Thread: Occupy Wallstreet Thoughts

Hes been watching some youtube videos too.

Originally Posted by Bozigian

Good share Boz. I didn't watch all 3 of the videos, just a couple minutes of these 2, but I would tend to share the same views with this Chris guy. He puts his message out there better than anyone else I've heard from this movement. I wonder how many people at the movement agree with him on all of the issues he brought up though.

A lot of good discussion here with high quality content. I like. I wrote up a brief thought last week on the Occupy Wall Street crew. Imo, there are 2 types of people there, the 1% that actually know what they are talking about and the 99% that are just following what they hear or see. This is my opinion on the 99%--

"4 weeks have passed since this "Occupy Wall Street" shenanigans started. What productive things have these protesters accomplished with their lives? It's sad that you are punished for working your ass off in this country and rewarded for bitching that you don't have a job. Get up and do something! Be a productive member of society. Picketing and sulking that the system is weighing you down will not get you anywhere in life. If they hate capitalism so much, let's place them all into a system of communism. Let them wait for hours and days just to get a government controlled portion of meat and flour. What kind of hell would they raise then? Capitalism works like this- you either work your ass off and move up the food chain or you fall to the lower ranks when you don't want to work and get swallowed."

All im going to say on the matter is that it is interesting to see the difference between the american people and the european people. The first day occupy wall street went to europe, the people began to riot and destroy things but in america that doesnt happen.

Originally Posted by 458

All im going to say on the matter is that it is interesting to see the difference between the american people and the european people. The first day occupy wall street went to europe, the people began to riot and destroy things but in america that doesnt happen.

Europeans aren't stupid.

Whoever controls the might or is willing to be destructive with force sets the rules. If you aren't willing, you are forced to abide by the rules of those who are.

The occupy wallstreet movements cause doesn't have enough spirit for people to go to those extremes because they hardly have a case aside from the fact they're pussies.

There is a book called "Might is Right". I recommend all of you read it.

Originally Posted by CarrieW

I have to say I disagree with many of the people posting in this thread! this is america ffs.

for 1 that gives them the right to protest anything they want to!

I may not agree with everything they think I do believe in the right to say whats on your mind.

I dont even know what else to say but wow.

Just because you want to dismiss them as brainwashed hippies doesnt mean that you are right and they are wrong.

I cant even go on for fear I will get banned.

I think it is funny that people that agree with OWS are the first to tout Americanism. That they have the right to protest whatever they want and scold the rest of us for making fun of them for being mindless hippies. Isn't that my right to disagree with them and or make fun of them? Hypocrites.

America= freedom, liberty, capitalism.

OWS= socialism, equality at the expense of liberty and freedom.

Originally Posted by 77startup

Seems like all they did was shoot themselves in the foot IMHO. I think the real reason these riots did not happen in America is because the majority of people in our nation still believe and will fight to protect capitalism.

The people in America aren't rioting because they think there is nobility and some sort of spiritual excellence in non-violent protests.
I feel the conscience of your average citizen in this country is completely out of touch with reality due to all the absolute trash being blasted to us through the media and extreme excesses of multiculturalism. Men are starting to act like women, and the women are starting acting like men. It's sad.

Originally Posted by lleone

The U.S. is not about everyone being equal in terms of money and material assets, it's about everyone being equal in terms of having the opportunity to better themselves. That should be the goal.

Goal accomplished.

I think we fastlaners subscribe to a different kind of politics than others. Correct me if im wrong but:

We are very capitalistic, yet we don't subscribe to the break your back to make a dollar traditional conservative work ethic where you get good grades, get into a good college and try to get a "good" job; instead we make money work for us. We are more liberal when it comes to debt and leverage for our own gains, we do not believe that personal debt is evil. Yet we appreciate the value of hard work and smart financial decisions while on the fastlane, and do not expect the government to subsidize our lives and we do not appreciate redistributive government policy or burdening regulation. We believe in the ability to take control of our own lives and think that these people should do the same instead of sitting around waiting to be told what to do.

Originally Posted by Rickson9

I think that this kind of discontent stems from the widening gap between the haves and have nots. This needs to be addressed in a meaningful way or our society is doomed to experience the consequences of the past.

I don't believe that a solution is possible with our current societal structure. The posts on this thread, although a small sample size, demonstrate as much. Individuals on both sides of the "1% vs 99%" debate all want to have the 'right' opinion which implies that the environment isn't solution-oriented. History is destined to repeat itself ad infinitum. Let them eat cake, as it were.

I'd like you all to consider something completely different from what has been discussed/proposed so far.

Most of you do not remember the last time we had a big recession (the 1970s). It sucked. All of a sudden (it seemed), OPEC jacked up oil prices, and we had gas shortages (and crazy high gas prices).

All of a sudden, people started buying more Japanese cars, b/c they ran on HALF as much gas.

This caused even MORE recession in the auto industry at the time.

In the midst of all this, a movie called Network came out. At the time, it was a radical, ground-breaking film. This was back in the day when Walter Cronkite did the evening news-- a calm, statesmanlike individual who was classy, informed, and presented the news in a straightforward and unbiased manner.

This was before the days of reality TV.

It was before MTV, music videos, viral *anything*.

*************

Whenever times get tough, people get mad. This has happened throughout history. People are frustrated that their lives are not going well. They don't know WHO to blame (the oil folks? politicians? rich people? corporations?), so they just GET MAD.

I think that's what's happening w/occupy wall street. People have been getting mad/frustrated for the past few years, and this is an outpouring of that frustration.

I don't think there is a central focus. I don't think there needs to be one (except for analyzers, like on this thread, or news reporters, who are trying to make sense of things).

Try NOT to make sense of this.

Try to look at as this: Lots of people, all over the world, are mad and frustrated right now.

Each person has their own reasons for being this way-- maybe they lost their job, or their house, or they're working 3 dead-end sh*t jobs now instead of the one great six-figure job they had 4 years ago.

Whatever the reason, they're mad as hell. And they're not gonna take it anymore.

So they protest.

Take a look at this video, made back in the 1970s. In many ways, it echoes the same sentiment:



*********

So, instead of trying to make sense of this-- don't.

Look at it, instead, as a bunch of folks who are mad/frustrated/want a change for the better.

Do they have a cohesive idea on what to change, and how to change it?

Nope.

They're just mad, and frustrated.

I'm totally not trying to belittle this movement.

I think it's significant, and a very, very important indicator of what's happening in our society/economy right now.

So don't ignore it.

But don't go nuts trying to figure out the intricacies of it.

It's not that complicated.

In a nutshell:

Times are tough.

People are fed up/frustrated.

And they're taking it to the streets.

That's it.

-Russ H