ginnyfizz Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 Granny, no-one disputes anyone's right to protest, but there are ways of doing it and theirs ain't it. They can have as much voice as they like, but if they don't know what they are talking about, are perceived as only being there for the rumbles with the cops ( similar to a lot of the people protesting in London over the last couple of years against globalism/capitalism/student fees blah blah), then not only will people simply not listen, but they will also alienate a lot of your normal Joe Public who might otherwise have thought "Well yeah, something does stink about the way those casino bankers have contributed to this pile of poo that we're in...". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lisnpuppy Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 To be honest...American's are typically so politically apathetic that I am happy to see anyone on the street that isn't talking about the end of the world or burning books. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marharth Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 The protest alone is about how the rich and powerful are screwing everyone, mainly wall street. That is all. Nothing else. Anything else mentioned is just the voice of smaller groups within the protest, not the protest as a whole. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grannywils Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 Ginny, I know you agree that they have they right to protest. You are very much on the side of everyman in that regard. I did not mean to suggest otherwise. I guess I was trying to address those who seem to think that the protesters do not have a good enough "platform" with point by point positions and dotted i's and crossed t's. I was just trying to say that although they started out in what appeared to be a somewhat disordered fashion, I am not so sure that I agree that they are not being heard. They seem to be gathering momentum, and my concern is probably somewhat different from yours with respect to from whence that momentum is coming. But it does not bother me as much that they are a bit of a rabble, if you will. I believe that there may be some pretty bright people among that rabble, but I'm not so sure about some of the evolving "leaders". My hope (since I do support the basic underlying desires of this group)is that it can form itself into something a bit more cohesive and intelligible so that it will be taken seriously enough by all of its own members to continue to exist. and not just burn itself out meaninglessly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghogiel Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 The protest alone is about how the rich and powerful are screwing everyone, mainly wall street. That is all. Nothing else. Anything else mentioned is just the voice of smaller groups within the protest, not the protest as a whole.That is what my impression of it is as well. They are showing discontent, which is enough reason to say something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ginnyfizz Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 You must admit though, it gets a little worrying when they start using analogies like the bloke in the October 9th posting on here;- Occupy Wall Street site That's precisely the kind of thing that is going to wind up the general public, especially if they are a bit (censors self, read the transcript, concerns topic not to be discussed.) Nor do they help their cause by shrilling that the actions of the Boston Police Department yesterday were tantamount to war crimes. I think we would really need to have been there to see how excessive or otherwise the actions were, but having had personal experience of a Metropolitan Police shillelagh wrapped around my head when protesting peacefully in London (when all I had said was "Certainly officer where would you like me to move to?"...), I would certainly concede that it is far from unknown for police officers to enjoy a bit of a hoolie as well. But on a par with war crimes? Nah. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marharth Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 1. The site does not represent all of the protesters. 2. Over-exaggeration is to be expected in protests where people are mad as hell at police for beating, arresting, and pepper spraying people for no reason. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grannywils Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 Let me ask some of you a question. Do you feel that your representative democracy is working? Do you feel represented? Do you think that money has replaced people in the process? The protesters believe that among other things, in order to stop the cycle of corruption we must reform our campaign finance system, transform our tax code and revamp the way Wall Street does business. I took that information directly from one of their sites with suggestions on a letter writing campaign. I have absolutely no quarrel with any of that. It is not hard for me to understand. It is not confusing. It makes perfect sense. What is the problem here in terms of peoples' ability to understand what the protesters are protesting? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aurielius Posted October 13, 2011 Share Posted October 13, 2011 Let me ask some of you a question. Do you feel that your representative democracy is working? Do you feel represented? Do you think that money has replaced people in the process? The protesters believe that among other things, in order to stop the cycle of corruption we must reform our campaign finance system, transform our tax code and revamp the way Wall Street does business. I took that information directly from one of their sites with suggestions on a letter writing campaign. I have absolutely no quarrel with any of that. It is not hard for me to understand. It is not confusing. It makes perfect sense. What is the problem here in terms of peoples' ability to understand what the protesters are protesting? No I don't think my representative Democratic Republic is broken. We have had in the past three weeks both candidates for County Magistrate come to my veranda and ask me what I wanted in a candidate, one of which stopped back to report her progress on my concerns the other wrote an old fashioned hand written note thanking me for my unbiased input. So Granny..in my stretch of the woods the Republic is alive and kicking. No protest movement that has had more than ONE focus has ever succeeded, both Civil Rights and the Anti War movement of the 60's. were single focus concepts and they both took quite some time to make their agenda mainstream. Applauding what is in essence a flash mob for depth of sincerity is at this point premature at best and naive at worst. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marharth Posted October 13, 2011 Share Posted October 13, 2011 The one focus is disliking the one percent of the country that screwed it up, how hard is that to understand? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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