Occupy The Bored Board.

ddvmor · **I am the Jammie King!**

Occupy The Bored Board.

Truckman · Old. But wise!

Without wasting a lot of life's remaining time, I've made a couple of observations about them:

It appears to be a collection of the great unwashed gathering in the great outdoors much to the relief of us who occupy the indoors with our indoor plumbing...

I've seen some videos of them chanting after their "leader" says something through a megaphone...I suppose they've started their own cult...

It also appears that the laws governing trespassing have been suspended......Ben

Aodan · Teiam Member

People are down there for a lot of reasons -- some relevant, some not (whenever you get a large group of people, there will always be the ones out there trying to push their own cause even if it has nothing at all to do with the central message). I have friends that have been down in the city since the beginning. Some come and go, spend a weekend, then come back. I'd be down there but given the random outbreaks of brutality and violence aimed at protestors, I can't risk it right now (I was randomly in Times Square right before the protest moved up there, and the police were there in riot gear with zip ties and batons at the ready). They're not all members of "the great unwashed". A lot of them are honest, decent people who are tired of getting shit on by supposed "representatives" that have been bought and paid for. They are people who HAVE looked for jobs -- have spent MONTHS doing so and despite all of the protection for "job creators" there are no jobs to be had. Did you know that many business are outright saying "unemployed need not apply"? That unless you already have a job, you're not getting one from them? At 53 years old my father was let go from a job that he had given his heart and soul to for 15 years. Why? As an example to the rest of the employees that if they could let someone like HIM go, NONE of them were safe. His wife was laid off from her job a few months later. They have a mortgage, and car payments, and expenses and THANKFULLY were able to find work after a few months so they weren't in the hole too badly. But they were LUCKY. They don't live above their means, they are just trying to survive -- but there are people out there who tell them that somehow they deserved it, or they didn't try hard enough or save enough or blahblahblah bootstraps. My brother is an epileptic who has to hope that he doesn't get laid off or fired and have to go without benefits. He can't afford to pay for his medication out of pocket. Yet, there are candidates up there who say if you don't have health insurance, you should just do everyone a favor and die. Conditions are getting worse, not better, and this is a reaction to that. People are upset, and angry and are feeling abandoned by their government. That's why they (or at least most of them) are down there.

This opinion piece on CNN.com explains it a bit as well: http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/05/opinion/rushkoff-occupy-wall-street/index.html

Truckman · Old. But wise!

Jackie, you alluded to a "central message" and that's the part I'm having a hard time with, there doesn't seem to be one...Or maybe I'm too obtuse to see it...

If it's about jobs and the lack threof, getting mad about it and showing how destructive and disruptive one can be is not the way to solve the problem...Innovation and ingenuity will go a lot farther in putting groceries on the table than milling about with others who have nothing better to do than wring their hands and bemoan their fate...

If its about waiting for the government to do something, then the answer is they've caused enough trouble already by spending us into a hole...Let free enterprise work as it's supposed to and get the economy moving...As a businessman, I've always understood that money is worthless unless it's circulating...I can't get rich unless I spend what I've earned to generate more income...

I was 50 when I quit a good-paying career to start my own business, and even if I hadn't found success I wouldn't have known until I tried...I certainly sympathize with your Dad and everyone else who's out of work, but I assure you the opportunities are there to those who open their eyes and try... smile ...Ben

Aodan · Teiam Member

My dad had his own business, had it for years and was doing well, when things just went to shit, he had to file bankruptcy and almost lost everything. He's got no end of "bootstrappiness" but sometimes stuff just doesn't work out. He's not looking for hand outs. Are there people that are? Yes, but I know too many people who through no fault of their own had the great American Dream ripped out from under them and are just trying to survive.

The central message -- at least as far as I choose to understand it -- is that money should NEVER be more important than people.

ddvmor · **I am the Jammie King!**

Then why don't they just say that? All this vagueness is surely just alienating everyone who doesn't know what that is. Which seems to be pretty much anyone who isn't taking part and about 90% of the participants.

As I said, I'm all for people protesting about stuff they feel strongly about - its an important part of the democratic process - but starting a protest without a specific message in mind seems pointless.

I have a lot of friends in the same boat as your family and friends and have been in pretty much constant danger of being there myself for the last couple of years (and, indeed for the foreseeable future as restructures continue), so have a lot of sympathy. But they're obviously giving people the wrong impression.

ddvmor · **I am the Jammie King!**

By the way, what exactly is the Great American Dream? Is it the one where you're flying through the clouds and then you realise that you forgot to get dressed and then everyone's laughing at you and all your teeth fall out and you realise that you're in a big lime flavoured jelly rabbit and eat you way out?

Aodan · Teiam Member

Cherry, not lime.. but yes exactly!

Truckman · Old. But wise!

It's like he's inside my head!......Ben