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Occupy Wall Street Enters Its Fourth Day, Tensions Rise

I know people who are at this protest. There is currently a media blackout on the event, presumably because they don't want to draw anymore support to it. It's why the event is small. The media conglomerates, government, and wall street firms are all making sure that this doesn't get attention. The protest is MUCH needed though.
 
donsutherland1 said:
A protest, even long-running one, isn't necessarily newsworthy. There needs to be a clearly articulated, significant, and realistic agenda of change that the protesters are seeking. Nebulous rhetoric calling for a "new capitalism" without defining what exactly that concept is, how it would work, and why it matters to ordinary people, won't cut it. At this stage of continuing near-stagnant economic growth, the public is looking for solutions, not narratives about who is to "blame" for a bad situation from which the public wants change. Therefore, it is not too surprising that news coverage has been limited.
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The protest has a very clear message, which is why the media is not covering it. In the lead up, tens of thousands said they would be attending. (Look at the facebook group for it.) Even with such numbers, the media still has not mentioned it.

It's newsworthy, but the plutocracy is scared it will gain attention.
 
Bardo said:
I've heard numbers ranging from 1,000 to 5,000. This isn't an ordinary demonstration that is suppose to last a few hours though, they're supposedly going to remain there for months.
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A protest at wall street is newsworthy, especially one that is lasting. Just like it was newsworthy to cover the protest In Seattle over the new oil pipeline that would move through protected lands.

The media is completely controlled.
 
SE102 said:
Perhaps you have nothing relevant to add by any means. To make a such a statement as your first post you have to be completely loaded with hackish assumptions about the left, and political society in general. Try harder.
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The left? I made no remark concerning "the left" at all. Do you have a guilty conscience or something?
 
Temporal said:
The protest has a very clear message, which is why the media is not covering it.
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The small group of protesters is making demands, some of which are largely rhetorical in nature.

From their website:

Ending capital punishment is our one demand...
Ending police intimidation is our one demand...
Ending wealth inequality is our one demand...
Ending corporate censorship is our one demand...
Ending the modern gilded age is our one demand...
Ending political corruption is our one demand...
Ending joblessness is our one demand...
Ending poverty is our one demand...
Ending health-profiteering is our one demand...
Ending American imperialism is our one demand...
Ending war is our one demand...
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This is little more than a lengthy angry rant. "One demand" turns out to be eleven highly diverse demands. There is no focus. There are no attempts at solutions e.g., for "ending joblessness." What policies do they seek to do so? They offer no answers right now.

In the lead up, tens of thousands said they would be attending. (Look at the facebook group for it.) Even with such numbers, the media still has not mentioned it.
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That's what the group said. In the end, there were 5,000 protesters at the peak. There are very few now.

Without meaningful scale and without a coherent agenda, the protests are not very newsworthy.
 
1Perry said:
You know otherwise?
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2843905157_3abe047f44.jpg
 
This is little more than a lengthy angry rant. "One demand" turns out to be eleven highly diverse demands. There is no focus. There are no attempts at solutions e.g., for "ending joblessness." What policies do they seek to do so? They offer no answers right now.
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I don't think they can come up with answers as they have not yet identified these problems as systemic and they are obviously further to an extent than reformists or they wouldn't be doing this. They're stuck.
 
What are the odds on when things start getting broke? Wall Street needs protested but the list of demands is incredibly lame. As I note, it's a list one would expect to see from a bunch of spoiled rich kids.
 
1Perry said:
What are the odds on when things start getting broke? Wall Street needs protested but the list of demands is incredibly lame. As I note, it's a list one would expect to see from a bunch of spoiled rich kids.
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Oh... My... God...
This comment is a combination of a little bit of these: :shock::doh:lamo
 
I’m 25. I’m one of those over-educated, under-employed youths that you often hear about. I work under a precarious position as a freelancer – I’m a freelance filmmaker – and I’m representative of a lot of people here in a way, because it is a predominantly young crowd, a crowd that sees their future as being sold out and the United States is definitely not the land of the free, not the land of opportunity. We have incredible stratification of wealth here. Actually, if you look at the Gini coefficient wealth we have a greater stratification of wealth than Egypt did under Mubarak. The class struggle here is the class struggle everywhere.

"Damn it, I went to school for a long time to be a filmmaker and if I can't get a great paying job as a filmaker after all the money my parents spent on an education, there is something wrong with this country".

Protest will hit Wall Street: Voice of Russia
 
So they want to end war, enforce liberal values, and they think protesting Wall Street will accomplish this?

They don't seem to be unified, their desires are not things that Wall Street can fulfill (like ending wars, hunger, capital punishment, etc). I also don't think the media is ignoring them because they believe this movement of people far left of the political spectrum will launch into a national revolution. The Tea Party was heavily covered, and most of the networks covered them in order to attack the Tea Party, not to promote it. I think these protests aren't covered because they aren't really mainstream newsworthy.
 
digsbe said:
So they want to end war, enforce liberal values, and they think protesting Wall Street will accomplish this?

They don't seem to be unified, their desires are not things that Wall Street can fulfill (like ending wars, hunger, capital punishment, etc). I also don't think the media is ignoring them because they believe this movement of people far left of the political spectrum will launch into a national revolution. The Tea Party was heavily covered, and most of the networks covered them in order to attack the Tea Party, not to promote it. I think these protests aren't covered because they aren't really mainstream newsworthy.
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I disagree. I think the protests are absolutely newsworthy, as Wall street needs to get back into the jobs for Americans business. On the other side of the coin, I think the demands, as stated in these previous posts, are ridiculous. Nevertheless, Wall Street and its investments that do not make jobs is a genuine issue, relevant and coverage of this protest brings attention to that issue.
 
Temporal said:
Because then they can't identify and database you.
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That's the point though. I also have the right to secure myself, papers, etc. against search and seizure and wearing a mask is just that.
 
Ending capital punishment is our one demand...
Ending police intimidation is our one demand...
Ending wealth inequality is our one demand...
Ending corporate censorship is our one demand...
Ending the modern gilded age is our one demand...
Ending political corruption is our one demand...
Ending joblessness is our one demand...
Ending poverty is our one demand...
Ending health-profiteering is our one demand...
Ending American imperialism is our one demand...
Ending war is our one demand...
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Stopping a lot of the corruption on Wall Street would actually work towards a lot of those goals. Selfish corporate interests and the drive to produce shareholder profits above all else are responsible for this recession, so that would deal with wealth inequality, joblessness, and poverty. The same goes for health-profiteering. Those same interests pay for political campaigns and push censorship and corruption, which in turn fuels war and imperialism.

A whole lot of what these folks want to do would be achieved, or at least made much easier, by regulating corporate money and preventing them from controlling the whole country. They do not act in the interests of anyone but themselves, and they use bribery to maintain their power. They should be stopped from hurting anyone else.
 
Paschendale said:
Stopping a lot of the corruption on Wall Street would actually work towards a lot of those goals. Selfish corporate interests and the drive to produce shareholder profits above all else are responsible for this recession, so that would deal with wealth inequality, joblessness, and poverty. The same goes for health-profiteering. Those same interests pay for political campaigns and push censorship and corruption, which in turn fuels war and imperialism.
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I do not disagree with that in itself. The other side of the coin is also responsible. The idea that others have the same right to things as others regardless of their ability to actually aquire those things.

A whole lot of what these folks want to do would be achieved, or at least made much easier, by regulating corporate money and preventing them from controlling the whole country. They do not act in the interests of anyone but themselves, and they use bribery to maintain their power. They should be stopped from hurting anyone else.
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They are only able to do what the government allows them to do. If a bribe is wrong, accepting it is equally as wrong.
 
1Perry said:
I do not disagree with that in itself. The other side of the coin is also responsible. The idea that others have the same right to things as others regardless of their ability to actually aquire those things.
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Acquisition by power was the credo of the Dark Ages. Progressing beyond feudalism and serfdom, the very opposite of "ability to acquire", is what the last 500 years, including the founding of America, was about. Wresting power from powerful owners (such as the English aristocracy), and putting it in the hands of the masses, was what the revolution was about.

They are only able to do what the government allows them to do. If a bribe is wrong, accepting it is equally as wrong.
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That's not wrong, but the ones who it is practical and possible to stop are those giving the bribes. Take the money out of elections, prevent corporate interests from buying up the loyalty of politicians, and that corruption can be defeated.
 
Paschendale said:
Acquisition by power was the credo of the Dark Ages. Progressing beyond feudalism and serfdom, the very opposite of "ability to acquire", is what the last 500 years, including the founding of America, was about. Wresting power from powerful owners (such as the English aristocracy), and putting it in the hands of the masses, was what the revolution was about.
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Which doesn't mean that just anyone can afford a house.

That's not wrong, but the ones who it is practical and possible to stop are those giving the bribes. Take the money out of elections, prevent corporate interests from buying up the loyalty of politicians, and that corruption can be defeated.
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I do not understand why it's impossible to hold accountable and stop people from accepting the bribes. In any other venue, it would be illegal and prosecuted.
 
1Perry said:
I do not understand why it's impossible to hold accountable and stop people from accepting the bribes. In any other venue, it would be illegal and prosecuted.
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It's not impossible to stop politicians from accepting bribes from private interests and lobbies. It's just legally not a bribe right now to do so. Make it against the law, and people will (mostly) stop doing it. Election funding is a legal form of bribery. That legal status needs to change.
 
Paschendale said:
It's not impossible to stop politicians from accepting bribes from private interests and lobbies. It's just legally not a bribe right now to do so.
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Indeed, politicians often times exclude themselves from the laws they create for others.
 
Is it to say they directly object to Wall Street? and the stock market?

And do they, those who occupy Wall Street, understand the complexity of economics?
 
Paschendale said:
Stopping a lot of the corruption on Wall Street would actually work towards a lot of those goals. Selfish corporate interests and the drive to produce shareholder profits above all else are responsible for this recession, so that would deal with wealth inequality, joblessness, and poverty. The same goes for health-profiteering. Those same interests pay for political campaigns and push censorship and corruption, which in turn fuels war and imperialism.
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That list of demands branded them a bunch of Leftist loons.

A whole lot of what these folks want to do would be achieved, or at least made much easier, by regulating corporate money and preventing them from controlling the whole country. They do not act in the interests of anyone but themselves, and they use bribery to maintain their power. They should be stopped from hurting anyone else.
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Lemme' guess...we should let the government control everything?

Answer me this: Who is going to protect us from the government?
 
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