Also known as the Occupation of Perpetual Grievance.
From perennial perennial, @IowaHawkBlog:
Update: For a great post see Start the Revolution Without Me, by reader Teresa in Forth Worth:
You say that you hate all of these big, evil corporations? Well don’t just stand there, show them that you REALLY mean business – stop using their products and services!
Starting with Facebook (estimated net profit for 2011 – $1 Billion).
Then, you’ll have to stop using Google (2nd QUARTER profits, 2011 – $2.5 Billion).
You’re gonna have to give up your iPhone while you’re at it (Apple (2nd Quarter profits 2011) – $6 Billion).
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Comments
I’m just like the oppressed people of the Arab Spring. Just. Like. Them. We are brothers. Or sisters. Or whatever the non-a-un-bi-sexuals call themselves.
We feel the pain of people who don’t have running water or any sense of personal safety because . . . well, we just do. And something about the rich … they’re bad. Somehow.
What do you mean I’m not oppressed? Of course I am, see how I say all this and don’t get mowed down by a tank or taken out by a sniper. It’s just. like. the. Arab. spring.
Where’s Arabia-land again?
Duh, they’re being oppressed by the corporations! You know, the ones that feed the vast vast majority of the country and have managed to give us one of the longest life expectancies in the world. The ones who built the computers and cell phones, and maintain the wired and wireless communication centers that allow protester to organize in the first place. Those corporations!
These must be our ‘best and bightest’ OMG
I always remind myself that the Cuban Revolution was started by the upper middle class in Cuba, then Castro et al took it in another direction.
Okay, I’ll share my post from a couple of days ago about this – somehow the NYT found it, and I’ve had trolls coming around all day; seems I don’t really UNDERSTAND what these people stand for…..
http://teresainfortworth.wordpress.com/2011/09/27/start-the-revolution-without-me/
That’s a great post. Thanks for the link.
Thanks! Glad you liked it – it was fun putting that one together….. 🙂
Hilarious! Anti left humor almost writes itself these days.
Nice.
In a tribute to the ingenuity of capitalism, the pizzeria quickly added a new item to its menu: the “OccuPie special.”
Leave it to those
damn capitalists.. err .. revolutionary enablers for their ingenuity.Could it be? This corporation protest happened because of the Netflix price increase and no subsequent increase in allowance?
I think that is one of the most annoying complaints. I hear it all the time and some of my facebook friends send around petitions for student loan forgiveness. It is irritating as heck. First off they should have at least tried to cost benefit analyze the pursuit of a college degree, the cost of the specific university they were attending, and the program they were enrolling in. I am sorry but if you pursue a fluffy degree, then what exactly are you expecting to get a job as, a community organizer. News flash, inciting anger and class warfare demanding money for doing nothing is not a job. There are only so many non profit jobs to go around before they suck the profit sector host dry. Then these same people are out protesting a pipeline that could create valuable jobs in this country. These mooches could move to Canada to pay off their student loans, I read the other day there is a shortage of labor up there and the are hoping to attract immigrants from the US. The oil and gas industry is booming there. Please someone instill some real knowledge and sense into the entitled class of college graduates.
Don’t worry, you’re definitely not the only one angry. I’m in law school now, getting 70K a year in loans for three years, and these petitions still piss me off too. The last thing we need is a generation of people who think “if I get too far into debt, someone will just bail me out”. We need more responsibility, not less
Ah, Loan forgiveness. I’ve got about 24K, my wife has about 17K and that’s not counting what we’re lucky (and I mean incredibly lucky) enough to have our parents paying down for us. (Both of our parents picked up Housing Tabs, my Wife’s parents for reasons we won’t go into and mine, in part because I started Commuting after Frosh year, and I think they felt bad they pushed me to live on campus in the first place. I didn’t expect them to pay it off, and I’m damn grateful they are–probably in return for retirement care or something.)
Anyway, I digress. The point is I have student loans, and we’re repaying the ones not in deferment (I’m a Student again.) And that’s fine, it’s life, it takes some money out of our spending cash but cool, whatever. Whenever I see people saying “Imagine if we just forgave those, I’d spend the extra X/month on a car and stimulate the economy.” I want to cry, because clearly they didn’t study economics…or math…or…well anything. Where do these people think the money is going to come from to “forgive” those loans? Seriously? It’s an boat load of cash.
Also, BTW have they looked into the fact that college tuition didn’t begin to grow out of control until AFTER the Gov’t decided it’d be a good idea to subsidize it? Yeah, that worked out real well. So let’s have Gov’t subsidize it some more, surely it won’t backfire (again!)
Bill Bennett, the former Secretary of Education, noticed that with the financial aid form requiring that you send in virtually everything (just shy of your first-born), they they know exactly who much they can take. It’s the perfect inverted marketplace.
But it’s good to know that somebody is Stickin’ it to the Man
Add to the list of things to give up… their refrigerator, that came from an evil corporation and that earth killing coal and nuclear power that it runs on… their warm comfy shelter, just imagine all of the fossil fuels it requires to keep it warm… all food that is not homegrown, ah ah ah didn’t you know Whole Foods was run by a greedy capitalist Republican… any mode of transportation other than walking… oh no don’t take away the booze, sorry that had to go to…. well they might be able to keep passing the joint around, but we’ll have to confiscate those rolling papers… I know you could still smoke it out of the hand crafted glass pipe, but what if the glass business grows into a successful corporation someday then you are investing in a potential greedy monster… maybe these people would be wiser to off themselves because I really don’t see them having the work ethic to live like the Amish.
Yeah, I had to stop somewhere; otherwise, I’d still be writing that post…..
I had not read the whole post when I commented. I realize now you covered some of these. The list could go on forever. Just imagine how their hearts would change if they traded in their covetousness and envy for all that they have to be thankful for.
Love your blog by the way!
The blog was great and the list could not have been long enough. One of the first liberal comments complained that the ones they were protesting were not on the list. Liberals are never wrong..never.
Thanks so much! I’m honored and grateful that Prof. Jacobson linked my little post –
[…] Pingback: » #OccupyWallStreet Tweet of the Day – Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion […]
OUTstanding! Well done!
Isn’t everything listed in the “update” a basic necessity? It is far from comprehensive, but it does capture the spirit embodied by dreams of “redistributive change,” also known as instant gratification through involuntary exploitation.
Revolution/The Beatles 1968
http://youtu.be/KrkwgTBrW78
[…] recent Wall Street Day of Rage in the Age of Obama is right out of Saul Alinsky’s book Rules for Radicals (1971). Here are […]
While the protester list of grievances is unworkable and full of inconsistency, THE BASIC ISSUE DOES HAVE TRACTION. The financial demands for just having basic shelter, food, transportation and medical care are unworkable. And like it or not, the bailouts from 2008 to the present have been the largest transfer of funds from the poor to the rich in history. (Second place is probably the insatiable spending by colleges and universities that ride the backs of debt-ridden students.) In the early 80’s I made about $7/hr part-time when I attended college and paid about $750 a semester for in-state tuition. My college kid makes $15/hr part-time and pays about $4,000 a semester for in-state tuition.
The financial struggle I had as a youth is not nearly as daunting as the struggle we’ve dumped on the current generation.
“Awing1” is a moby.
“And like it or not, the bailouts from 2008 to the present have been the largest transfer of funds from the poor to the rich in history.”
True.
“My college kid makes $15/hr part-time and pays about $4,000 a semester for in-state tuition.”
Why isn’t he in a trade or engineering school? Fossil fuel and defense companies drive the technological development of “Western Civilization,” always will. (Who drives technology drives civilization.) Their logistics trains and down-stream effects are manifold and, in trade and engineering skill sets, essentially recession-proof. Unless, through family connections, they have a “job” waiting for them before they matriculate at a post-secondary institution, a young person today is insane to seek admission to a liberal arts college or university. Unless through their current employer’s auspices a young person today has a position waiting for them, they are insane to seek admission to a post-graudate program.