Occupy
I really appreciate what the majority of occupiers seem to be promoting (I’m going to take from this article here. I modified it heavily, but it’s still worth directing you to that article.): Getting the money out of politics, reforming the banking system to prevent fraud and manipulation by separating investment banks from commercial banks, and drafting laws against the loophole that currently allows members of Congress to pass legislation affecting corporations in which they themselves are investors. They want wealth to be distributed more evenly and the American Dream to be made more accessible. You know, help the economy so kids don’t go to college just if they have the money, so people have jobs, don’t let money determine how well you are heard politically… Correct me if I’m wrong, this is just what I am perceiving.
And they want to right to say what they have to say. There’s been an uproar around police brutality. I find it really wrong and it hurts that people in authority have been doing little about and often even defending the actions of the police who use unnecessary and excessive violence, to put it lightly. The right to freedom of speech is totally being suppressed.
But I don’t believe that the police force is mainly made up of masochistic beings. It annoys the hell out of me to hear all the close minded speculation around this. Admittedly, a few occupiers won’t be speaking for all of them. It’s just annoying. Not to sound dramatic, but the article linked above discusses how there’s an organized plot going on between the higher powers of the American government against the protesters. I’m leaning towards believing that, but I think it’s important to keep in mind that the police can have terrible judgment and it might be more innocent than one might think. I’m not saying it justifies any brutality, though.
It’s a very sobering thing worth plenty of consideration, but I’m so unsure— I’ve seen a good amount of journalism that totally misrepresented organizations and events I’ve been around firsthand. There’s also plenty of under reporting that goes on because of danger or political/financial pressure— Shell funds major newspapers in the US, so they don’t report on how it’s responsible for killing those who don’t want to move off of land near oil reserves. What else… the mass killings of Christians in India, violently suppressed protests in China… Journalism that sounds propagandic (is that a word?) and overly dramatic always makes me a little suspicious. There’s always information that is possibly being kept out of the picture. So though I read the news, I’m never sure of how reliable it is.
Another thing is, I’ve heard from people living in Oakland that the protesters are a bit annoying because they claim to represent the people of the city when so many of them are white (Only about 25% of the Oakland population is white compared to 30% in Cupertino and apparently many of them appear to be well moneyed), which is obviously not a bad thing in itself. But when it’s the Asians and blacks who constitute the majority of those living below the poverty line, there’s something wrong with that. And much of the police force in Oakland is of color. so:
- The richer neighborhoods tend to have mainly white people.
- There’s more white people protesting and claiming to represent the little guy in comparison to the other ethnicities in Oakland.
- Much of the police force is of color and are being made out as “bad guys”.
- There are more people of color under the poverty than white people.
Basically, a lot of occupiers sound like self righteous assholes who care way too much about being right and claim to represent the poor when they don’t. Yeah, they have financial troubles and history has shown revolutions are often lead by a more educated middle class, but it still bothers me. At the same time, I appreciate what they are aiming for (Last thing— more taxes might help, but how do we make sure the government spends wisely?).
I don’t have terrible financial problems, though it’s becoming clearer and clearer lately that most of my friends have a lot more bank than me and rough times happen once in a while. So I might not be the best person to be saying this. But I just keep wondering what would happen if I put this out there… how many and how much others agree or disagree. I’m not sure what to think of all this at all. It’s risky because even though I’ve been reading a lot about related topics, I still don’t understand or know half as much as I would like. And I don’t know how legitimate my opinion is here… just keep in mind that I’m a not very well informed person, but I don’t want to keep issuing disclaimers every other sentence here. I feel very unsure of what I’m saying here, but it might be worth putting out.
