Wow chill dude, I see you're one of "those" people. Do you donkey vote or just cop the $60 fine?
Neither. I vote Sex Party - they're not perfect, but they're better than the greens or hunting and fishing party. Except when I was in the UK, I missed voting once, because I didn't send the forms to the Embassy soon enough.
I don't have a problem with debate, you're the one harping on about the immigrants mate.
Harping? I said "At least he's on about the economy rather than the boats." You're the one who had a crack because you took it as an insult, rather than a very mild compliment.
"You cannot not have strong capital markets in this country or the country is going to go down the tubes," he said. "I think most people want change in this country but they don't want the country to go down the tubes. They don't want the country to become England."
Baldwin then gave the example of Apple computer founder Steve Jobs, who studied the large IBM computers and decided to work on making a computer much smaller and that would fit on a person's lap.
Also, I've had a lot of quasi-friends who are still making fun of Occupy Wall Street and are generally saying things like "Occupying my desk to do my job, is more like it!". Does anyone know of a good, succinct explanation of why Occupy Wall Street matters to the average person working a 9-5? I feel like I can explain it alright, but not succinctly just yet.
Also, I've had a lot of quasi-friends who are still making fun of Occupy Wall Street and are generally saying things like "Occupying my desk to do my job, is more like it!". Does anyone know of a good, succinct explanation of why Occupy Wall Street matters to the average person working a 9-5? I feel like I can explain it alright, but not succinctly just yet.
It doesn't. It will accomplish nothing. Banks will wait out the occupation movement until protesters are tired and cold and drift away. Then they will continue making money on the backs of the poor.
I'm not saying that's how I want it to be. I'm saying that's how it is. The protesters are not united enough in their ideology or methodology to make a difference. They are not respected by mainstream Americans. They are not presenting themselves well. Their goals are not well-articulated. What few ideals they cohesively support boil down to "we want it for free." There is not enough collective sympathy for tax reform to meet even the tiniest of those goals.
I'm not saying that's how I want it to be. I'm saying that's how it is. The protesters are not united enough in their ideology or methodology to make a difference. They are not respected by mainstream Americans. They are not presenting themselves well. Their goals are not well-articulated. What few ideals they cohesively support boil down to "we want it for free." There is not enough collective sympathy for tax reform to meet even the tiniest of those goals.
So we shouldn't encourage people to support the protesters, or try to work with local Occupy movements to articulate goals and present themselves better? I understand what you're saying, and more than likely you're absolutely right. Realistically it probably won't make a difference. However, I don't really want to just give up.
In a war of attrition, the side with the most/better resources always wins. The banks have money and political clout. Hippies don't. The banks win.
The only path to victory for the Occupy movement is to find a way to hurt their targets financially for a sustained period of time and to a significant degree. Good luck.
The only path to victory for the Occupy movement is to find a way to hurt their targets financially for a sustained period of time and to a significant degree. Good luck.
Make a giant mob big enough to get into the Federal Reserve, physically, and everyone carry out a bar of gold. That's gotta be one big-ass mob. Also, there's a good chance the guards will just start shooting.
Which one is more likely to happen: OWS succeeds in making some reform (more than 0), or a 3rd party candidate actually has a chance of winning the election (more than 0)?
In a war of attrition, the side with the most/better resources always wins. The banks have money and political clout. Hippies don't. The banks win.
The only path to victory for the Occupy movement is to find a way to hurt their targets financially for a sustained period of time and to a significant degree. Good luck.
I'm not a hippy, nor are the friends of mine that do support the Occupy movement. In fact, they're a pretty wide range of middle-class people from a variety of backgrounds. So my hope is that we wrest the movement away from the focus on hippies and give it to normal people.
What would you suggest we do to change anything? Or are you happy with the way things are going now?
Article does not attribute this to any kind of conspiracy or dark plot. This concentration of power is apparently common in complex systems. Interesting read.
So, we've had an #OccupyRIT group here for a couple days now. Directly across from them is #OccupyTheDancefloor, blasting dubstep and holding up such signs as "why protest when you can break it down? #OccupyTheDancefloor." Not sure if douchebags or awesome.
So, we've had an #OccupyRIT group here for a couple days now. Directly across from them is #OccupyTheDancefloor, blasting dubstep and holding up such signs as "why protest when you can break it down? #OccupyTheDancefloor." Not sure if douchebags or awesome.
What would you suggest we do to change anything? Or are you happy with the way things are going now?
Way to bifurcate, dude.
I'm not happy with the way things are and there's nothing you or I can do about it. It's a Kobayashi Maru. Deal with it. As long as the people with control of the resources are in power, the masses will lose. And the only way to get into a position of power is to get the resources controlled by those in power. There's no way to reform the system without becoming part of the system, so we're fucked.
The sad truth is that corporations wield almost unilateral control over the little guy. They'll leverage you as much freedom as keeps themselves profitable. The worse truth is that to live your comfortable lifestyle, you need the corporations to manage the resources necessary to move infrastructure and technology forward. You want a cheap-ass iPod? You want bread and milk that's nearly universally available? You want to order comic books from Amazon and have them get here the next day? You want donuts and porn at the ready at 3 a.m.? The evil corporations make that possible.
We've got each other in a three-way death lock between comfort of living, profitability, and political gain.
Fair enough, I respect your opinion and definitely see your points. I'd rather at least try to do something, personally, as I can do this without it affecting my daily living too terribly much.
So, we've had an #OccupyRIT group here for a couple days now
Probably the same stoners who handed out socialist newspapers when I was there.
Directly across from them is #OccupyTheDancefloor, blasting dubstep and holding up such signs as "why protest when you can break it down? #OccupyTheDancefloor." Not sure if douchebags or awesome.
Pure awesome. If that happend in my day we would have had slogans like "Let's start a Dance Dance Revolution!"
So, we've had an #OccupyRIT group here for a couple days now. Directly across from them is #OccupyTheDancefloor, blasting dubstep and holding up such signs as "why protest when you can break it down? #OccupyTheDancefloor." Not sure if douchebags or awesome.
I need to come visit your part of the RIT world sometime soon.
You assume corporations are evil, you also assume that our "comfortable" lifestyles are a prison, and that we are all powerless. I would like to see evidence for these statements
It doesn't matter whether corporations are evil. They are self-interested. And self-interested parties with resources will inconvenience others. As much as I love Wal-Mart's prices, it pushes jobs overseas because of cheap labor, and they actively oppose labor unions here. Collusion between the political right and banks caused the mortgage melt-down because short-term gains were so lucrative and nobody was watching the long-term liabilities. Amazon is killing brick-and-mortar retailers, so more jobs go down the tubes. Cutting corners has caused Chevy to virtually commit suicide. Big Coal is running anti-EPA (and anti-Clean Air) propaganda in Ohio right now. Big Oil is raking in record profits while creating a burden on distributors and gumming the wheels of economic recovery. General Mills, Post, and Kelloggs (among many other foodstuff marketers) are making boxes smaller and raising prices. Homeopathic medicine preys on the gullibility and desperation of the sick in order to make a buck. So does Big Religion. And yes, some corporations are downright evil, if we quantify evil as unsustainable greed (see: Enron. Also see: Golden parachutes for bailout executives).
As for comfortable lifestyles as a prison, have you been to an airport? Have you seen all the people willing to subject themselves to searches in order to feel safe, although all evidence is to the contrary? We openly embraced the Patriotic Act after 9/11 because we wanted to feel comfortable. If you need examples of Americans sacrificing freedom for the sake of (mostly illusory) security, then pick a card, any card.
So, we've had an #OccupyRIT group here for a couple days now
Probably the same stoners who handed out socialist newspapers when I was there.
I know a couple of the kids involved, they're not the socialist stoners, for the most part, they're cool kids. They're also not sleeping there, just organizing whenever they have time in the afternoon, far as I can tell.
The #OccupyTheDancefloor kids, on the other hand, seem like they would be cool in theory, 'cept they're blasting their music directly across from the #OccupyRIT kids. More of a "Hey guys, instead of being lame and protesting for something you believe in, get a life and come listen to shitty music" than anything else.
Comments
I don't have a problem with debate, you're the one harping on about the immigrants mate.
I was talking about the Vanity Fair article written by Stiglitz about the 1%.
Alternatively
This why you're poor
& he is a man of his word: http://tinyurl.com/doomacraticrule
Also, according to the NYCLU, bros be tasing dudes too often.
I'm not saying that's how I want it to be. I'm saying that's how it is. The protesters are not united enough in their ideology or methodology to make a difference. They are not respected by mainstream Americans. They are not presenting themselves well. Their goals are not well-articulated. What few ideals they cohesively support boil down to "we want it for free." There is not enough collective sympathy for tax reform to meet even the tiniest of those goals.
The only path to victory for the Occupy movement is to find a way to hurt their targets financially for a sustained period of time and to a significant degree. Good luck.
What would you suggest we do to change anything? Or are you happy with the way things are going now?
Article does not attribute this to any kind of conspiracy or dark plot. This concentration of power is apparently common in complex systems. Interesting read.
I'm not happy with the way things are and there's nothing you or I can do about it. It's a Kobayashi Maru. Deal with it. As long as the people with control of the resources are in power, the masses will lose. And the only way to get into a position of power is to get the resources controlled by those in power. There's no way to reform the system without becoming part of the system, so we're fucked.
The sad truth is that corporations wield almost unilateral control over the little guy. They'll leverage you as much freedom as keeps themselves profitable. The worse truth is that to live your comfortable lifestyle, you need the corporations to manage the resources necessary to move infrastructure and technology forward. You want a cheap-ass iPod? You want bread and milk that's nearly universally available? You want to order comic books from Amazon and have them get here the next day? You want donuts and porn at the ready at 3 a.m.? The evil corporations make that possible.
We've got each other in a three-way death lock between comfort of living, profitability, and political gain.
As for comfortable lifestyles as a prison, have you been to an airport? Have you seen all the people willing to subject themselves to searches in order to feel safe, although all evidence is to the contrary? We openly embraced the Patriotic Act after 9/11 because we wanted to feel comfortable. If you need examples of Americans sacrificing freedom for the sake of (mostly illusory) security, then pick a card, any card.
The #OccupyTheDancefloor kids, on the other hand, seem like they would be cool in theory, 'cept they're blasting their music directly across from the #OccupyRIT kids. More of a "Hey guys, instead of being lame and protesting for something you believe in, get a life and come listen to shitty music" than anything else.