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This is an article about the rush of Occupy Wall Street. But, rather than focusing on the specific effects on the residents and Wall Street business, it spreads the focus to the nation and considered it as a reconsideration of the national business system. The author of the article, Douglass Rushkoff, argues that these protestors are hardly the lazy generation of weirdos taking part in incoherent protests that the media makes them out to be.They are normal Americans who are upset with Wall Street. What do you think of this movement? What makes this a special movement? What will it end with?
A man in a dingy gray t-shirt is holding a sign in the middle of New York City. Behind him are a few policemen, people in cars, and people going about their business not paying attention to the protest. From the picture in the article of a man holding a poster, it seems that the issues of the Wall St. protest have been lingering for a long time. The word on the poster indicate that the protesters were not paying attention to what was going on, but now they are awake and watching Wall. St.’s every move. The sign in the man’s hand reads, “Dear 1%, We fell asleep for a while. Just woke up. Sincerely, the 99%”. The one percent mentioned in his poster are Wall St. bankers, the people who the protesters are upset with. The other 99 percent are the average people who do not work on Wall St. The protesters, part of that 99 percent, want Wall St. and anyone else who will pay attention to them know that they are starting to speak out against the wrong-doings of the people on Wall St. The article mentions the problems that the protesters are putting on their posters such as, “the collapsing environment, labor standards, housing policy, government corruption, World Bank lending practices, unemployment, increasing wealth disparity and so on.” The fine print on the board, bottom center, says“#occupywallst”. This is a hash-tag for people who are on Twitter who want to trend about the protest.
ReplyDeleteI believe this movement is fueled by the most unique and innovative method I have yet to see in comparison to the numerous civil rights campaigns, and violent/non-violent protests I have learned about. Not only are the protesters basing basing their voice on the use of Iphones, the internet, and any technological device they can get their hands on; but they take the time to educate fellow comrades who do not fully understand the fiscal system, and the various factor of the massive corporations' financial habits about which they are fed up with. Instead of settling on one issue, or phrase, and aggressively yelling out demands until their lungs give out, these activists choose to constantly look over, and analyze the stability of the entire movement to assure everyone is in step. To me, this aspect makes Occupy Wall Street a special movement due to its non-cliche organization. Since the CEO s and investors cannot comprehend that the citizens involved choose not to be a typical disgusted force yelling out demands; they must be mindful of every detail in their approach on fixing the injustices they have committed, because the Wall Street protesters will undoubtedly use merciless scrutiny.
ReplyDeleteI think this movement is absolutely necessary in order to start the process of making change in how America does business. This movement is special because its spreading world-wide. Hopefully the protest will end with the gap between the rich and the middle class shortening. People seem to agree on news reports don't know why people are protesting, the economy is still bad, people are upset with wall street, and the current president doesn't lead by example. The article focuses on the protesters; how, when, and what type of people, and why? The article kind of contradicts itself when it points out that wall street hasn't address the problem and possible solutions, but, they are upset that protestrs aren't organized and haven't defined their terms either.
ReplyDeleteThe movement itself is a big surprise to me. Because the problem with Wall Street and the system of economy is not a new issue splashed on the front page of newspapers, triggering emotional objection among people. This problem have been existing for such a long time that people should have taken it as a normal function of society. It is astonishing that all of a sudden people realized this problem and shout out. This movement is powerful, mostly because that what the protesters object is not a specific rule or person, however they begin to reject a long-running privileged function. It is not easy math to calculate a satisfied solution. Instead, negotiation and uneasy compromise are required.
ReplyDeleteGreat job, davis.3587. I like the way you describe the mentality of the Occupy Wall Street crowd and how it is distinct from the traditional mob. The great thing about Occupy Wall Street is that its resurgence is based on "direct democracy" which is the theory that people collectively make decisions for themselves without having elected leaders. However, this comes across to me as an unhappy flash of populism. There will always be people who are angry because they at the bottom rung of our society.
ReplyDeleteThe main theme which runs through the entire article, is the idea that the protesters, unlike any others are not static in their demands. In fact, according to the author, they really don't have a specific goal but rather, a series of demands which keeps changing to accommodate new ideas as the protest progresses. The title of the article, conveys a lot of insight into the implications that the author is trying to make. The author finds the acts of teaching one another, the camaraderie, and the willingness of the protesters to accept other people's opinions very endearing. According to the author, the protests are showing us a different way of dealing with a problem and simply because their propositions are new to most people (especially the media), they've been written off! All the aforementioned observations points to the fact that, the author seems to think that the protestants are making much sense than most people think.I think that, by educating themselves, the protestants are accepting that they "don't know it all" but are willing to learn, and by attaching significance to another's opinions they are subtly telling the gov't and wall street that it's time for them to start doing likewise. The author also indicates that, by adjusting their demands to suit the times, the protestants are sending a message to wall street that ,the old ways of doing things aren't working anymore and most significantly, that there are but a thousand ways of killing the cat.
ReplyDeleteThis movement is a special one for a few reasons. Firstly, people are actually organizing and trying to get things in this country changed. Also the article mentioned that this movement is one of the first in the US to be mainly reported on, joined, and fought against over the Internet. The Wall Street Occupation has been going on for awhile now and a couple times there has been almost no one representing the cause in person, but the protest never lost any strength on the web since the world is becoming more and more connected.
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ReplyDeleteThe movement displayed here is special and abnormal because they are not really working for one specific goal, but working for a constantly changing list of demands. What the members of the movement want is change. They seem to criticize the government for being controlled by 1% of people that are actually affected by their choices. This movement wants the other 99% to be heard and to have power on these issues. Basically, this is a call for change and might lead to a group that is constantly calling for reformation in the government. Perhaps this movement will grow and it may never end. A group that is always challenging and perhaps eventually keeping the government in check with any issue deemed worthy. The members seem to call for the majority of the population having more control and power with many issues the government decides. The movement has begun to cause inspiration and awareness and I believe that it is only in its earliest stage.
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ReplyDeleteEven through it seems like a protest that creates a lot of mess, I personally accept their movement. If you look through the whole event, you may not see it as terrible as a real protest. People just join in a platform which can show their opinions about economy, policy, and media. We all see the picture on the top of the article, and I assume what the young man wants to say is the 1% of the population who work in Wall street are controlling the other 99% of taxpayers’ money by controlling the financial investment, trust fund, and hedge fund etc. Most of the labors haven’t realized it since the current economy crises has brought us the stress. In my opinion, I understand a little the story behind the finance due to I am majoring finance. Instead of using their own money, Residents’ banking accounts are their biggest income stream. Once they lost in their investment, their only saver is the taxpayers. Anyway, People are supposed to know where their money go, and to be more specific, they should know that, most of time, bankers are lying.
The occupy Wall Street movement have lasted for a month and it seems that nobody knows when it will end. Unlike any political movement in the history, protesters of Occupy Wall Street do not follow the leader, and everyone have their own objective. In this article, the author argue that this is a “internet era movement” and it is not a phase but a conversation that protester want to keep. I think what these posters argued is agreed by most American, but it did not do too much work. Surely, we should remind the government that the economy system has problem. These problem need to be evaluate and analyze to solve, so it cannot finish immediately. In my opinion, it is necessary to protest, but one month is long enough. After that, keeping protesting is just a waste of time.
ReplyDeleteLooking through the comments I notice that many people are offend that the article portrays these people as youths who don’t really know what it’s all about and who really are just doing this just to do it. It even goes as far as to call them “kids.” Some of the people in the comments are very knowledgeable about what is going on and I can see exactly why they would be offended by this conclusion. The article might do a good job describing what is going on, but not who is doing it. It might not be intentional, but they come off as thinking that these “kids” aren’t very serious, that they are just tweeting and hanging out with their friends. Also, the title is making fun of them “Think Occupy Wall St. is a phase? You don't get it.” The author sees them as teenagers who are just going through phases and that no one gets them. Our country is what it is today because of protesting. I’m all for this movement, but with an already bad situation, this attitude isn’t helping anything.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Mason. Whether they like to believe it or not, social networking sites such as Twitter is a place where a lot of people find what is going on the world. They aren't not being serious, they are taking advantage of the shift in the way people get their info today. However, I do want to say I appreciate the fact that those in the movement teach those who don't understand what the state of economy is, and what exactly the businesses of Wall Street is doing that is so frustrating. In the end, this new brand of movement, (focusing on more than one aspect, educating, use of internet, etc.), unfortunately probably won't amount to much. We live in a society where business's are greedy. They could care less about the protestors and are only looking out for number one. Whether we like it or not, this is the state America is currently in, and it's not getting brighter.
ReplyDeleteWhat about the Tea Party? They want to change our government and return it to how it is based, the constitution. They are wanting to go back to an unobtrusive government which allows business to operate freely. When businesses are able to operate freely they are able to share the wealth with every, i.e. the '99%'. Finally the people who are the 1% are the '1%' who busted their butts to make their money. It is THEIR money to decided how best to use it. The 1%'s money should not be taken away from them and freely distributed to the other '99%'. People are always like tax the rich they have all the money. However all that 'excess' money is what creates jobs. Someone who makes $100K is going to have a harder of a time maintaining a business the someone making $500K a year. Additionally, these people who they claim to be helping, are disrupting business. In occupy Boston their is an annual festival that supports small local businessmen had to get postponed due to the 'occupiers'. Another point is that if u take all the money from the rich, the rich are not going to try and earn it back, they are going to say "what is the point, I make all this money but it gets taken away." The best way to make money and everyone happy is to allow this nation to return to a free market system.
ReplyDeleteThis is a huge and unique movement, not only because of the long-time protest but also because of things that it brings to us. It seems that not everyone in the movement has the specific goal, however, it is the fact that everyone wants to speak out their complaints about those disappointed things. Not only the unemployment, but this unsatisfied long-term economy system, even the nation. People are trying to figure out the problem and this movement attracts us to speak out some insight thoughts about our system, policy and world.
ReplyDeleteThe biggest issue that the people occupying Wall Street right now is not the fact that they do not have as much money as the 1%, or the fact that they cannot seem to continue moving up in the economic ladders, but with the idea that things are not changing. The group itself is always inter-mingling and discussing new ideas, changing the way they themselves think about the very idealism they are protesting. Like Clay said, they do not want to wage war on one specific thing, rather, they want to see change that is sustainable over time.
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