my conversation with a "millionaire" at Occupy ATL

A man who owns a steel company was in Atlanta for a conference, and his hotel was close to where Occupy Atlanta was taking place. I was circling the park taking photos and videos, and he stopped me for some Q & A, and I thought it was very interesting to share.

I recorded this on my hand held recorder, and this is the transcript.

Him: So I'm guessing you feel that being out here will accomplish something.
Me: I feel that doing SOMETHING will accomplish something. To get something you've never had, you have to do something you've never done.
Him: I own a metal works company in Mississippi, and I am far past the million dollar mark, so do you hate me too? (hands me his business card)
Me: I, we, don't hate anybody. If you make money off of buying and selling metal, then you are not one of those who robs the people.
Him: Ok, but how does this all tie together? Y'all have signs against the wars, against the bailouts, and some of y'all are out here boosting Ron Paul.
Me: Do you agree with the wars?
Him: You gotta do what gotta be done.
Me: Including bombing men, women, and children, and facilitating the upheaval of entire nations?
Him: We don't want them coming over here and killing us, so we gotta kill them first.
Me: So if a family moves into the house next door to you, and you feel threatened by them, would you kill them?
Him: no, no, no, not at all.
Me: Why is it ok for our government to do that?
Him: We gotta help save these people from these tyrannical leaders.
Me: By definition, isn't Obama tyrannical?
Him: I don't like him, but he has killed like what? 5 of the biggest threats? I hope he goes into Iran next!
Me: All the Irani president does is talk, that's enough to invade his country?
Him: Gotta do what you gotta do..
Me: Do you know what our deficit currently is?
Him: Some high trillion dollar amount..
Me: So we can afford to play world police, and black ops assassins all over the place?
Him: Gotta do what you gotta do.... (for like the 10th damn time..)
Me: Ok, so by that logic, Americans have the right to take up arms against BofA admins, and AIG admins right?
Him: They ain't do nothing but make money, that's what America is all about. Making money..
Me: They make money by screwing people over, non stop. Then to top it off, they've kicked people out of their homes ILLEGALLY, and then charged them for what little money they had left in their bank accounts, all after we footed a bill for a mess they made?
Him: *silence*
Me: On top of that, how many Americans have lost their jobs, aka their ability to make money, while these high levels robbed us and paid out bonuses?
Him: *silence*
Me: So you're telling me that all of these crimes committed by both our government, and certain large corporations, are justified on the basis of fear, and making money? Our government is kills American citizens without trial, helps overthrow people whom they helped into power, yet people over here celebrate the death of men about whom everything they know comes from can, and fox news? What do you know about the life of Hosni Mubarak, or Saddam Hussein, or Muammar Ghaddafi?
Him: I know Saddam, and Ghaddafi were tyrants who slaughtered people at will.
Me: Have you heard of Troy Davis? Complete lack of evidence, yet he was murdered in a prison not too far from here. Last week, a man was shot in the BACK by a police officer, while unarmed, not even a mile from here.. Sounds like a slaughter of citizens to me. And just so you know, I can call up 10 Libyans right now, who are probably mourning the death of Ghaddafi, because their country is about to fall back to what it was before his rule. Yet Hilary Clinton, our beloved sec. of state is happy as hell, not because she cares about the Libyan people, but because she can take credit for being a part of the administration who helped finance the murer of someone whom the media labeled a "tyrant".
Him: Ghaddafi killed 40 plus thousand of his own country men.
Me: I've been waiting on footage of 40 plus thousand funerals ever since...
Him: *loooooong pause* I have to let all that sink in, because I'm not sure I get what you're saying. Could be too many beers. *laugh* you have my card, please send me an email with all of the information we just discussed. I'd like to look at it a little closer..


That's that. I'm tryna compile some info for him to read, or better yet, some videos for him to watch. If anybody has any suggestions about material regarding the federal reserve, the true reason for Arab spring, the crimes of the bailout, and the things our govt has to gain by supporting these revolts, please share..

The fella supports war because that's his prime source of income.
He didn't happen to say what kind of metal did he?
Steel makes all kinds of AFVs, aluminum makes aircraft, etc...........
3 or 4 more little wars or 1 big one you could call him back and start a thread saying you talked to a billionare.

Can you post the pic of his business card or pm me with it ?
Like to see what company.

reply to post by Yahm16


according to his card, and website, it's residential, commercial, and industrial. *shrugs*

reply to post by R3KR

i'm about to u2u you right now.

reply to post by My.mind.is.mine

What's the site? If it's not against T&C to say.
I'll check it out.

reply to post by My.mind.is.mine



Well at least you have his attention, which is saying something right there. He took the time to hear what you were saying, even if he couldn't reply to some of your questions.

Either he was really bored after his beers, or he really does want to know what's going on around him.

When you send this guy more information, tell him about ATS, too. He might learn a thing or two here, also!

Edit to add::::::

Hey, and when you send this guy more info, see if you can get him to come here and answer our questions directly! Wouldn't that be awesome?

See what he has to say about this logic, from an ATS poster:

Originally posted by FailedProphet
"...I'd also like to ask anyone who is not in finance but considers themselves a good businessman -- sales guys, real estate, tech, manufacturing, small business owners -- How long are you going to put up with these D-bags on Wall Street eating your lunch? They are taxing you to hell and back, giving themselves bonuses with it, and then turning around and convincing you to put your cash in a stock market where they can rip you off again! These guys are picking your pockets...What happend to all the non-finance businessmen that used to be the backbone of the US economy??"

Source:
www.abovetopsecret.com...

I just want to say my heart jumped. Because of your determination AND because your conversational partner was open to your arguements. I feel he must have realized he didn't really know much of the matter. He leaves the conversation stating he is open for info. That is great!

There is so much to be found. I suggest to use the ATS search to start of. Just give him 3 or 4 basics which correspond with the discussion you two had.. Don't overwhelm with scores of links. Just easy, short tid bits, which invite the fellow to educate himself.

We all educated ourself out of curiousity, didn't we?

Originally posted by Yahm16
reply to post by My.mind.is.mine

 

What's the site? If it's not against T&C to say.
I'll check it out.

edit on 21-10-2011 by Yahm16 because: (no reason given)

if it is, just u2u me and i'll email a pic of his card. (i dunno how to post pics to ATS)

reply to post by supine


yea, but i don't wanna overload him and turn him off either. that's why i need advice... or i could just pass out his email.. LOL

Originally posted by silent thunder
See what he has to say about this logic, from an ATS poster:

Originally posted by FailedProphet
"...I'd also like to ask anyone who is not in finance but considers themselves a good businessman -- sales guys, real estate, tech, manufacturing, small business owners -- How long are you going to put up with these D-bags on Wall Street eating your lunch? They are taxing you to hell and back, giving themselves bonuses with it, and then turning around and convincing you to put your cash in a stock market where they can rip you off again! These guys are picking your pockets...What happend to all the non-finance businessmen that used to be the backbone of the US economy??"

Source:
www.abovetopsecret.com...

LOL I'm sure he'll love that

Good for you. The fact that you got him remotely interested in something that he initially seemed to feel threatened by is quite a feat. I'm not sure if I would have help you so well against the "you gotta do what you gotta do" comments (because we all know that we actually don't gotta do what we are currently doing). I hope that the next person that asks me why I continue to go to the protest gets as good of an answer from me!!

reply to post by MikeyBones


people love to grill me when i tell them i'm employed, but still attend and support 100% out of solidarity..

reply to post by My.mind.is.mine


I'm kind of tired of these stories with no source to back them up.

If you recorded it...just put it on youtube for us to hear.

reply to post by OutKast Searcher


would you like an email photo of the card?

how freakin STUPID is that: to ask for a source on a conversation...

an ordinary conversation at that.. do you have a source stating you ate cereal for breakfast???

reply to post by My.mind.is.mine

Judging from the website, he's just a local (being MS and LA) businessman who runs his own company.
They manufacture their own product then make the buildings, etc. with that same material. It's hard to tell if Katrina helped his cash flow, but considering his location, more than likely.
Also from the looks of it, the major majority of his info comes from the MSM, probably FM radio at that, so it's anyones guess as to what he's heard about the occupy movements.
Being a local businessman, he's not one of the 1% either. (Though he may be the richest person he knows.)

Anyway congrats for at least trying to spread the word to the better-off than most. Maybe he might start to not take the news at face value as much.

Could be he is just a hard working metal worker that found a niche.
He may not think about things like this that much, especially if he has a million dollar business, his mind would most likely be thinking about the business, and perhaps he just deals with everything in simple terms, the "You gotta do what you gotta do" response shows this. Perhaps you planted a seed in his head, but I think not.

reply to post by My.mind.is.mine

Originally posted by My.mind.is.mine
reply to post by MikeyBones

 

people love to grill me when i tell them i'm employed, but still attend and support 100% out of solidarity..

I haven't yet sported a sign at the protests, but I was thinking I should make one that says:
"I have a home. I have a job. I am still here every day. Ask me why!"

I'm just not sure if I could hold a decent discussion/argument without getting too emotional, which only could serve against me and everyone there. But it seems that many have the idea that this movement is only about "filthy homeless welfare collectors stealing taxpayers money" and the message that they are not even a majority of the protestors needs to be made louder and clearer. I don't like being a focal point of attention these days, but I guess it's really my responsibility to start being more active in this movement. Thanks for the inspiration!

with the gaddafi point, i too can call 10 people from libya in tripoli, misrata, sirte and have them tell you that gaddafi had a hand in the murder of their family members, the horror they faced under his rule and during his ousting back when it all started

people on ATS like him because he took a stand against the west, but where were you guys when he was the "good guy" making deals in public in private selling out libya?

the way he died whatever it may have been was horrible, nothing in this world is straight out as black and white

but i digress from the topic, i hope you find the info your looking for and help this guy find out the truth, something we all lack due to constraints/ignorance/laziness