My motivation in posting this is that I've just founded a user-group for occupy movement supporters. I wanted to get a significant number of people who might be interested in as quickly as possible. (It's an invite-only group; I don't like dealing with trolls.) Those who vote that they support the occupation movement (i.e. "Yes.") can realistically expect to be invited to join the Occupy Movement user-group unless they make a post on this thread explicitly requesting that an invite not be sent. Sorry if my means bother anyone. I just think this method of locating initial invites is infinitely easier than scrounging around the forums for hours. Plus the occupation movement is all about democracy and this is a way more democratic method of finding appropriate invites than me just unilaterally deciding who should be invited, I think.
I had to vote no. I do agree with them on many issues but I just can not support the tactics. Now if you try and block every major port in the US I will be there. I think the best route though is dollar votes.
I think that the OWS people blame the wrong people for the problems in our world today. IF someone invents something, sells a lot of them and becomes rich, this person is the personification of the American Dream and is not evil nor deserving of your scorn. Politicians who make promises that they know will be unstainable someday are to blame.
There are protests on over here, too. The one in Melbourne has been going on about three weeks now. The Lord Mayor doesn't believe in free speech and tries to get rid of them but they just come back. I support them. I'd be there with them if I didn't have to work.
The one in my city is still ongoing we've got a lot of support from the aboriginal community they helped set up a Teepee tonight.
Not everyone who supports OWS is a troll. For example, me. People aren't trolls simply by having an opposing view. Behavior is what makes one a troll, not ideology.
What is your endgame? What will change? There will simply be new and better disguised masters. How will you prevent it? What are you fighting for and why now? I (many of us) have been complaining about the Wal-Mart economy and people keep complaining about this stuff without realizing they are the ultimate cause and they can be the solution. No protests are necessary just common sense. Stop investing and the endless money pool will dry up. Sell your market based investments and move them to savings. Without the blind investors dumping money into the market banks will again become relevant and perhaps even interest rates will rise. So many things are interconnected and I think OWS is being a little short sighted. Besides you had no problems when you had jobs and money was coming in. Spend, spend and spend. It is the American way and if you should win everything will keep going out because (IMHO) OWS wants something for nothing and will squander it.
No, but you didn't read the thread. Polly Minx said she didn't want trolls joining her elite group so she would only select people who had voted correctly in the poll. I was simply pointing out that she'd told the trolls how to vote to get into the group. I see a big difference between trolls and violent left-wing socialist egocentric adolescents.
PatrickT: On the contrary, voting Yes can be considered a request for admission. It is not an automatic pass. As yet, I have indeed invited everyone who has voted Yes to join. But I also do a little investigating of recent posts and self-descriptions before inviting anyone. So there is a bit of a screening process. It's intended to keep out the likes of Tea Party people who would only join the Occupy Movement user-group for the purposes of wrecking it. The user-group is for people aligned with the occupation movement, not for its opponents or for fence-sitters. Dialogues with those people abound on the main forums. There's no reason to let them into an Occupy Movement user-group. Contrary to your implication, I don't think there's anything authoritarian about denying opportunists access. Frankly, this admission process is more democratic than that of any other invite-based user-group I'm aware of. I'm giving people a chance to request an invite. As I've explained to the point of exhaustion over and over and over...and over and over and over and over and over ....and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and....yeah, you get the idea...the basic objective of the occupy movement, as stated in the user-group intro, is that of ending the dictatorship of the world's richest 1% over the planet and replacing that yes-very-real plutocracy with democracy. This is a democracy movement. It takes much inspiration from the Arab Spring. That is our objective. On the precise means by which to get from here to there, and on what exactly that will look like in realization, we do not have a consensus yet. We are fleshing out those matters. This is a grassroots movement that's still only a matter of weeks old. Give us some time! Or better yet, join up with us and contribute your ideas in that connection. We are fighting for and with the bottom 99% of the world's population. Why now? Why not now? What better time could there be? Right now, we operate on the basis of direct democracy and consensus. We believe our means should reflect our ends. That is why we use the most democratic, transparent, and inclusive decision-making processes that we can think of. Have you a better way?
Please invite me, Polly....all healthy "democracies" need vehemently dissenting rabble. Just kidding....don't....The infractions I'd receive would place my continuing membership here in grave peril,
You should have had a "Part of it" option in your poll. People getting foreclosed on while the banks got bailed out irks me. Companies outsourcing jobs while the US unemployment rate is so high irks me. On the other hand, the fact that the OWS people seem to ignore the Democrats role in creating these problems irks me. The fact that OWS has no stated goals other than some lofty socialistic ideals irks me. People (*)(*)(*)(*)(*)ing about their student loans irritates me. You took out a loan you should pay it back. My house is now worth less than I owe on it. I am not whining that the government should offer me some relief. I go to work everyday as does my wife and we make the mortgage payments and will continue to do so. So much for the 99%, eh? Kind of like the volunteer cooks (*)(*)(*)(*)(*)ing about the homeless.
These morons want to be taken seriously? That's way too funny. It's time to use the police and national guard to move them out. If they won't go, use any and all non lethal means necessary to get them gone or in Jail. They have an absolute right to peaceful protest, however when they attack citizens with bodily fluids, they cashed in their right to protest cards and crossed the line into being midless, agenda driven thugs.
I'm part of the 99% and I was never asked if I want the nitwits representing me. Oh, right, we have no choice. We have no say.
They're all full of it; especially the ones in Oakland, California! These people were throwing rocks and bottles at the police; objects which can and will cause serious injury. So, the police respond with tear gas, rubber bullets and tasers. And these nut-job hippies have the nerve to say the police used, "too much force." Like hell, they did! What did they expect anyway; for them to just stand there and take it? I'm sorry, but if you were to throw a rock or a bottle at MY head, I'd beat the living $h1t out of you, too! They're just a bunch of lazy, drug addicted, littering, vandalizing, rape-committing hippies who want everyone else to pay off their student loans and mortgages because they don't wanna get off their butts and get a job! Occupiers, go home, take a shower, GET A JOB!
Of course you have a say. Go out there and counter-protest. What's that? They don't have this in Mexico? Why are you in Mexico again?
You know what I meant. I'm denying opportunists the ability to participate in the Occupy Movement user-group.
I support the movement in general. Since they aren't giving any specifics in terms of legislation there is nothing specifically to object to. As far as tactics, any time you get enough real humans together you are going to have a few who are bent on no good. I exclude the ********* types since most are conformists at heart (no offense to them though). Bro
