:mickey: So here it is. I really support the Occupy thing. The problem is if you want to change something, how can you do it within peaceful means whilst the powers that be could really not give 2 shits about protesters being peaceful? now I don't want to start a riot, but really, when was the last time a revolution happened without a fight.
Gandhi, I think..... Although the race equality, Martin Luther King deal stayed relatively peaceful on his side...... Not so much on the opposing side though. The thing is, yes we need to stay peaceful, but do we need total revolution or do we need the system to evolve in the proper direction. I know a lot of people think we need to tear it all down.... Then what? Do they think the lights will still be on? Food at the grocery? Will their iPhone still work??? Not if we tear it all down they won't. Change, even radical change can happen without a "revolution" in the classic sense. Evolution is what we need.... That can be peaceful.
You simply get enough people to declare that they won't play the game that the powers that be stop having power, unless they concede ant change the game.
In this tic tac toss game. The loser keeps shooting bean bags at the people that don't want to play anymore..
We have to get enough to stand up. They can't shoot us all, because then there would be no one to get a rush from controlling.
People walked into the line of fire and stayed peaceful. Everywhere they went police and anti-clvi rights people attacked them. Do OWS protesters have that fortitude? Its that level of in your face protesting and organizing that MLKJr headed. And he was one of many heads that brought civil rights to minorities. I think it will be the Civil Rights movement thats the main model for OWS. Only this time the civil rights are economic and political control for the 99% rather then elected lobbyists of the 1%. How bad do we want it? They are not going to give it us. The fight will be confrontational. We are fighting the 1%. The capitalist entity or beast that is entrenched into every part of our lives. It will take major discomfort and sacrifice besides walking into the fire as we keep the occupying growing we will have to boycot, go without, stop feeding the beast.
The real problem is getting more attention from the media/non-protestors. That's how peaceful revolutions work. It's all public relations, getting the majority (or the right people) on your side.
Exactly.... and if we lose that peaceful protest and it becomes anarchists throwing rocks and bottles, burning down stores and police cars we will lose the "support" of those that are on the fence.... (it's not support YET!) believe me there are a lot on the fence about this. They know the 1% are screwing everybody, they have heard that the OWS is trying to address this unfair economy, but Faux news keeps saying OWS are a bunch of hippie socialist/anarchists and they certainly don't want that..... they are confused about this. They think OWS is for the right thing, but much of the media says otherwise. If we keep playing the game peacefully and stay on the right track our numbers will grow, if we start throwing rocks they will shrink. Face it, we will never win over the Tea Baggers even though they are getting screwed by the 1% too...... To be honest, we don't want them. Let them sit home and watch it on Faux News. Just as long as they DON'T show up at Occupy rallies with their guns things will be fine. One of the big hurdles is the media, right wing media will always bash us, moderate media is bound because their advertisers are the 1% so there's not to much they can say that's extremely positive to the OWS. Left wing media..... Is there such a thing? Seriously! Another big hurdle is issues, not everybody at an occupy protest has a clear picture about what needs to happen or how to state those issues that need to change..... the media uses this against us.... they may interview 20 people and they will pick out the worst 3-5 out of the bunch and run with those.... That's where the "They want the Government to wipe out their school loans, free tuition" and "They want all the rich people's money to be taken away and re-distributed" comes from...... Misquotes from some poorly stated concerns about the cost of collage tuition and income disparity. You are correct when you ask "how bad do we want it" because we will have to make sacrifices..... Not sure you realize how stupid it looks from here when I see people "bitching about money" while talking on an iPhone and drinking Starbucks...... Hard for me to wrap my head around that, I live on a low fixed income and don't have such things. Those "fence sitters" I mentioned above see the same things. I'm not making judgments here, other than Apple and Starbucks both are 1% companies.... they should not be supported by OWS supporters. Maybe over the winter a group should put together a list of companies to boycott and why they should be boycotted.... The list can be forwarded via email as one of those "please pass this along" things that seem to move around rather effectively. It would be a start.
The only real way to get change in a democratic society is to vote out the wrong doers and vote in new people that take on the 99%'s agenda. Then again if the democratic process is rigged....revolution may be in order.
I think the problem we face now is the democratic process is likely rigged....... From what I see across the spectrum right now there's no problem voting out those that are in there now, but look at our options for replacements....... Not looking very good.
