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Occupy Wallstreet: Discuss


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Open forum to discuss the Occupy movement.
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I'm becoming active in the Occupy Michigan movement, had a roundtable discussion last night, it was AWESSSOME. I'm off to meet an old friend but I'll contribute more thoroughly to the topic soonish.
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What I find very interesting is there's almost NO media coverage of the movement. I had to dig a little to find out about it. If that isn't confirmation that way too much of our society and government is owned by Wall Street, I don't know what is.

'Rani
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[quote name='Rani' timestamp='1317338706' post='525689']
What I find very interesting is there's almost NO media coverage of the movement. I had to dig a little to find out about it. If that isn't confirmation that way too much of our society and government is owned by Wall Street, I don't know what is.

'Rani
[/quote]

I too noticed this....... Very good point.
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I find the undefined demands a little bit strange. Their own website says they won't leave Wall Street until their demand is met, and they're working on figuring out what that one demand is.
Just seems a little backward, no?

I think the police brutality issues are certainly an issue, but I'm largely confused about why this protest is happening in the first place.
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I was extremely dismissive of this at first, but after what happened few days ago, this seems like something that could really become a serious movement. It's staggering to see senseless police brutality in the style of Syria and other revolting third world countries going on in the streets of New York City.

Here's a great piece Lawrence O'Donnell did a few nights ago about the violence earlier this week, but be warned as some parts may be disturbing. [url="http://youtu.be/v5zmzV5IxpQ"]http://youtu.be/v5zmzV5IxpQ[/url]
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[quote name='Rani' timestamp='1317338706' post='525689']
What I find very interesting is there's almost NO media coverage of the movement. I had to dig a little to find out about it. If that isn't confirmation that way too much of our society and government is owned by Wall Street, I don't know what is.

'Rani
[/quote]

Coincidentally, I read this blog post today, which is from a group of disaffected former editors at the New York Observer: [url="http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/culture/2011/09/3533389/occupy-wall-street-media-blackout-myth-plenty-stories-none-them-big"]The 'Occupy Wall Street' media blackout myth: Plenty of stories, none of them big[/url].

[color=#000000]It details the coverage the movement has garnered, though an honest assessment would find surface coverage of the movement's goals and "demands." But as most of those stories point out, the movement itself has been rather unfocused in that respect. So, to me it seems simply that the press will not make the movement's best argument itself, which I understand. I can't find any attempt to obscure or otherwise hide what has transpired so far. The New York press is abuzz about the police's use of pepper spray on a group of protesters, for one example. [/color]

[quote name='Fusion ' timestamp='1317350037' post='525748']
I was extremely dismissive of this at first, but after what happened few days ago, this seems like something that could really become a serious movement. It's staggering to see senseless police brutality in the style of Syria and other revolting third world countries going on in the streets of New York City.

Here's a great piece Lawrence O'Donnell did a few nights ago about the violence earlier this week, but be warned as some parts may be disturbing. [url="http://youtu.be/v5zmzV5IxpQ"]http://youtu.be/v5zmzV5IxpQ[/url]
[/quote]

Of course we will all have our impressions about how police should handle incidents like this, and without judging the particular pepper spraying incident in the O'Donnell clip, I want to share the following. Police misconduct has a scale from simple imprudence to criminality, with, I think, brutality, nearing the criminal-end of that scale. Here, while possibly objectionable, and admittedly without any explanation from the officers involved or the Department, we do not have brutality. Perhaps semantics, perhaps not, but New York has experienced instances of police behave with true wanton disregard, e.g., Abner Louima. Edited by judgeposer
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I personally find it disgusting that the people being protested against completely disregard the movement. It's almost like they think angry mobs outside their jobs and police beatings are comical and irrelevant. They couldn't care less about the state of the economy and the public's opinion, or the fact that there is violent suppression of civilians right on their doorstep.
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[quote name='Epoch' timestamp='1317366861' post='525791']
I personally find it disgusting that the people being protested against completely disregard the movement. It's almost like they think angry mobs outside their jobs and police beatings are comical and irrelevant. They couldn't care less about the state of the economy and the public's opinion, or the fact that there is violent suppression of civilians right on their doorstep.
[/quote]


To throw in my 2 cents I'd like to know 'why' you are disgusted.

I mean no offense by my next statement but I'd like to get your point of view on it.

In my opinion your mindset is very much that of the people senselessly protesting but they aren't sure what for. It's only a movement if you have a specific objective in mind. From your brief post I am to understand that these people going to their 9-5 jobs trading at the whim of their employers are supposed to care or be moved if someone wants to protest peacefully or not so peacefully outside of their place of work?

If (I'm not sure where you work we're just assuming here) You worked at a chemical plant or a financial office, or taco bell. And there were mobs of protestors outside of your building protesting something (key word here) are you going to go join them and become unemployed, or are you going to look, laugh at how stupid some of them i'm sure look and then walk on in? Of course you are. Their plight is not your plight until it effects you or your mindset becomes similar to theirs. Simple as that.

America will be over run by groups of people thinking they are doing something important and are mostly acting out of fear.
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[quote name='Santino' timestamp='1317347500' post='525742']
There is now an Occupy Salt Lake group started. I like the idea, but I really hope it doesn't devolve into a bunch of armchair activists bitching about change from their facebooks.
[/quote]

There are other city-based groups - my roommate saw the Occupy Providence group a few days ago (they had a whopping turnout of 115 people), and have seen other friends on facebook respond to other facebook groups/events (Occupy Austin, Occupy Boston, etc.)...
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[url="http://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/kwk2d/first_official_release_from_occupy_wall_street/"]First OFFICIAL Release from OCCUPY WALL STREET[/url]
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwTO3RzsGmc via MSNBC
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Thanks for the video, I think I get it now. Next time I see an ATM spewing my dollars out into the street I'll be sure to criticize the people picking up the money instead of the institution responsible for the faulty ATM.


To march on Wall St. and not Washington D.C. is extremely myopic.
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There are no real stories to cover. What do you want? 27/7 coverage of a bunch of "useful idiots" standing around holding signs that just seems to have no real cohesive message? Why?


Get arrested for protesting, or even spotted on video and there goes any chance for any real security clearance, any NFA firearms OK, job with Secret Service, Treasury, DHS, FBI, NFA, and the list goes on. Stupid to slam all those doors closed when you are 20-something-and don't even know you are doing it. Even stupider to risk it as part of a mob of the great unwashed, a collection of fools, who are there for no gain of their own, and likely have no real clue what they are doing there.


Need more soap and handcuffs.
They want to go to jail, it's the cops job to oblige them.
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It appears that the group (small "g"), [url="https://occupywallst.org/"]Occupy Wall St.[/url], has issued a statement: [url="http://nycga.cc/2011/09/30/declaration-of-the-occupation-of-new-york-city/"]Declaration of the Occupation of New York City[/url].

To the extent any protesters' message becomes about police, I think they will lose focus. I find it interesting that some among them and the MSM seem to focus on the group's interaction with police, which is rather purposeless and disloyal to the group's larger "goal." Putting negative contact between the two groups aside, I cannot help but think any focus on police vs. protesters creates a red herring designed to pit the two against each other when really they have similar concerns, even if say police would never resort to similar methods of demonstration for themselves.

I also believe that most if not all of the negative interaction we've witnessed take place between police and protesters stems from the police's lack of manpower and specific experience. By way of budget cuts achieved through lower hiring rates and attrition, the NYPD's 2000 high of 40,864 uniformed officers has dropped to 32,817. In years with a larger uniformed force, the Department had the resources to devote to crowd control and demonstrations, which is referred to as task force(s). Now, those task forces have most minimal manpower devoted to them, leaving the Department to use uniformed police not specifically trained to deal with the situations we've witnessed recently. Compounding that, the Department has chosen (or needed?) to devote large amounts of manpower to counter-terrorism or intelligence.

The latest is the arrest of protesters who walked onto the Brooklyn Bridge roadway [[url="http://youtu.be/BYfti1PeDmA"]Video 1[/url], [url="http://youtu.be/KUkbXRBNGLo"]Video 2[/url]]. As a daily commuter across that bridge...I don't have any sympathy for those arrested, no matter their story.
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[img]http://publicintelligence.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/occupy-the-bqe-11.jpg[/img]

[img]http://publicintelligence.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/occupy-the-bqe.jpg[/img]

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[img]http://publicintelligence.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/occupy-the-bqe-17.jpg[/img]
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  • 2 weeks later...
Anyone ever manage to figure out just what these people want? In all the "man on the street" interviews I have seen there really seems to be no common consensus as to their desires, or what it's all about. a protest to go protest something? sure making themselves irrelevant.

rebels without a clue?
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[quote name='TheScotsman' timestamp='1318396416' post='527464']
Anyone ever manage to figure out just what these people want? In all the "man on the street" interviews I have seen there really seems to be no common consensus as to their desires, or what it's all about. a protest to go protest something? sure making themselves irrelevant.

rebels without a clue?
[/quote]

http://dissenter.firedoglake.com/2011/09/30/the-goal-and-message-of-occupy-wall-street/
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why are people so angry at people who are more successful than they are? You grew up in the same country,with access to the same schools,and they did it and you didn't so its thier fault. The question these folks should be asking themselves is why don't I work on walstreet. We have all made choices.Now we live with them. Don't hate bill gates,steve jobs,donald trump because they were good at what they do.
I don't hate a millionaire ceo because I make under 50k a year. I could have finished college and gotten my mba.I didn't so I get paid what I am worth to my company.
Ray
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