occupy (enter city name here)

Johnny99 wrote:

In NYC the police and the mayor are breaking laws. Shutting down press. shutting down free speech. shutting down assembly. and now monitoring religious houses of worship that are giving aid and shelter to protestors.
The fact that people are OK with all of this is fucking sickening. Can we stop calling it the land of the free yet?

Why should we follow the laws if they dont?

That's really the thing that is most depressing to me, is that rather than talk about what the cops and the government are doing, people are talking about what those 'dirty hippie protesters' are doing. Its incredibly discouraging.

I do agree with the whole NYC thing, what the people in power are doing to silence people is disturbing, I was mostly commenting on the Canadian side of this. Honestly things really aren't that bad up here, besides you know the lack of bald eagles and the testicle-freezing winters.

I'm sick of hearing that they don't have any goals. They have a multitude of goals. "If you don't know what's going on, or what we're talking about, turn off the news and tune into the protest." I've had media members come to me, asking for an interview, and I just say no, because I know that they're going to twist it against the movement. It's frustrating as hell that everyone is just buying what the media is saying, and telling me that they don't have any goals. Want to know what their goals are? Go and ask the protestors, not those against them.

StoolPigeon wrote:

I'm sick of hearing that they don't have any goals. They have a multitude of goals. "If you don't know what's going on, or what we're talking about, turn off the news and tune into the protest." I've had media members come to me, asking for an interview, and I just say no, because I know that they're going to twist it against the movement. It's frustrating as hell that everyone is just buying what the media is saying, and telling me that they don't have any goals. Want to know what their goals are? Go and ask the protestors, not those against them.

The problem is not that they don't have goals individually, the problem is that the group has a whole has nothing to add. Everyone already knows that big business is fucking everyone, this isn't a new idea. The problem is that the Occupy Movement as a group would never be able to decide what they actually want. Awareness I guess is the easy answer but as I said I think pretty much gets the fact that big business runs the show right now. The other issue is that half of the "protesters" are simply jumping on the bandwagon because they think it's cool.

The Occupy Movement at it's essence is an Awareness campaign, they're never going inact any change themseleves. Could this be the spark towards change? Maybe, but probably not. People are becoming tired of and frustrated at these protesters setting up illegal camps, disobeying police officers, and resisting arrest then bitching about excessive force, when if you hadn't done the original crime nothing would have happened to you.

The Occupy movement adds nothing to the argument they're only pointing out the problems instead of coming up solutions. And really if you aren't coming up with ideas to solve the current mess aren't you just compounding the bigger problem, ignorance?

And because there seems to be some confusion on this part the First Amendment protects the right to free speech and assembly not the right to trespass, resist arrest, and destory public/private property. Maybe that's the 28th.

For anyone that's confused about this subject, here is an explanation by the Cookie Monster.

Quote :

Yes, there always going to be rich and poor. But we used to live in country where rich owned factory and make 30 times what factory worker make. Now we live in country where rich make money by lying about value of derivative bonds and make 3000 times what factory worker would make if factories hadn't all moved to China.

Capitalism great system. We won Cold War because people behind Iron Curtain look over wall, and see how much more plentiful and delicious cookies are in West, and how we have choice of different bakeries, not just state-owned one. It great system. It got us out of Depression, won WWII, built middle class, built country's infrastructure from highways to Hoover Dam to Oreo factory to electrifying rural South. It system that reward hard work and fair play, and everyone do fair share and everyone benefit. Rich get richer, poor get richer, everyone happy. It great system.

Then after Reagan, Republicans decide to make number one priority destroying that system. Now we have system where richest Americans ones who find ways to game system -- your friends on Wall Street -- and poorest Americans ones who thought working hard would get them American dream, when in fact it get them pink slip when job outsourced to 10-year-old in Mumbai slum. And corporations have more influence over government than people (or monsters).

It not about rich people having more money. It about how they got money. It about how they take opportunity away from rest of us, for sake of having more money. It how they willing to take risks that destroy economy -- knowing full well what could and would happen -- putting millions out of work, while creating nothing of value, and all the while crowing that they John Galt, creating wealth for everyone.

That what the soul-searching about. When Liberals run country for 30 years following New Deal, American economy double in size, and wages double along with it. That fair. When Conservatives run country for 30 years following Reagan, American economy double again, and wages stay flat. What happen to our share of money? All of it go to richest 1%. That not "there always going to be rich people". That unfair system. That why we upset. That what Occupy Sesame Street about.

cooljayhu wrote:

I do agree with the whole NYC thing, what the people in power are doing to silence people is disturbing, I was mostly commenting on the Canadian side of this. Honestly things really aren't that bad up here, besides you know the lack of bald eagles and the testicle-freezing winters.

The Canadian Occupy movement is a total joke.

We just like to jump on the band wagon, choose sides, and argue over America's shitty problems because there isn't anything going on up here that's really worth getting worked up over.

cooljayhu wrote:

The problem is not that they don't have goals individually, the problem is that the group has a whole has nothing to add. Everyone already knows that big business is fucking everyone, this isn't a new idea. The problem is that the Occupy Movement as a group would never be able to decide what they actually want. Awareness I guess is the easy answer but as I said I think pretty much gets the fact that big business runs the show right now. The other issue is that half of the "protesters" are simply jumping on the bandwagon because they think it's cool.

The Occupy Movement at it's essence is an Awareness campaign, they're never going inact any change themseleves. Could this be the spark towards change? Maybe, but probably not. People are becoming tired of and frustrated at these protesters setting up illegal camps, disobeying police officers, and resisting arrest then bitching about excessive force, when if you hadn't done the original crime nothing would have happened to you.

The Occupy movement adds nothing to the argument they're only pointing out the problems instead of coming up solutions. And really if you aren't coming up with ideas to solve the current mess aren't you just compounding the bigger problem, ignorance?

And because there seems to be some confusion on this part the First Amendment protects the right to free speech and assembly not the right to trespass, resist arrest, and destory public/private property. Maybe that's the 28th.

The way I see it is as more of a convention. It's a way of getting activists together and spreading their ideas to other activists and non-activists. Occupy itself may not accomplish a whole lot or anything, even, but people are making new contacts and getting new ideas. And I think that people do have ideas on how to fix things, but few people really care to listen, and I think that that's the biggest problem with the Canadian part of the movement, that Canadians are a little too complacent.

As for whether tent cities should be taken down, I guess people shouldn't be able to camp out for iPhones, Xboxes or anything like that, either? And I've never once seen public or private property even disrespected at Occupy Vancouver.

Knate wrote:

For anyone that's confused about this subject, here is an explanation by the Cookie Monster.

Quote :

Yes, there always going to be rich and poor. But we used to live in country where rich owned factory and make 30 times what factory worker make. Now we live in country where rich make money by lying about value of derivative bonds and make 3000 times what factory worker would make if factories hadn't all moved to China.

Capitalism great system. We won Cold War because people behind Iron Curtain look over wall, and see how much more plentiful and delicious cookies are in West, and how we have choice of different bakeries, not just state-owned one. It great system. It got us out of Depression, won WWII, built middle class, built country's infrastructure from highways to Hoover Dam to Oreo factory to electrifying rural South. It system that reward hard work and fair play, and everyone do fair share and everyone benefit. Rich get richer, poor get richer, everyone happy. It great system.

Then after Reagan, Republicans decide to make number one priority destroying that system. Now we have system where richest Americans ones who find ways to game system -- your friends on Wall Street -- and poorest Americans ones who thought working hard would get them American dream, when in fact it get them pink slip when job outsourced to 10-year-old in Mumbai slum. And corporations have more influence over government than people (or monsters).

It not about rich people having more money. It about how they got money. It about how they take opportunity away from rest of us, for sake of having more money. It how they willing to take risks that destroy economy -- knowing full well what could and would happen -- putting millions out of work, while creating nothing of value, and all the while crowing that they John Galt, creating wealth for everyone.

That what the soul-searching about. When Liberals run country for 30 years following New Deal, American economy double in size, and wages double along with it. That fair. When Conservatives run country for 30 years following Reagan, American economy double again, and wages stay flat. What happen to our share of money? All of it go to richest 1%. That not "there always going to be rich people". That unfair system. That why we upset. That what Occupy Sesame Street about.

Haha, that's awesome!

Raccoon wrote:

cooljayhu wrote:

I do agree with the whole NYC thing, what the people in power are doing to silence people is disturbing, I was mostly commenting on the Canadian side of this. Honestly things really aren't that bad up here, besides you know the lack of bald eagles and the testicle-freezing winters.

The Canadian Occupy movement is a total joke.

We just like to jump on the band wagon, choose sides, and argue over America's shitty problems because there isn't anything going on up here that's really worth getting worked up over.

I think there are a lot of problems to get worked up over. We've got expanding tar sands, the omnibus crime bill (which even the US is scratching their heads about), the fact that attack ads have taken precedence over actual politics, that we block international laws putting regulations of the export of asbestos (we can't be clearly labeling it for the safety of the importers, that would be awful!); that, although we don't have nearly the same rich-poor gap as Americans, it's still growing and we're doing little to stop it; that the richest are paying so little in tax, lack of actual representation in Parliament, and that we value party politics over proportional representation (that a party can 40% of the vote and get a majority government), to name a few things.

I read up till tar sands and had to stop. If we shut down the tar sands Canada will implode in upon itself. Do you realize how much the tar sands means to our economy? What else can what possibly export? Maple syrup? Hockey players? The tar sands are pretty much it. I guess maybe the potash industry in Sask but relatively it's inconsequential. Shutting down or even limiting the tar sands would be disasterous unless we have something that can take its place.

I love the people coming out saying the tar sands are dirty (not saying you were saying this but writing about the tar sands got me thinking about it). I would love to pose the question, "So you valie the environment over human lives then?" To which they probably say no and then I would point out that nobody died for our oil, unlike in the middle east.

Also this whole Keystone Pipeline is driving me bananas especially the people coming out against it. These high-profile actors who don't need to work another god damn day because they're worth millions are trying to take food off the table from hard-working Canadians and Americans. These hypocrites who waste millions of dollars and create gigantic carbon footprints by actively participating in a film indrusty that blatantly wastes money then asks the hard-working general public to spend $20 and 2 hours watching their pieces of shit. It drives me fucking insane.

cooljayhu wrote:

I read up till tar sands and had to stop. If we shut down the tar sands Canada will implode in upon itself. Do you realize how much the tar sands means to our economy? What else can what possibly export? Maple syrup? Hockey players? The tar sands are pretty much it. I guess maybe the potash industry in Sask but relatively it's inconsequential. Shutting down or even limiting the tar sands would be disasterous unless we have something that can take its place.

I love the people coming out saying the tar sands are dirty (not saying you were saying this but writing about the tar sands got me thinking about it). I would love to pose the question, "So you valie the environment over human lives then?" To which they probably say no and then I would point out that nobody died for our oil, unlike in the middle east.

Also this whole Keystone Pipeline is driving me bananas especially the people coming out against it. These high-profile actors who don't need to work another god damn day because they're worth millions are trying to take food off the table from hard-working Canadians and Americans. These hypocrites who waste millions of dollars and create gigantic carbon footprints by actively participating in a film indrusty that blatantly wastes money then asks the hard-working general public to spend $20 and 2 hours watching their pieces of shit. It drives me fucking insane.

Do you value the lives of those who died for oil in the Middle East over those who die in Africa because of droughts occurring all over the East coast, and those who will continue to die as our environment gets worse and worse? Now, I understand that it's subjective as to whether these are caused from our carbon footprint, but wouldn't you like to see more jobs created from energy alternatives instead of constantly pushing for oil, oil, motherfucking oil?

Either way, my biggest problem, right now isn't the tar sands, but more so the asbestos industry.

Edit: With that said, I totally agree about the hypocrisy of the celebrities coming out against the Keystone pipeline. I haven't really been following the controversies over it, though, so I don't really know what the argument's all about.

Honestly, I don't value either of their lives more important than the other simply for the fact that they live on the other side of the world. But I will say that supporting governments who maim, torture, enslave, and slaughter their own people by buying their oil is ridiculous. I do agree that energy alternatives will be important but as of right now the thing is they're not profitable.

For my money Global Warming, right now at least, is a significantly less important issue than overpopulation. There simply is not enough to go around at our current rate of reproduction. That will kill significantly more humans in the next 100 years than global warming.

Fucking Lol'd so hard, Knate.

It looks like so much fun to live in Canada. SO much fun!

cooljayhu wrote:

Honestly, I don't value either of their lives more important than the other simply for the fact that they live on the other side of the world. But I will say that supporting governments who maim, torture, enslave, and slaughter their own people by buying their oil is ridiculous. I do agree that energy alternatives will be important but as of right now the thing is they're not profitable.

For my money Global Warming, right now at least, is a significantly less important issue than overpopulation. There simply is not enough to go around at our current rate of reproduction. That will kill significantly more humans in the next 100 years than global warming.

I agree, I would rather use the tar sands than oil from totalitarian states, my issue is more the lack of investment in alternative energies... I understand it's not so profitable, but I consider the environment to be of higher importance than profit.

I think overpopulation will/is compounding with the issue of climate change and speeding it up at a higher and higher rate. If there are serious droughts in the next hundred years (or, you know, this year), the more people there are, there will be even less to go around. I think overpopulation is, in fact, even more reason to worry about climate change. The more people there are, the more there are starving and at the same time, the more there are damaging the environment.

i still have a box full of bull shit trophy's

Adam Corolla is a dummy. Sounds like he just finished reading Ron Pauls book. Still most of our generation will lose their jobs about 3 or 4 times in their lives. A lot of us will never own a home, wont be able to afford to send their kids to college and for the first time in the history of our country we are going to have it worse off than our parents did. But thats all OK, because Adam Carolla says to keep your head down, shut up and work hard. No one ever said life was supposed to be happy!

Its cool though, we live in America and the people in charge have our best interest in mind.

One of my anthro professor is giving a presentation on the Anthropological Perspective on the Occupy Movement next week....looking forward to seeing what he has to say.

If I find anything interesting, I'll share it on here

Johnny99 wrote:

Adam Corolla is a dummy. Sounds like he just finished reading Ron Pauls book. Still most of our generation will lose their jobs about 3 or 4 times in their lives. A lot of us will never own a home, wont be able to afford to send their kids to college and for the first time in the history of our country we are going to have it worse off than our parents did. But thats all OK, because Adam Carolla says to keep your head down, shut up and work hard. No one ever said life was supposed to be happy!

WORD

Adam Corolla really is a douche. Also not a very funny guy.

http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/video/cultures-on-decline/1279766117001#1283711115001

^ Fox News North (Sun News)'s take on Occupy. What a joke.