Protests and media silence

[Pali]

So, if you get your news via American media, you probably have heard nothing about a thousands-strong protest of Wall Street that's been going on in New York for the last week. Keith Olbermann had a piece regarding it on his show Countdown recently, which is up on Youtube, which is attempting to answer the question of why the media has been dead silent regarding it.

There's the usual fun of

... which, of course, is also apparently not news-worthy.

Outside of the protests in Madison earlier this year, I've started to notice that the media in general seems to care very little about protests or the official reactions to them. Shutting down cell phone towers and blocking protest-related emails and websites have become a common strategy employed across the country to minimize the ability of the people to organize and have their voices heard... this is the kind of actually dangerous big government that people should be worried about (far more than your tax rates), but the media apparently couldn't care less about it.

Thanks again, Patriot Act. You've helped make the country safe and secure against the ability of its own citizens to voice their discontent.

[inscribed]

I stopped reading at Keith Olbermann...

[inscribed]

man those wall street/ corporate america guys are such *******s, its totally their fault we aren't employed. lets go protest them! we should totally be on tv for this.

[Pali]

*facepalm*

[Tantangel]

Actually I tend to listen to Glenn Beck as often as I can because he reports on a lot of news that goes on that isn't reported as well. I don't know if you listen to him or not Pali, but if not you should give him a shot at some point.

[Pali]

That's actually something I've long given Beck credit for - one of the advantages to listening to someone strongly left- or right-wing is they tend to mention stories like this that are ignored by the mainstream media.

However, I have this thing where delusional thinking annoys me, so there's only so much Beck I can handle.

[Tantangel]

True, but he's great to listen to nonetheless. He's not quite delusional, but he's definitely out there at times.

[Demiterracotta]

Colbert did a piece on it, first time I'd heard anything about it.

A lot of the people interviewed make a lot of sense.

[Volgathras]

Read a piece on yahoo about it, think it was AP. I wouldn't be surprised if it was after another person/organization brought it to light.

[Kyzarius]

The mentality is, ironically, a muted version of the london rage that started fires.

Common social structure problem, the masses realize they are the MASSES when they are hungry and desperate. We have watched "top heavy" economies suffer world wide for years now.

It is naive to imagine the same pressures do not exist in our own top heavy world. Our only saving grace currently imo is that we are more democratic than many of our middle-eastern neighbors, or not so ignorant of our "youth" as the British.

Eliminate the saftey nets socially though, take away the aid, and peaceful protests I am sure will become violent ones in short order. I mean comeon, even a short jaunt into history (the last few years) can tell you that from looking at other countries.

[Imoutgoodbye]

It would be interesting to see how a "new" revolution would play out. Especially since if you read the Federalist papers, you'll see how it is specifically pointed out, in #10 I believe, that a new America should avoid factions. That the good of all should be put above individual goods.

[inscribed]

It would be interesting to see how a "new" revolution would play out.

The north and south would separate.

The north would adopt a system of government where half of every dollar earned by its citizens would be given back to the federal government, the government would make all of the decisions for its citizens, and all jobs/schools/houses would be filled based on ethic/gender quotas.

The south would adopt a system of government where the federal government only operates to fulfill a handful of very specific functions, an unregulated free market would determine all salaries/wages and what businesses thrived or failed, and citizens were free to do whatever they wanted whenever they wanted, so long as the rights of their neighbors were not infringed upon.

Also, California would drop into the ocean.

A man can dream.

[Pali]

You know, inscribed, I'm not familiar with anyone who wants the former situation you described. Nor am I familiar with a single politician advocating it.

[Enethier]

Also, California would drop into the ocean.

To go chill with Hawaii.

[Twinblades713]

Seriousface Pali makes me sad.

[Volgathras]

Seriousface Pali makes me sad.

I wish I could expbonus on the forums.

[Twinblades713]

I wish I could expbonus on the forums.

Let's talk.

[Pali]

Seriousface Pali makes me sad.

*smirk*

[Imoutgoodbye]

The south would adopt a system of government where the federal government only operates to fulfill a handful of very specific functions, an unregulated free market would determine all salaries/wages and what businesses thrived or failed, and citizens were free to do whatever they wanted whenever they wanted, so long as the rights of their neighbors were not infringed upon.

A man can dream.

I wasn't aware hypocrisy was a dream.

State's can piss in their own Cheerios and stop asking the federal government for money if they feel that way.

I would predict a government like that would revert back to a plantation style ownership (lots of land owned by individuals), with legalized (piss poor wages) slavery, and eventually fail in the modern day.

[Twinblades713]

I wasn't aware hypocrisy was a dream.

State's can piss in their own Cheerios and stop asking the federal government for money if they feel that way.

I would predict a government like that would revert back to a plantation style ownership (lots of land owned by individuals), with legalized (piss poor wages) slavery, and eventually fail in the modern day.

prof self pred

Your proficiency at predict is 1%.

Progress: [---|---|---|---]

[Imoutgoodbye]

You're right. The state's will never stop begging for money with one hand and flipping the federal government off with the other.

By the way, I joined my school's GSA group today. They're a wonderful group of people.

[inscribed]

come on valek... are we really going to lump all state governments together now

[Imoutgoodbye]

Starting to get some news from the media on the Wall Street Protests.

Unfortunately, there appear to be spin doctors working with the media. So far one of the few things that can't be denied is the video of the girls rounded up by police with an orange net and being pepper sprayed. You can barely see who did it. The person holding the camera appears to either get a burst of the mace himself or is knocked sideways by an officer.

Another issue is that while the administrations and departments all have appointed spokespeople, the protesters don't have an immediately recognizable hierarchy and the media is randomly picking people to interview, which is only giving us a fragmented view of the intent. It's similar to asking a college student to defend themselves in trial against a seasoned lawyer. Sure, the college student is intelligent (hopefully), but this doesn't make up for lack of experience or expertise in the courtroom.

Pity when you ask for what you want and get some half-baked cake in return. Pity the masses of America are still so uninformed with all this wonderful technology and our own media open to us via the internet.

[Sylvan]

The Internet is one of the most powerful tools during this time. To both the protests AND the propaganda machine. Independent sites and (brace yourself) facebook pages, as well as twitter feeds, are helping keep the movements organized and getting the word around. BUT at the same time the propaganda machine has access to the same tools, and usually busy themselves with refuting, discrediting, altering, and even downright erasing of the information.

Facebook has gone so far to warn people from following the links to the various Occupy pages (occupy wallstreet, occupy chicago, etc.), bringing up that silly McAfee/Facebook warning, saying the link is Unsafe!, and your eyes have to search for the tiny little "Ignore this warning" link.

It's a good thing there's more of us than there are of them. Even with all the money and power, the simple matter is that they only have limited power. Take for instance the marijuana decriminalization movement. Many states have altered their laws, whether medically regulated or decriminalized. The Fed has taken measures in some places, yes... but only in strategically valuable places like L.A., where they have A LOT of money and power invested. Even with them making examples of places and flexing their big ol' Federal muscles, States continue to give them the finger and make their own decisions. Many states are already seeing the returns on instituting their own programs: they make money, and lots of it.

So, in this essential process, I find a little hope for my county, my seriously screwed-up country. I want to see the States exercising their individual rights more. The Fed might have a lot of power, but it -is- limited, and they can only dabble their fingers in so many places at a time.

I like this Occupy movement. I like it a lot. It's raising a bit of awareness, or at least giving us something to do and talk about. Let's hope our own societal flaws don't prevent it from making a dent.

[Imoutgoodbye]

come on valek... are we really going to lump all state governments together now

Oh, I did not see this immediately. Quite preoccupied latelly. You're right. I shouldn't lump them together. I'm more focused on Michigan and Wisconsin at the moment. Also not happy with the partisanship displaying itself in Congress.

Occupy Wall Street is a movement aimed at debilitating a financial base that's part of the autonomous propaganda perpetrated by individuals behind lobbyists and the piss poor ruling of our Supreme Court that corporations are people, allowing an unlimited influx of money to both sides of our "two-party" system since corporations owned by individuals can multiplicitly donate without disclosing corporation names anymore since they are a "person". It's this financial issue that has caused private interest to gain too much of a strong hold in our government, resulting in Wall Street bailouts.