It's 1am here tonight in the bay area and I just got back home from Occupy Oakland

Thanks for the first-hand experience!

This is what ATS needs to DENY IGNORANCE of anti-OWS propaganda trolls.

Originally posted by Section31

Welcome to "ATS: Occupy: Everything".

Looks like "Occupy" is succeeding in creating a "Occupy: ATS" movement.

All on the front page of "ATS". "Occupy: Above Top Secret" is underway. Regardless about what side of the subject you are on, the topic keeps taking over the main 'ATS' board.

For the love of all conspiracies, please talk about something else!!!!

Help! Skeptic where are you? We need "ATS" back!

I know this is Off topic, but I am doing this in reply to another post and I think it may help tremendously!

Yes, a majority of the front page of ATS is dealing with 'Occupy' subjects in one way or another. I have an idea for a temporary solution, or as long as the 'Occupy' movement or subjects pertaining to, exist. I suggest the following:

Reserve a small area, as in one of those square areas as the 'New Video' or 'Current Member Picks' has and apply it to ONLY 'Occupy' related subjects and thus also keeping the 'Occupy' subjects off of the other areas such as 'Current Member Picks' and elsewhere.

Some may say 'why should we dedicate a separate area for something we don't care for?', but in all reality, the space it occupies now is much more than a square area; it is all over the front page in every section.

There are also a few ways to design this:

1st idea would be (and this way may actually use less space than a square area if it is possible) to have some sort of vertical scrolling of the Thread Title, whereas maybe giving it a few lines to scroll and disappear as new Titles come up from the lower line allocated in the field.
Then, when you place your cursor over the scrolling field, the scrolling will stop, allowing someone to click on the thread of interest, then voilà, there they are!
The thread Title would be bolded and hyperlinked as they are now, and let the person just click on what they like. This way people who are really interested and following 'Occupy' and also general public, can look at this area while watching it scroll, looking for a thread of interest.

Or also, you can do the square size and have this same idea, but in three mini sections over each other. Top area for 'Main or Newly placed threads', middle for 'Current Member Picks', and bottom for 'Popular Topics'. These 3 sections of course ONLY for 'Occupy' subjects, having each scroll for that sections' Thread Titles, thus keeping the rest of the front page clear of 'Occupy' subject matter.

This would leave more of the ATS Front page open for other subjects (which I also miss seeing) and giving the 'Occupy' subjects to their own area, where enthusiasts can quickly and efficiently find anything pertaining to that subject along with anyone else; and the scrolling will be able to show all thread Titles in a smaller area without using all the front page real estate.

Or instead of categorizing, just give 7 or 8 lines of moderate speed scrolling, Title's bolded and hyperlinked as they are now; and let the person just click on what they like. Of course the scrolling would be constantly rotating; up and gone and back from the bottom as the list keeps circling.

What I personally would do is 2 sections. Top section only for a 'New Thread/Breaking Thread' and the second section for the 6 or 7 lines scrolling older threads as I mentioned above. This way would be easier on the eye than the three sections.

With this Movement growing, I can only see status quo' or greater with the 'Occupy' traffic. This will give us our space back for other subjects.

Just my 2 cents on the issue and I hope it made sense!

~ Noah

reply to post by NightGypsy


NightGypsy
The media will continue to paint their picture of the movement, as you have just described, and people can choose to believe what they've already convinced themselves. In spite of evidence to the contrary since the one person who has become a galvanizing force, of late, is an ex-marine who has served two tours.
That said, it was a bunch of "unwashed long haired hippies" who put pressure on LBJ not to seek re-election and helped bring an end to the Viet Nam War.

Originally posted by Blaine91555

Originally posted by wavemaker
reply to post by Blaine91555

 

Some things will just present themselves in time. Just keep the energy of change burning and things will reveal themselves in unexpected ways.

No they won't. That is childish nonsense if you will forgive me for saying so. Your statement is the exact reason so few are taking this seriously.

You seem to be saying, lets have a protest and a big party and then we will invent a cause and what solutions we want later on. If that is true of most, then the detractors are right.

This is an opportunity to do something real, but if your idea is representative, it's all for nothing.

Didn't I tell you about the two People Power demonstrations in the Philippines? You are the kind of person who will think that nothing will happen at that time and then decided to just bury his head in the sand.

'Occupy Waterford', in Ireland starts tomorrow!

WOW. The most violent city in America becomes the most shining example of peaceful co-existence.

I was suspecting that this whole movement was being subverted and infiltrated.. if not started..to be used by the ptb to incite anger and violence to trigger martial law, but if all the factions follow this example, the ptb's will be powerless.

I think we need to keep in mind there's 99% of us and 1% of them.

Thank you very much for that narrative. My perspective totally changed into hope and pride in humanity.

reply to post by QuantumPhysicist


Good post.

S & F

We've been to the one in Chicago for two days.

Everyone needs to go because this is about the common man / woman taking back our country which currently is corrupt to the core with a bunch of self seeking power mongers that have allowed their souls to be bought out by the highest bidder (the big corporations).

The more people that come the better.

Your votes, your letters, your phone calls to congress and senate don't mean squat...........they don't care.

It's time for action, numbers, people physically uniting and showing Washington and Wall Street we're mad and we're not going to take it any more.

If protesting doesn't work.....................then it may be time for another revolution.

Scary because our police and military (if called in) have the capability to escalate things.

In Chicago the police where we were at were civil but on edge.

It's time for action..............words, votes, all the rest is BS.

for all of us that are walking the walk.

Met a lot of very nice good people, made some friends.

reply to post by NightGypsy


The thing you don't understand is what makes us so mad.. it isn't that 8 or 9 an hour is not worth anything, it is that our currency is not worth anything. Just a few years ago, $8 or $9 an hour would have been enough to eek out a living because our dollar was worth more and there was little inflation.

The US dollar is worth less and less because the Federal Reserve keeps printing more and more of them.

Please understand that the occupy movement should occupy Washington DC, specifically, the Federal Reserve and the White House.

If you don't know the cause of the problem you can never fix it.

The Federal Reserve needs to print more and more money because the politicians in DC are spending too much of our dollars - in fact, they have spent all of our dollars and need to borrow money from China to pay for their reckless spending. When republicans and conservatives cry out to stop spending it is an attempt to help save our currency. What do they teach you in school these days?

If DC would stop spending so many dollars, there will be less dollars printed... if there are less dollars printed, each one will be worth more and more... and you can live on 8 or 9 an hour. STOP spending and STOP printing and inflation goes away.

You need to understand the problem before you can really solve it

Originally posted by NightGypsy
reply to post by mobiusmale

 

Enjoy yourself...but don't kid yourself. This is going to end as fast as it began.

Surely I don't have to point out the ignorance of that statement considering this protest has entered it's second month and has spread from one American city across the globe since then. But, hey, I guess if you think most people are too dense to realize this glaring fact, then...by all means.....don't let me prevent you from making yourself look like a fool......light that keyboard up with your fingers spewing nonsense.....it's (kind of) still a free country.

You felt compelled to express that you think my view on the likely longevity of this movement is "ignorant"...oh, and that I am a "fool"...and that I "spew nonsense".

Bravo. You just weren't able to back up your personal insults with any reasoned arguments.

Entered its second month...great. Spread all over the world...yeah. So what? Get back to me on this in a couple more months...or better yet, this time next year.

Enjoy your moment in the sun. The dusk is coming for this useless for-the-moment-popular street tirade. Unless it translates into traction at the ballot box next year (which is the way things are supposed to work), this so-called movement is going the way of the dodo birds...or the 60's Hippie movement. Take your pick.

Do you really think these people are going to somehow create some kind of parallel society that will have any staying power...or that this rag-tag mob is going to somehow overcome and replace the system that is already in place? I guess maybe you do.

News Flash! It's not going to happen.

We'll see who feels the most foolish when all is said and done.

It interesting to see what happens to people when they feel invested in their community. Civil unrest comes from feeling powerless. It's why the OWS ethos is so hard to pin down. Everyone has their own concept of utopia. What we have the potential to see is what happens when "government", defined as a decision making body working towards the mutual benefit of the governed, actually does what it's supposed to. The flaws in the system, of course, come with scale but perhaps just seeing it work could be enough. I think that the left/ right division is a syptom of the government's inability or lack of desire to make the lives of their employers better. No one feels represented and we blame each other, the idea being that if only those liberals/ conservatives would just shut up, than my viewpoint would be heard. The truth, however, may be that no one upstairs is listening.

reply to post by wavemaker


Hardly. I've been down this road before and I know what works and what does not work.

What does not work are a bunch of people on a lark without any clear motivation or without any real solutions other than to whine.

This is not the Philippines and right now this second we are still the most free nation with the most opportunity. Our poor would be Middle-Class in most parts of the world. You cannot go hungry here unless you want to. We are not all fool enough to fall for the scare tactics from the radicals, used by dishonest politicians to control us and divide us.

I'm all for OWS, but they need to get their act together. The answers lie in the voting booth and in DC. That's why the movements who have their act together protest in DC, get results and don't have to sleep in tents in the snow.

You may also be unaware that groups like SEIU and other unions are attempting and actually accomplishing taking over OWS for a political party and turning it into an Obama campaign. It's easy to do that to a disorganized mess without a clear message and without clear solutions.

When we protested the Vietnam War we got nowhere with our silly Sit-Ins blocking doors. The ones who got results took it to DC and directly to Congress. We have a wonderful system that allows for that. You cannot beat the system, but most certainly can use it.

OWS is an interesting side-note but the real protestors are not sitting in tents in the snow carrying signs for bought and paid for unions and DNC affiliated groups working for Obama and the DNC.

Had you bothered to actually read what I'm posting you would know I'm for OWS as long as there is not violence and they reject those who get off on violence for violence sake. I just think its a shame that while they have the countries attention they have no clear message and that they are not in DC where the real crooks are located.

reply to post by brettrix


You know there are right now millions of unfilled skilled positions that pay well? The reason they are unfilled is the kids are taking feel good courses instead of the math and sciences they need to get good jobs? Even so unemployment among those with degrees is very low, under 4%.

OWS needs to take the game to DC and have informed spokespeople and well defined solutions. It works and has worked before. MLK and the Tea Party for instance. Why did they do so well? Organization, clearly defined goals and solutions.

It's not lost on many of us that OWS is being taken over by unions and the Democrats. We see the signs printed by them and notice that they are flooding the boards trying to take it over for Obama. We see that the money and supplies are coming directly from groups in Obama's inner circle like the SEIU. It's up to OWS to admit it and do something about it, unless of course that was the plan all along and I don't think that was the case.

I think you ask for too much. Ideas evolve, grow and refine themselves through practice. This is a movement in it's infancy and I think that needs to be understood. The success of protests comes from the right people making the right moves, but they can't spontaneously generate. Don't confuse the starting line with the finish. I'd expect to see things continue to refine as OWS persists. Of course, it will probably be reported as confusion among protesters. The important part now is that the social values represented in the movement encompass the spectrum of American values, and yet things are evolving remarkablely civilly. I don't expect desperation to breed success, but it has and will continue to inspire and the inspiration of a few of the right people is all humanity has ever needed to create real change. That's what's exciting, that the next great American could be out there right now, blocking someone's door and wondering how this all could be done better.

reply to post by VivaDiscordia


I honestly hope it does lead to something real. For now though it's not much more than an interesting side-note on the news. Depends on whether or not The Progressive groups behind Obama take it over or not. They have lots of money to buy it. SEIU is willing to spend plenty for an extra percent or two of the vote and Obama stands ready to shower them with money when he gets back in.