Seize the Discourse: #OccupyTheDebates
Posted 12 years ago on Oct. 11, 2012, 4:46 p.m. EST by OccupyWallSt
Tags:
election,
occupy the debates
In 2008, many people throughout the world backed Obama. Some international polling reported over 85% of people across the globe backed his promises of “Change.”
Of course, the only “Change” to unfold was the continued expansion of the military industrial complex, privatization, deportation of migrants, austerity, resource depletion, and imperialist agendas. This lethal cocktail resulted in the further consolidation of vast wealth at the top of society. While Obama and Romney blatantly lie to the world in debates over the meaningless differences in their nearly-identical policies, the rich are getting richer and the poor getting poorer, and the methods of exterminating the poor are becoming ever more sophisticated and now, automated. Big banks continue to get bigger as they rig the system (see: LIBOR) while foreclosing on homes and earning vast profits at the expense of the rest of us. The disparity in wealth has proceeded at an even faster rate under Obama than ever before. His signature health care law is merely a handout to corporate interests that fails to protect the most vulnerable. With nearly 1,000 U.S. Military bases encircling the globe, it is not only those inside the 50 states weighing the potential ramifications of the outcome. Average people across the planet are stakeholders who will suffer its effects.
Thus, the highly topical #OccupyTheDebates online encampment of mainstream debate hashtags is a revolutionary social media action. It enables the international community to participate in the four-yearly spectacle first hand. No longer are we passively absorbing speeches on issues with pre-approved parameters; we are free to air our legitimate concerns and fears in the public domain. We are not constrained by pomp and circumstance, or blacked out by the conventional media who find themselves having to compete for the attention of what was once a captive audience.
