespeople, the most eloquent you can find, and be sure they're young and dressed nicely. I'm not saying be Glenn Beck, but the problem with the movement is you don't have one.

Here are some buzzwords that you might be able to use to craft your message.

"Corporate Citizenship: Corporations are not above the law" This helps you not sound too anti-capitalist, because people don't want a worker revolution just yet. You want corporations to act within the best interest of the society that supports them. You do not want them to keep harping on "well you're using an Ipad, a product of a corporation, so you're a hypocrite." You could even develop a horizontal model of a corporation and form one yourselves, where there isn't a CEO and there is no incentive to squeeze people's pay for profit. Also be sure to call out the banks on the ILLEGAL stuff they do. Constantly use that word.

"Build infrastructure in Boston, not Baghdad." This will appeal to more Americans, has a strong anti-war stance which everyone is expecting of this movement.

You might want to focus on all of the issues relating to poverty and how loudmouths like Pat Robertson and Mike Huckabee don't do jack squat. You don't see big church pastors in Northern Michigan giving people fuel and food to survive through the winter.

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6 Comments


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[-] 1 points by Boletus (125) 12 years ago

While I agree with your feelings and ideals, the mainstream media will continue to try to belittle us any way they can, simple because they are a tool of the 1%. Leaders can be discredited, and anything less than inclusive goals can be used to divide us. This is growing from the ground up, and is powered by people from all walks of life. That is its strength.

[-] 1 points by sujigu (7) from Detroit, MI 12 years ago

I know what you mean but you are messaging, and the people watching have no one to connect to emotionally just yet, and I'm trying to help you counter how you're being portrayed. People are going to decide whether or not they're on your side in a snap if they're the casual type.

If your goal is to go beyond two party politics...hmm...you should do something humanitarian. Like I think occupy michigan should build houses for the people up here who are going to be cold this winter. You could do something similar. That'd endear people to you. I'm sure the union could get you some equipment and teach you how to build stuff. That also dispels the myth that you're lazy and on welfare.

[-] 1 points by vamptvo (5) 12 years ago

That's actually really awesome, and I had considered a similar idea myself. Since the NYCGA seems to be forming its own internal government-like organizational structure, it would be interesting to see some community outreach, like, say, feeding the homeless. I'm not actually at the protests, so I can't bring it up directly, but hopefully somebody can propose this idea at the assembly.

[-] 1 points by vamptvo (5) 12 years ago

I'm not a fan of slapping a spokesperson on this just yet. When Julian Assange came out as the "leader" of WikiLeaks, the US government and news organizations got to work immediately on a character assassination. In cases like these, I think a bigger, less centralized target is easier to hit but harder to destroy.

The manifesto can wait too. Again, that creates a simple target and pushes this straight into the realm of two-party politics.

Nevertheless, I totally agree that there needs to be a better overall image. Less of a scruffy college student look and more of a "on my way to work" look. Do that and middle-class, working adults will start paying attention.

[-] 1 points by sujigu (7) from Detroit, MI 12 years ago

Focus more on the bank bailouts, focus heavily on the human cost of being ILLEGALLY foreclosed on, and for the love of god, get some good looking people to the forefront. You want people at home to think "That could be my kid!" I want this to succeed!

[-] 1 points by morriden (128) from Burton, MI 12 years ago

Id clap but you couldnt hear me.. Well said.