Occupying My Mind
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http://www.fightaging.org/archives/2009/02/the-decline-is-al...
"Freedom and other necessities for prosperity (such as the rule of law, absence of taxation, and so forth) have been in decline in the US over the past decade. The specific proximate causes for the legislation and social changes that brought this decline don't really matter all that much - there is always some sequence of events that politicians and populace can use as justification and cover to further destroy all the qualities that once made their society great."
http://www.fightaging.org/archives/2011/10/the-prospects-for...
"It's no great secret that the US is decaying; this is history unfolding as a procedural. The US is ever more rapidly becoming just another Europe, Japan, or pick your dysfunctional fascist-leaning (per the dictionary definition) economy of choice. The ending of empires that centralize economic and legislative power, develop a ruling class, grow their military, and debase their currency is pretty much written in stone - it's the details of the move from wealth enjoyed in freedom to authoritarian poverty that will surprise people in their nature and timing."
Government is the only institution that we, as citizens of secular democracies, have to protect us from undue influence from theocracy and plutocracy - and taxation is the most efficient way to fund this. Most governments are failing at exacting their democratic duties, however, because over the last 50 years, through incredibly effective lobbying, they have allowed themselves to be captured by special interests and the actual rules and accountability frameworks that governments operate within have been distorted and perverted. This has happened to the point that most western nations may still have 1 person == 1 vote, but they barely have representative democracy.
We need to reform government and strengthen its ability to act as the trusted protector of its people against unhealthy factional interests, not destroy it.
In principle I agree with the movement, hell, I will always support anyone wanting to stick it to the man. But I wonder how many realize that their freedom and ability to have this opinion is built on the breaking backs of pretty much most of the world?
I can relate to many of the concerns of the OWS movement (corporate political donations, loose banking regulations), but there's a lot of problems with the movement as well.
I'd compare this to the civil rights movement. There were plenty of privileged whites who protested segregation in the US. You could have then reasonably argued that they were privileged because the US systematically enslaved and then repressed blacks. And I would say to this, "So what?" They were protesting something they saw as a problem, on the basis of their shared humanity.
I guess what I mean to say is that the world order needs to change, but I don't think this is the way to go about affecting said change. The movement is basically asking for a new form of everything ... but they're asking the Old Form (tm) to do the hard work of changing.
Also, FWIW, I don't think there's really enough data to say anything meaningful about the impact of re-tweeting on revolutions. Rather, "clicktivism" is often ridiculed for not contributing anything at all towards political means.
Certainly there's privilege in even being able to deal with getting arrested that a lot of people in this country cannot afford. And there are certainly a lot of people that may want to join the protests because of a job or whatever. But I don't think you can discredit the movement based on that privilege.
http://www.economist.com/blogs/dailychart/2011/09/us-househo...
They're useful for their numbers, but I don't think the majority of people in these modern movements find them totally credible.
My assumption would be "not". Light one small candle rather than curse the dark. Talk with the people who will discuss it, regardless of their affiliation (with #OWS or not). Dark times are a time when the future gestates. Decide what you want born of it and become the (gentle) midwife to it's (probably bloody) birth.
Peace.
The tea party that cheers execution ? Somehow I don't think they'll change things for the best.
Also, if you're being consistent, any show of idiocy from OWS protesters (you can start with the Lyndon LaRouche bunch) should lead you to discount that entire movement, too.
If these protests continue to build, I can see them as really creating an anti-consumerism sentimentality that could lead to an entire new form of public commons. The whole OWS movement is based upon sharing information and resources and even if it doesn't "scale" well, this is how a lot of kids that grew up on the internet think. More so, the recent financial crisis made a lot of people realize that their stuff doesn't define them and that there's more to life, like creating things. They're angry because they're sick of getting fucked over, that they want to be able to afford health care and raise a family in a nice home, not that they want to someday be able to buy a yacht and a bunch of jewelry.
The fact that the movement is organized and growing without a clear set of demands makes me think that (hopefully) we're leading to a new collectivism that still allows for individual expression. In my town I've experienced a lot of people from varying viewpoints to discussing the big issues and being respectful about it like never before.
Honestly, the more this grows the more excited I become for the future of this country and world.
Show me a corporation that's "TOO good at extracting wealth out of citizens and leaving them with less and less ability to gain wealth of their own" and I'll show you a corporation that's in bed with the political system.