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Sunday, December 18, 2011

Same Old Same Old

We've seen these same arguments for decades. Not much has changed.

6 comments:

Ed said...

The most common negative yelled comment you get at Occupy Albany is "get a job." Passing drivers assume that the occupiers are unemployed, and they must think that a job would somehow solve the problem -- it's pretty annoying.

The other objection is that there's no clear message. There actually is a clear message, it's too clear, I think, for the media to recognize. It's best that there is no official manifesto, no leader, no talking points or lists of demands. It keeps the movement pure and stays above the petty point-by-point criticism that would arise.

It's a truly grassroots group of people saying (clearly) that they've been cheated. That the American economic system has failed them. That the financial system is run by shortsighted assholes. That money is occupying our government. That there's no oversight, no regulation of unbridled greed, no fairness.

It's actually a pretty different scenario from protesting against the war, though there is some overlap.

Jim Sande said...

Ed - if there is a person out there, someone is attaching a story about who or what they are. This is just an example of the regular projection that we always do to each other except this is in the realm of politics. The objections are primarily economic objections but they fall into the realm of politics when its a protest.

Ed said...

If you are talking about he first paragraph, are you saying I shouldn't be puzzled? I shouldn't be annoyed?

I am surprised that people would yell "get a job", and it is pretty annoying. I guess I don't follow you.

Jim Sande said...

Yes it is annoying. I've had people yell bull shit out at me during all kinds of things, most of them not political, we all have. All I'm saying is that its not really much different from the type of thing that goes on outside of a political arena. You don't have to be in a political demonstration for somebody to yell out, get a job. In my experience that's mild.

Ed said...

Well, I agree, it's not a particularly heinous or hateful thing to say. But I wasn't grousing about feeling insulted.

I was just remarking on the logical disconnect. Passing drivers assume that the occupiers are unemployed, and they must think that a job would somehow solve the problem. This happens so often that a popular sign that the Occupy Albany demonstrators use just says "I have a job."

No one has ever said that to me before, and if you stand with the demonstrators you will hear "get a job" 6 times an hour.

Pretty specific to the occupy movement, and included in your original post.

Jim Sande said...

I understand what you are saying. When they say get a job it demonstrates an incredibly low level of understanding and and incredibly confused and poorly nuanced sense of how the world operates. These are the people that listen to FOX. Time and time again studies show that FOX viewers actually would know more if they watched no TV at all. Just by being blank they would know more.