To me, it seems quite clear what the Occupiers are saying, and I understand why -- despite the early manifesto (http://www.nycga.net/resources/declaration/), which delineates the things they want changed-- they are not boiling their message down to a single soundbite which can be discounted/belittled/ignored. They are against the soundbites which have substituted for rational thinking, discussion and compromise in our government for about a decade. A lot of what's gotten us to this stage is politicians running on Pledges and sound bites which sound good, fit nicely on a bumper sticker, but don't address the core problems. Occupy can't reduce itself to sound bites, or it fails.
They are trying to demonstrate that there is a significant body of Americans who do not agree with big corporation welfare, bank deregulation, or all the things that highly-paid Washington lobbyists tell Congress the American People wants. They are trying to express the fact that dissenting American voices can't be brushed aside or ignored as only a few people not worth the politicians' time to pay attention to. They are trying to counteract the lobbyist megaphone that has Congress' ear. WE EXIST is a message in and of itself, when a government has turned inwards and is only listening to one point of view and forgetting a large swath of the country.
Occupiers DO carry signs with messages boiled down to distinct little bumper stickers for those who don't want to engage them and get more involved. They have had a lot of constructive talk; they are accomplishing things that aren't making the news at all, crowdsourcing to deal with various problems of occupiers and problems in the particular cities where the movement is happening. But of course, all the crowdsourcing in the world can't substitute for government, so they have to keep pushing until Congress stops yelling, "Write it on a bumper sticker and we'll get back to you! (not)" and finally say, "Okay, so, what's your problem?" Which only happens if there's enough Occupiers that Congress fears it may lose votes if it doesn't pay attention.
I am, quite frankly, too lazy to get aboard and haven't been paying enough attention. But I've gotten the message. I know what Occupy is about and why it's ongoing and why they haven't decided just to come up with "GLASS STEAGALL" or one other simple band-aid when they're trying to raise awareness of issues and change consciousness. I am fully aware that most of them aren't saying "Bring down the Man!" but rather "fix the system so it works for everyone!"
See this Wapo column (http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/occupying-the-millenial-way/2011/11/02/gIQAc6cdnM_story.html) from the head of MTV, of all people, for a useful perspective.
I kept up with what was going on with Occupy via UK news sources, because they're a lot more informative than American news. The Guardian UK has finally stopped its wall-to-wall Occupy coverage, but I learned a ton more reading that site in one day than all the American news sources put together.
I don't entirely agree with Occupy. But I do understand it. And I don't think they're just sitting on their asses freezing to death waiting for someone to give thme a handout. I give them a little more credit than that. They are trying to reframe the whole conversation about what America is and what government is for. And in that, I think they have succeeded wildly, since the issues they've raised have now become a daily part of conversation in the news, and presumably, are even penetrating Capitol Hill.
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Date: 2011-12-09 07:54 pm (UTC)To me, it seems quite clear what the Occupiers are saying, and I understand why -- despite the early manifesto (http://www.nycga.net/resources/declaration/), which delineates the things they want changed-- they are not boiling their message down to a single soundbite which can be discounted/belittled/ignored. They are against the soundbites which have substituted for rational thinking, discussion and compromise in our government for about a decade. A lot of what's gotten us to this stage is politicians running on Pledges and sound bites which sound good, fit nicely on a bumper sticker, but don't address the core problems. Occupy can't reduce itself to sound bites, or it fails.
They are trying to demonstrate that there is a significant body of Americans who do not agree with big corporation welfare, bank deregulation, or all the things that highly-paid Washington lobbyists tell Congress the American People wants. They are trying to express the fact that dissenting American voices can't be brushed aside or ignored as only a few people not worth the politicians' time to pay attention to. They are trying to counteract the lobbyist megaphone that has Congress' ear. WE EXIST is a message in and of itself, when a government has turned inwards and is only listening to one point of view and forgetting a large swath of the country.
Occupiers DO carry signs with messages boiled down to distinct little bumper stickers for those who don't want to engage them and get more involved. They have had a lot of constructive talk; they are accomplishing things that aren't making the news at all, crowdsourcing to deal with various problems of occupiers and problems in the particular cities where the movement is happening. But of course, all the crowdsourcing in the world can't substitute for government, so they have to keep pushing until Congress stops yelling, "Write it on a bumper sticker and we'll get back to you! (not)" and finally say, "Okay, so, what's your problem?" Which only happens if there's enough Occupiers that Congress fears it may lose votes if it doesn't pay attention.
I am, quite frankly, too lazy to get aboard and haven't been paying enough attention. But I've gotten the message. I know what Occupy is about and why it's ongoing and why they haven't decided just to come up with "GLASS STEAGALL" or one other simple band-aid when they're trying to raise awareness of issues and change consciousness. I am fully aware that most of them aren't saying "Bring down the Man!" but rather "fix the system so it works for everyone!"
See this Wapo column (http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/occupying-the-millenial-way/2011/11/02/gIQAc6cdnM_story.html) from the head of MTV, of all people, for a useful perspective.
I kept up with what was going on with Occupy via UK news sources, because they're a lot more informative than American news. The Guardian UK has finally stopped its wall-to-wall Occupy coverage, but I learned a ton more reading that site in one day than all the American news sources put together.
I don't entirely agree with Occupy. But I do understand it. And I don't think they're just sitting on their asses freezing to death waiting for someone to give thme a handout. I give them a little more credit than that. They are trying to reframe the whole conversation about what America is and what government is for. And in that, I think they have succeeded wildly, since the issues they've raised have now become a daily part of conversation in the news, and presumably, are even penetrating Capitol Hill.