I'm so glad that officials all over the country finally got tough last night and said to the Occupy _______ (Atlanta, Wall Street, wherever) people, "Get your a**es out of our public areas and go back to work. Or school. Or wherever you came from."
I get that the protestors are fed up with the economy, big business, wealthy people, and anything else that represents The Establishment.
I too am fed up with the economy. Only I couldn't join the protestors because... I have a J-O-B.
Apparently as soon as officials indicated their tolerance was wearing thin, the crowds doubled in size. Protesting wasn't nearly as important until they found out they could protest not being allowed to protest.
I REALLY have a problem with the college students protesting the economy. It reminds me of a letter my brother wrote to our local newspaper during the Vietnam war. He wrote his letter FROM Vietnam. He said, and I paraphrase, "I'm tired of hearing about college students protesting a damn war they're not fighting anyway." I was wide-eyed and open-mouthed that he would write something for the NEWSPAPER that had the word "damn" in it. (I was about 9 years old.)
One of my co-workers said she drove through Athens (where the University of Georgia is located) one warm morning a couple of weeks ago and there were about 20 protestors camped out at the Arches. (Doesn't that border on sacrilege anyway?) Then the temperatures dropped about 30 degrees, and suddenly whatever they were protesting wasn't THAT important. Committed to their causes, those college students.
Don't get me wrong. I believe in the right to protest. I just think they should have something specific in mind they're protesting.
And they should know what it is.
1 comment:
I couldn't disagree more. The Occupy movement has been quite explicit with their list of demands. Because the group is so inclusive, the list is long. I believe your attitude would be very different if you were just graduating from college now with a load of debt and no job prospect on the horizon. These people are not slackers and if I weren't still a wage slave and too old to survive the temperatures, I'd be there adding my voice to the chorus. In my opinion one of the most important demands is CONGRESS ENACT LEGISLATION TO PROTECT OUR DEMOCRACY BY REVERSING THE EFFECTS OF THE CITIZENS UNITED SUPREME COURT DECISION which essentially said corporations can spend as much as they want on elections. The result is that corporations can pretty much buy elections. Corporations should be highly limited in ability to contribute to political campaigns no matter what the election and no matter what the form of media. This legislation should also RE-ESTABLISH THE PUBLIC AIRWAVES IN THE U.S. SO THAT POLITICAL CANDIDATES ARE GIVEN EQUAL TIME FOR FREE AT REASONABLE INTERVALS IN DAILY PROGRAMMING DURING CAMPAIGN SEASON. The same should extend to other media.
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