I’m all for a good protest. I think in some situations protests can invoke incredible movement for good (note: Egypt and Tunisia).
What I also know is that too much talking and not enough doing leads to apathy.
Occupy Wall Street started as a really great way for the American people to have a voice and educate others on the corruption that exists in government, multinational companies and banks. I’m not sure how many people found this information shocking, but I do know that it shed light on how silly it is that the richest 1% of our nation’s population are making decisions that effect the rest of the 99% … particularly decisions that led to our latest economic collapse.
Great information. Need to know information I would argue. And definitely something that needs to be changed.
While I’m glad protests worked for Egypt and Tunisia, I’m not positive it’s working for us. Actually, I am completely (dare I say 100%) positive it’s not working for us because I’m supposed to be on the same page as protesters and all I can think of is how lazy they are.
The first few weeks were helpful: educating the public on an important issue. No argument from this chick.
But here we are a month and a half in and I’m wondering if time and energy be better allocated to taking matters into our own hands, finding a job or, better yet … CREATING a job for ourselves? I think we’re smarter than this. Rhetoric and tents only go so far. At some point, you have to DO something. Stop whining, get off your ass and create the future you want for yourself. You don’t think our government is fair? Welcome to the club. You think big business and banks are mean and slimy? Seriously, where have you been? This stuff has been happening for a really long time folks. You didn’t care so much that the 1% was making decisions for you when you had a job and you could pay your mortgage. Where were you when they were building businesses off of shady deals and gross back scratching? Probably in your cubicle not caring because you had an expense account and Starbucks dispenser in the break room.
The point is: It’s shitty how things went down. But this isn’t new folks. They’ve been operating like this for a really long time. If we want things to change, we’ve got to do more than camp out like crazy people on streets all over the nation with cardboard signs and megaphones. We have to rebuild this nation and give that 1% reason to desire a change in behavior. My personal solution: create and empower small businesses and take ownership for the change I want to see in my community. How am I doing this? I quit my job in academia because they function much like our government and I refused to be a part of it. I started my own business and aim to encourage other small business owners to move full speed ahead in their visions for how they can creatively and strategically meet needs in various marketplaces.
Is this easy? Hell no. But if something goes down in my career, it will likely be because I did something stupid, not because someone else did.
Maybe Occupy should consider that. If they end up getting what they want, there won’t be anyone else to blame for future downfalls other than themselves.
Two cliches seem appropriate today: Careful what you wish for … the grass isn’t always greener.
So I hesitated to comment because sometimes I feel like arguing with you is like arguing with myself. Our fires burn a little bit different, but they’re in the same category, with 3rd degree burns to be experienced by some who choose to stick their hand in carelessly.
I have many problems with this. I’ll just start at the beginning. Yes, protests can provide wonderful results. And they have over the years. But I disagree with the basis for this entire post. Too much talking and not enough doing is a problem, I agree (ie. slacktivism is a favorite term of mine). However a protest IS DOING! Those people are out there, talking to people, giving interviews, sacrificing things… comfort, their personal, and are leaving themselves subject to ridicule from Fox News and others who talk more than they listen. This very blog post has insulted them by blatantly calling them lazy! Lazy is doing the easy thing. Being out there day after day is not the easy thing. Just because YOU would choose to do something else (start your own business) doesn’t mean that your choice is better. In fact, some might argue that their choice is better because they have gotten THE WORLD’S attention. They are reaching into millions of homes every single day (which I know you acknowledged but I think deserves more credit than that one line). Not to mention that some of them don’t want to start their own businesses. They would like to just have a job and work 8 to 5 and come home and raise their family, travel, go to concerts, whatever. In other words, they will support businesses, big and small both as consumers and as employees. That role is being diminished and THAT is part of the message of the occupy movement.
Right after I wrote about what the message of the movement is I regretted it because what I understand, and it seems people cant come to terms with, is that the movement has many messages and is far more nuanced than people want it to be. People want to be able to easily classify and define everything. Well they can’t with this. They need to get over it, shut up, and listen for a minute.
You are wrong when you say it’s not working… but then again, it depends on what you define as “working.” Everyone has different expectations. From my perspective, it is working and the fact that we’re having this discussion is cold, hard proof of that.
As for your suggestion that finding a job and creating a job are better uses of our/their time… perhaps you’re right. For you and your life. But again, not everyone wants to start their own company. Why is the standard, the basis for comparison, starting your own business? I am SO TIRED of people using themselves as the measure for success. THAT is a message I’ve taken from the occupy movement. The choice to start your own business or climb the corporate latter or stay home and start a family… none of these are “better” than the other. Each of them, together, make our society stronger. And I know that you intellectually understand that. I wonder, in light of what you reveal in this post, if you really FEEL that. Those are two different things.
Moving on… your comment about the government being fair, “Welcome to the club”??? So they just accept it? Bend over and take it? Government will never be perfect but we can always strive to improve it. That is what they are doing. SHOWING the world that they feel we need to work on it. You might say, “Well, duh!” but I ask you this… were people talking about it to this extent before the movement? Not really. And about corporations being mean and slimy… that isn’t what they’re informing the world of. That is a “duh” statement to some but honestly, some people don’t realize this. And no, it hasn’t always been like that. Companies are literally making record profits while still cutting jobs or shipping jobs overseas. They have the right to do that, but people have the right to be angry about it. The top earners keep on moving leaps and bounds ahead of the middle class. People can and should question how this is happening. Literally, it IS worse today than it was yesterday and it will be worse tomorrow. I know you know this… I’m just point it out because it deserves to be pointed out. Oh and BTW, there WERE plenty of people who were doing what they could against unethical businesses before all of this. I, for example, haven’t shopped at Wal-Mart for 10+ years. I get updates from Greenpeace about companies producing plastics in ways that are harmful to the environment and I don’t shop there. But you know what, I don’t need to hold everyone to MY standards. There are plenty of people who do more than me! I do what I have time to do. And so do those who do less. They can still care, it’s just that they have jobs and kids and maybe medical problems or volunteering to juggle. Not to mention that big corporations do everything within their power (which is substantial because power=money=a bigger voice) for you to NOT get this information. Rupert Murdoch controls 40% of the world’s media and there is a lot of money at stake if he were to piss them off. And that’s just 1 dude!
Again, your example of what you did and comparing that to what they’re doing just isn’t appropriate. Its completely different. Not everyone wants to start their own company. Why compare the two at all? And even if they do, they can still want policy reform. They can still let corporations know “We know you guys are assholes and we’re sick of it!” I love them for even trying.
Also, it makes me sad that you sound like Herman Cain in this post. “There won’t be anyone else to blame for future downfalls other than themselves.” Have you been watching Fox News? Back away from the TV. Change the channel. It’s not about blame anyway. It’s about, “THESE ARE THE CONSEQUENCES OF YOUR ACTIONS!” Those are real people the corporations are laying off in order to ship jobs overseas. Those are real families hurt by fraudulent investments and creative bookkeeping. If the people leading the corporations don’t care, then try harder to make them care. And the banks… they are holding onto record excessive reserves. They have bailout money and are not using it/lending it out. There seems to be some kind of paranoid over-correcting going on. Again, make them care that their actions are affecting people’s lives… the people who are their employees and customers.
I think that’s it for my very long rant. Sorry if it’s too many jumbled ideas. I worked on it in bits when I had time through the day.