On the Occupy Wall Street site, at www.occupywallst.org, they say,
"The one thing we all have in common is that We Are The 99% that will no longer tolerate the greed and corruption of the 1%."
What are you talking about? What greed? What corruption? This is the most vacant, most intellectually sloppy protest I've ever seen. With all the problems we face as a nation, to camp out in America's cities against "greed and corruption" is ignorant and absurd.
America is among the least corrupt countries in the world. According to Transparency.org America is less corrupt than every other member of the UN Security Council except the UK (ranked as the 20th least corrupt country beating the US at 22nd).
And as for the "greed" of the 1% -- are you really protesting against greed? Seriously? What's next, sloth? Followed by lust, gluttony, avarice, vanity, and pride? You might as well put them on the list. In fact, I'd go after pride or vanity first. I've always found it more odious than greed...but that's just me.
I heard older members of OWS on the radio comparing their protest to the civil rights movement. I'm too young to claim a piece of that storied struggle but to compare "greed and corruption" to racism and sexism is insulting to the civil rights movement. I don't think greedy people lynched anyone. I don't think the "corrupt 1%" held other humans in bondage, beat them with whips, stole their babies, or...you get the idea.
I know over 9% of Americans are out of work. And I know many of them have been out of work for a very long time. It's incredibly frustrating and difficult. I got laid-off in July 2009. Thankfully I was given the chance to work for myself and I'm staying afloat that way. But please, people, what exactly is your point? What do you want to change? Who do you want to put in charge? What is your idea?
The colonists who sparked the American Revolution had a clear idea: leave the crown, start our own country with new rules. The seceding South knew what they wanted. MLK and the civil rights protesters knew where they wanted to take the country. What do you want? Or is it just sloth and gluttony run rampant in the absence of work and purpose?
I don't agree nor disagree with the protesters on wall street as far as their finer points go, but I completely appreciate what they are doing.
ReplyDeleteWhat have they done? Started a discussion. I'm amazed at the conversations that are bubbling up because of their protest. The news stories regarding the overwhelming resentment from the past few years.
I consider their protest the most successful example of the impact of people's voices since this all began.
You make a fair point Martha, that this probably can be considered the most successful "voice of the people" since the beginning of the economic meltdown. Being smart and well organized in their protests has led to this success and basically summarizes the grumblings of the last 3 years. However, it is important to recognize that any successful protest will raise questions and stimulate conversation. What I want to know is what exactly do they propose? What are their demands? Without these demands, there is no way to achieve anything, and there is no point of "occupying" these major cities.
ReplyDeletePerhaps we could ask them to consider JFK's "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country". It could also be re-worded to say "Ask not what Wall Street can do for you, ask what you can do for Wall Street". I wonder what the response would be for both questions?
ReplyDeleteWho are you, XXapplesauce? Just wondering.
ReplyDeleteMaddy's mom - Maddy is in class with your twins.
ReplyDelete