"Dear 1%..." Does there need to be more?

    By erica20 on Tue, 10/11/2011 - 7:51pm |

    I'm trying to write this quickly so I may make a mess of it but please bear with me...

    I was reading Synchronicity's post and also DanK's, and thinking about the critique that OWS doesn't have a unified message, etc.

    Here's what I came up with:

    "Dear 1%,

    We are not going to let you run our country based on the idea that shitty is the new fair.

    Thank you,

    The Other 99%"

     

    I think it gets at the big themes of representation and fairness that I've heard from pretty much everyone I've seen at OWS. But is it, as Synchronicity points out, too easily ignorable?

    Synchronicity was expressing frustration with watching meeting leaders try to get a majority, or 2/3 majority on vision, mission, values, demands, etc., and makes the good point that the demands should be what the American people want.

    But here's the thing--if OWS is the 99%, it really should only say the things that the whole 99% wants, and those seem to be about restoring fairness and making sure that they get some government representation. So the whole effort to get 51% or 66% of meeting participants to agree on something is great, but unless everybody there agrees, it's not really a 99% thing, you know?

    This is a long-winded way of saying that Occupy Wall Street's only real position ought to be that they represent the 99% of people who are currently getting the shaft from the 1% and are mad enough about it to come to an actual protest, and if the 1% wants to know more, THEY better get going on doing some listening. (To groups like "Occupy the Constitution," or "Occupy the Foreclosure Crisis," or "Occupy the Tax Code.")

    Right now, just letting people get their minds around the idea that they are part of the 99% of the US population that is not getting richer because 1% of the people are messing with the rules seems like enough for OWS to do. 

    Comments

    just letting people get their minds around the idea that they are part of the 99% of the US population that is not getting richer

    the operative phrase here is "getting richer."  In the realm of messaging, branding, and marketing, as opposed some high ideals, this particular phrase taps into one thing - capitalism.  In other words, it embraces the concept that people should be getting richer.  It becomes difficult going after capitalists when one ultimately desires an increase in the standard of living for everyone.

    I'm not saying people should seek to become Buddhist monks, but it would help.


    by Elusive Trope on Tue, 10/11/2011 - 9:15pm

    Hmm...getting richer in spirit?


    by erica20 on Tue, 10/11/2011 - 9:59pm

    "Store your treasures in heaven"


    by Resistance on Tue, 10/11/2011 - 10:54pm

    if so - the question we ask of ourselves as individuals, as a bodhissatva what is asked of me now in this moment.  is it to get richer?


    by Elusive Trope on Tue, 10/11/2011 - 11:23pm

    It becomes difficult going after capitalists when one ultimately desires an increase in the standard of living for everyone.

    There is an incredible lack of historical understanding and political realism is displayed in this sentence.  Countries have had entire revolutions fought and won on the simple principle that some people should have money taken away from them so that others can have more.  Election campaigns have been fought and won on the same principles.  Do you think the only way of opposing the hideous inequalities and savagery of modern American capitalism is by adopting some sort of naive la-la land doctrine according to wealth and prosperity don't matter?  Didn't you ever read Robin Hood?  Period redistributions of wealth from the few to the many are commonplace in human history.


    by Dan Kervick on Tue, 10/11/2011 - 10:15pm

    Your comment made me think of Teddy Roosevelt and anti trust laws, Go after the robber barons.


    by Resistance on Tue, 10/11/2011 - 10:56pm

    or maybe the majority of american (say 51%) actually vote in the primaries. that could you know take some of this "power" back.


    by Elusive Trope on Tue, 10/11/2011 - 11:20pm

    When do they have the Independent primaries? I've never seen it televised.


    by Resistance on Tue, 10/11/2011 - 11:26pm

    There are obviously no "independent" primaries, but there are Green primaries, Constitution Party primaries, etc. Of course, if we want to have successful third parties… (you know where I'm going with that)


    by Verified Atheist on Wed, 10/12/2011 - 6:48am

    comparing the general standard of living between America today and those which generated the myth of Robin Hood shows a complete lack of understanding of history and the realities of "commoner."  Yes there is some serious suffering going on, but "savagery" is not a good descriptor.  What happened to those working for the United Fruit Company while Americans were experiencing their post war boom, not that was saveagery.  The ironic part is that the prosperity in real terms was less then than what is being experienced now.

    The question is whether what is being sought is restoration of prosperity trajectory expectation created by the post war boom, or a society which provides the basic necessities, which doesn't include xboxes, flat screen tvs or trips to Disney World.


    by Elusive Trope on Tue, 10/11/2011 - 11:11pm

    Restoring that prosperity trajectory will require some serious redistribution, because the fundamental cause of the collapse is decades of a widening income gap, which first buried people under debt, and then finally led to a meltdown of the purchasing power of ordinary Americans.


    by Dan Kervick on Wed, 10/12/2011 - 11:15am

    Gee, I was just going to say "baby steps," because for a lot of the 99% it IS about money, or at least about making a living. So it's a little early for "Occupy Capitalism," even if Trope wishes for more...

    Different people in the 99% have different priorities, but I'd say that since the group is called Occupy Wall Street, there's something there about asking for more fairness in the way the money is made. The 99% would be more likely to sign onto that...

     


    by erica20 on Wed, 10/12/2011 - 12:02am


    by Richard Day on Tue, 10/11/2011 - 11:08pm

    we are poor but honest


    by Elusive Trope on Tue, 10/11/2011 - 11:18pm

    How do you like that?

    It took me two hours....two frickin hours to properly respond to this. hahahahaha

     


    by Richard Day on Wed, 10/12/2011 - 2:17am

    The 99% concept is brilliant. This movement is only going to get stronger, and will continue to react to such events as the failure of the jobs bill to pass the Senate.


    by Oxy Mora on Tue, 10/11/2011 - 11:12pm

    The moment to know when it has arrived is when some politician in an election race goes to the mic and says "I'm a 99%."  The moment to know when the movement has power when said politician unseats an incumbent - primary or, dare one say, a general election.


    by Elusive Trope on Tue, 10/11/2011 - 11:26pm

    It's going to be Republican candidates who do it before the clueless and slow-witted no-drama Obama gets around to it.


    by Dan Kervick on Wed, 10/12/2011 - 12:39am

    It already was--they called it the Tea Party, and Democrats are just lucky that the Republicans screwed it up so badly....


    by erica20 on Wed, 10/12/2011 - 1:08pm

     

    Re: Money, Power and Political Influence

     

    Dear 1%,

    You've taken too much.  Put some of it back.

     

    Sincerely, 

     

    The 99%

     

    P.S.  Do it now and avoid us having to be-head you later.

     

    ---------------------

     

    That's as simple as I can make it.

     


    by MrSmith1 on Wed, 10/12/2011 - 12:36am

    I was not frustrated about trying to get 2/3 majority to agree on vision, mission, and goals because we weren't even voting that night.  I was frustrated because the facilitator did not seem to understand the distinction and why one comes before another and she had us talking about them all at once. 

    I really hope that the Occupy movement never releases any 'demands'.  I think that idea was generated from the media and I hope they don't play into it.  It feels much more powerful to choose vision, mission, and goals and move forward and let the politicians and the wealthy try to stop us or persuade us to accept less than what we have decided to accomplish.

    This is going to take patience and persistence.

     


    by synchronicity on Wed, 10/12/2011 - 2:31am

    I think you're right.


    by erica20 on Wed, 10/12/2011 - 1:22pm

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