6 Things That Occupy Wall Street Has Already Accomplished

Originally posted by sonnny1

Originally posted by My.mind.is.mine


See while you've BEEN TO one, I've BEEN A PART OF one. I've actively participated in Occupy Atlanta daily, so I would think I have a better grasp on the dynamic than you would.

You asked me if I attended one,I said yes.Now your better then me because you are at them daily ?

Come on man. Most who have said anything negatively about OWS,hasn't made an attempt! I might not believe in it,but I do support the freedom to do it.

I apologize, because clearly my post and my thoughts weren't vibing correctly. Didn't mean to sound the way I did. Sorry. I just mean that you can ask people questions, and let them answer with thought, or you can spend time around them and let their character answer the unspoken question.

I'm not better than you.

I agree with the OP on this one. Feel the love.

reply to post by My.mind.is.mine


Its all good.

No worries.

what happened to 2 and 3? These are not much of a reason.its been done many times before so the public all ready knows whats going on and the people that dont, the people that STILL watch the mainstream will never wake up. At least not until we step it up a notch. Screw a protest we need a boycott

7th thing they have accomplished:

www.abovetopsecret.com...

although I think they have accomplished much more then 7 things already.

reply to post by TupacShakur

Since you generalized about occupy protesters being against capitalism, it's my turn to generalize. I've noticed that people who are against occupy protests completely oppose them no matter what they do. Rather than conceding anything to them, the response is always negative. Why is that? Have you subconsciously declared them your enemy, and the idea of them being even minutely successful fills you with frusturation and denial? Is your perception of the movement as a whole blinded by your political affiliation that our buddy George warned us about?

There are countless threads in this site where I have fiercely and unwaveringly defended this "OWS" protest rights. When I do so I am attacked by one side, and when I make my valid criticism I am attacked by the very protestors of whom I defend to have the right to protest. I do not generally agree that protest is anything more than a limp wristed way of admitting helplessness, but so what? I defend it when defense is called for, and when a hard eye towards that movement is called for, I take a hard eye towards them.

Now, let's take a hard eye towards you. Do you despise those who do not agree with you so much that you will allow this hatred to blind you to all that those who disagree with you do in defense of your right to protest, to be free, to be secure in your person and property? Will you continue to willfully ignore the complexity of people and keep labeling them as you do?

You claim I am using generalizations regarding capitalism, but this is more than disingenuous, unless you honestly believe that there are not protestors out in all of these cities declaring "death to capitalism". Hell, these protestors began in Wall Street, and what is that street if not the world wide symbol for capitalism (even if it doesn't even come close to representing capitalism). Would you pretend that many of your fellow protestors have no regard for other peoples rights and freedoms? You pretend quite a bit, because I have surely seen you in some the threads where I have tirelessly defended the protestors right to peaceful assembly, but here you are now pretending like I have not.

Do you represent the movement as a whole, or should we excuse the movement for your own blind ambitions and willingness to mischaracterize a fellow individual member of ATS, and continue to drive this wedge between people. The "us and them" mentality is clear in your language, and you've made it perfectly clear that you have no regard for fairness and giving credit where credit is due - with perhaps the exception of George - do you insist on painting this broad canvas with the scrawls of graffiti, or would you, even if for just a second, consider that canvas deserves the rich details of a masterpeace? (spelling intentional).

reply to post by decepticonLaura

ye cats if you're so smart to have this figured out so long ago why aren't you down there doing something too?

Maybe I am just smart enough to know better.

i mean every single response there boils down to I ALREADY KNEW THAT so what? i already knew it too, but now there are people trying to make a positive change.

I have spent more than twenty years fighting this stupid system. I have had women in my life leave me because of this fight, my own family avoided me like the plague because they thought I was crazy, and I haven't done any business with banks since 1995. But, you and way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, too many smug little protestors insist that all I have done means nothing and it is only now that the smug protestors have pumped their fists in the air and insisted the world take notice of how really, really, really, very, very, very, angry they are, they take credit for anything and everything as if all it ever took was a limp wristed admission of helplessness en masse.

For well over thirty years I have tirelessly declared the so called "war on drugs" a shameful power grab by local, state, and federal government. All the while I watched as friends, lovers, and family distanced themselves from me for fighting a battle I believed necessary to be fought. For over twenty years I have been screaming to anyone who would listen about the evils of the banking institutions, and not just screaming but extricating myself from this hopeless system.

Extricating myself has been daunting and tumultuous, but no matter what obstacles I faced, I faced them, understanding the obstacle is the path, and I have done so with little complaint. A few years ago, sometime after 9-11, my family, one by one, began to understand what the hell I have been talking about all these years. I have been contacted by old flames asking for my help in their recent struggles with some government administrative agency out of control. These people were not awaken by some recent pouty petulant group of protestors, they came to understand what I understood all those years ago. However, I assure you, I am not taking any credit for their awakening. Their awakening was theirs, and happened when they were ready to be awakened. Their understanding today is theirs, and they deserve full credit for that understanding...not the smug protestors who want credit for so much they have not done.

it's clear from your postings that you're quite an intelligent individual imagine how you could use that intelligence to educate and help people instead of griping now that they're catching up.

Instead of imagining that I do not use the intelligence I have worked so hard to develop to help others, try, even if just for a brief second, imagining that I do. Imagine, if you will, that I am regularly contacted by members in this site, some are members I have never heard of or read any post they have made, others are friends, but imagine they contact me asking me for my help. Would you have everyone reading this thread believe I refuse their requests simply because this fits nicely into your judgment of me? Now, if you are willing to imagine, even if just for a second, that members in this site regularly contact me and ask for my input or advice or help, try imagining how many do so in the actual city of which I live, or would imagining this topple that house of cards of yours you've built to demonstrate just how mean and cruel I am?

oh, and you've posted that georgie peorgie thing before, what does it even mean?

I am actually mixing metaphors with that reference. Sometimes when I use Georgie Porgy, who kissed the girls and made them cry but when the boys came out to play he ran away, I will also make reference to Little Jack Horner who pulled out a plum and declared "what a good boy am I"? I stick with Georgy Porgy because the run away when the boys come out to play seems to be the predominant modus operandi of many of these so called "Occupy" people, but as this thread is illustrates, at other times the "Occupy" people like to pull out plums and declare what good boys they are.

reply to post by Jean Paul Zodeaux


I find your post really confusing, you seem to think that you are some beacon of hope in which people from all over come to for their guidance and your ultimate wisdom. Sounds like a huge bunch of hubris man, I'm sorry to respond like this given your post was so finely worded, but you come off as incredibly arrogant. You even chuck in a few quick digs at the protesters while proclaiming your own superior moral standpoint. I understand what you are saying when you speak about people that do not understand the levels in which government conspiracies go, and will disconnect themselves from you because of your views, I get this, as I have experienced a lot of this in my own life. But many of your assertions come off as incredibly arrogant and self assured, and I apologize again for feeling the need to say this, but you are making some big jumps, and I think your character has been revealed whole heartedly. Thank you for responding.

reply to post by Jean Paul Zodeaux


yeah, i'm really sorry, especially after reading the details of your many calamitous woes
but once again you've essentially spent your entire post asserting
that you know best and you've known best for longer.
so, three paragraphs later wherein you've backed up what i said entirely,
and now, what? you're embittered and pround of it? is that what i am to take from all of this?

i'm having a little trouble with some of your assumptions
do you really think none of us have thought or fought or stood up before?
you seem to imply that we have all been living in pods until magical ows freed our heads; not the case.
i understand the protracted fight
i too have been trying to effect a change for years, with little response or headway.
and yes, i too have lost loves and friends and jobs and homes,
i think you'll find there are many many people who have.
more than it seems likely you would ever suspect.
it doesn't make us special. it doesn't make us different. we are all in this together.
that line about the smugness of the protestors, that really gave you away.
what a petty allegation for such an eloquent individual.
no one is claiming that this is some brilliant new idea.
....and i'm sorry, that nursery rhyme stuff still makes less than no sense.
no one is pulling out plums or any of that horriifically downtalking twee you're putting in our mouths.
i mean i think i can kind of see where you mean it to go, but.... sorry, nah. it's revolting and belittling and it doesn't even work.
instead try to see it as everything that you and i have been saying
all this time
finally catching on.
now we finally have the impetus, the inertia, the mass. now we can finally make a difference.
and it would be so much better if you were with us.