OWS - how true change might occur

[PETRUS]

This is a post in response to the incessant complaints about the absence of specific policy prescriptions in today's Occupy Wall Street movement.

Maybe it's just not time yet.

The Declaration of Independence was little more than a bitch-fest. The Constitution came 10 years later.

Get on board - and I mean provide real material support. Donate. Get in the street. Be prepared to strike.

And make some real contributions to the discussion.

Unless you like the way things are. But if not, get involved and help shape the future.

[itsallhappening]

1. "Maybe it's just not time yet."

In other words, jump on board and ride the train even though you don't know where it's going. But, hey, it'll be fun! Unless it goes somewhere we weren't expecting. Or nowhere.

If there's even a train.

:shrug:

[PETRUS]

2. King George III loves you

Willfully missing the point?

[itsallhappening]

3. You said it's not time for a point.

[PETRUS]

6. I most certainly did not.

The point is self evident. The solution is a different matter.

And there's a difference between the point of the protests and the point of a post. Surely you know that.

But whatever, there are always bystanders and loyalists. You've made your position clear.

[itsallhappening]

9. Correct. My position is very clear.

My clear position is that these protests aren't clear. They are a blank slate for people.

Angry about losing your house? Take to the streets.

Angry that you got a degree in philosophy and now you can't find a job? Shake your fist at a building.

Angry about medical testing on animals? Get out there with a sign.

Angry about who's in the baseball playoffs? Meet on the corner and jump up and down.

Angry that big bad corporations are keeping you down and want you to be poor? Take out your $500 iPhone and Tweet about it. Or use your Samsung phone to take a video of it it and post it on that small corporation Google's website. Then settle in for the night and watch Netflix like the other poor huddled masses.

Seriously, though, this is a bunch of malcontents who show up at rallies and protests because they like to do that sort of thing. Maybe we can come up with a revenue stream that will allow us to at least pay them. But not TOO much because people will too much money are inherently eeeeevil.

It'll subside in a matter of weeks. I give it maybe a month. Then we'll never hear about it again.

[ixion]

14. the point is very clear:

End corruption at both the corporate and governmental levels. Your mockery is counter-productive.

[tama]

10. More like

let's jump to the train we don't know where it's going - yeah, fun! - instead of staying in the train we know where it's going - hitting the wall. Especially when we know that the engine has been allready crashed and the concussion wave is coming to crash all the passenger wagons of the train we know where it's going.

[Odin2005]

4. Ha, I just make the DoI reference on another message board. K&R!!!

[PETRUS]

5. Right on!

Where's yours? I'll K&R.

[Odin2005]

7. Doh, by "other message board" I mean off of DU.

http://www.fourthturning.com/forum/showthread.php?9919-Protesters-Occupy-Wall-Street/page17

"You do know that the American Revolution started the same way, with a list of complains against Parliament, right? "

[PETRUS]

8. Ah, silly me. And thanks. nt

[xchrom]

11. Recommend

[ixion]

12. exactly. Spot on.

First we need to get everyone's attention and win the battle, then we can talk about specific solutions.

[malaise]

13. It's that simple

but the instant gratification posse will never get it.

[PETRUS]

15. Thanks, and

I think in some ways it was extraordinarily respectful that the organizers didn't start out with The Answers. A few hundred radicals writing the rules is anti-Democratic, too. How many times do the activists have to say that it's not about them? It's about creating a climate where everyone has a voice in shaping public policy and not just people who can buy "access." It's a protest about Democracy, plain and simple. The fact that there is such a long and varied list of grievances is a natural product of the fact that the rules have been written by the 1% (and applied unequally at that, evidence of our multi-tiered justice system is piled high). Can every "issue oriented" activist carrying a sign hope to have their concerns addressed? No, some represent a distinct minority, and unless their problem has to do with some kind of real discrimination (we do need constitutional protections against the "tyranny of the majority") those complaints will go unanswered. Nobody expects a perfect world, but can do much, much better.