16 November 2011

Seeing Both Sides on Wall Street

Like a typical Pisces, I have the tendency to look at both sides of an issue, and often can't make up my mind about which side I agree with. When it comes to the Occupy Wall Street movement, I agree in theory but not entirely in practice.

 While I agree that our economy is in shambles and our country at a low, I'm not sure that simply occupying a park will really solve any of those problems. As a college graduate looking to go to graduate school and currently working full time, I know what's it's like to have loans. To worry about your future. To believe that the 1% are running the country while the 99% slave away below the windows of the Park Ave. mansions. I agree with the sentiment of the protestors that something needs to be done and I agree with their right to protest and free speech. I believe that the protest did help raise awareness in this country about the great disparity between the wealthy and the rest of us. I believe it did spark other protests and the beginnings of a discourse in the country. I believe it does make an important point (or, several points, since many of the protestors seem to have different ideas of what's the best strategy and what the real problems are).

But these protests, I believe, should not create unsanitary or unsafe conditions in the community. These protests should not create an unnecessary burden on taxpayers, which is what it's doing. Who is ultimately going to end up paying for the police force needed to evict them or clean up the park? It's going to come out of taxpayer money. And when rumors of weapons, feces on the ground, and sexual assault come into play, the community is bound to react with complaints, and the movement will lose support.

At 1 a.m. on Tuesday morning, police conducted a raid on the protestors in Zuccotti Park, awaking most with blaring klieg lights and, later, forcible eviction, according to a New York Times article. Many protestors simply picked up their belongings and left, although a core few tried to stick it out in the center of the park. Others broke into a lot belonging to Trinity Church with bolt cutters. After 2 months, the protest in the park came to and end. And although protestors have been allowed back into the park and say they won't give up the fight, a judge ruled that they couldn't camp out or bring tents or other gear into the park, which had been designed as a 24-7 recreation center for the community. At about 7 a.m. this morning, the Daily News live blog reported that only a mere 25 protestors had remained or returned to the park. 

Like most people, I know how hard it is to get involved. To stray from your daily habits and speak out. How can we break into a system already dominated by the individuals in power? How can we send a political message when we need money to influence any politicians in the system? Who is left that's not corrupt? Who is left that actually cares about democracy and equality in this country? These are tough questions to answer, and if anyone has a solution, I'd be interested to hear it. I wish I knew what we should do to take back our country, but I don't. So until there's a better alternative, I'll support the protestors in the park, because at least some protest - whatever form it takes - is better than none at all.


2 comments:

the walking man said...

First thing is there are questions as to whether ALL of the violence at all of the occupy sights that have experienced it was not in fact coordinated by the homeland security department with a nod of the head from Obama. That may or may not ever be proven but it is possible because it was all done at the same time.

Synchronicity...I doubt that, especially since Obama is just as bought as any other politician except maybe Bernie Sanders. If 1% control the economy then that same 1% control the government including the 12th wealthiest man in America...Bloomberg.

Second why were there no pictures of the unsanitary conditions in the protest sites?

The solution though is more important than the protest.

70% of a healthy American economy is based on American consumption of mostly foreign made goods.

The weapon being used against the 99% is money ergo the proper weapon to use against the 1% is money.

A) Do not spend on what you do not NEED.

B) Remove your money out of the Wall Street markets and stash it in a regular savings account. You may not make any interest on it {0.04%) but you also will not lose it in the next upward transfer of wealth which will happen when the next bubble bursts (commodities this time I believe)

C) The to big to fail banks are loosening up on credit again sending out massive amounts of applications for CC's. Do not open one.

D) any debt you have other than a student loan and is higher than your total worth x's 2 bankrupt out of.

Money is the weapon of this war now you figure out how to fight it.

Chris said...

I think your solutions make sense. I agree that fighting money with money is the way to go. The problem is figuring out how to encourage America as a whole to embrace the protest and the changes - especially with a very big consumer-spending holiday on the horizon.

Also, I do see the validity to the idea that perhaps the reports of unsanitary conditions etc. are merely just a plant used as an excuse to stop the protest. I'm not really making judgements either way. I'm just saying that if the reports are true, I don't agree with that aspect of the protest. And even if the reports are not true, the community will still react to them as though they are.