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i asked a few people what they think of the occupy movement and they all said that they don't see the point because the protesters don't seem to have a very clear plan of action. as in, when does this end? what change do you need to see happen in order to stop protesting?
i don't think it's pointless at all. this isn't like a union strike where you're protesting for something. the occupy movement is against something. and everyone, including the protesters, know that this something cannot be easily be changed. but that's fine, because the movement is to bring attention to the issue: the unfairness of massive financial inequality.
this reminds me of the sit-ins and the rallies of the 60's for desegregation and 70's against the war. did the protesters think that by sitting in a diner suddenly there would be change? of course not. they were looking for media attention (and not in a stupid kardashian way), and they got it. which led to others around the country also starting protest movements. and eventually there was change.
with the occupy movement, there may not be drastic change, who knows? those in charge are generally in, if not the upper 1%, at least the top 5%. but this movement is about money and unemployment. and since a lot of those occupiers don't have jobs to go to anyway (largely thanks, in their mind, to the upper 1%), theoretically, they could sit there forever. part of the occupy movement is to shame the fat cats. remind them of the 99% many of them don't seem to give a shit about even though we power the world they hold temporarily hold power over.
2 comments:
I'd agree that the movement has been successful in garnering attention and starting discussions, but I don't see it leading to the change those involved in OWS are hoping for.
As you've pointed out, the 1% is likely a subset of "those in charge". Is this movement strong enough to get that group to create policy or bring about change that hurts themselves? Shaming alone won't do anything.
Meanwhile, you have a group called the 53%. They describe themselves as the group that pays the taxes that pay the unemployment checks for those of OWS. An unverified Thomas Jefferson quote sums it up fairly well: "The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not." Pretty sure this isn't the sort of attention the OWS participants want, but it's what you end up with when you don't have a goal. Any business professional can tell you that work doesn't get done if there aren't clearly defined success criteria.
i totally agree with you. a lot of people don't work, and simply because they don't want to. i believe in things like unemployment, universal health care, social security... but i would be a lot likely to think so if our unemployment situation were more like france's. but i wonder where they got the 53% number. i feel like it should be much much more...
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