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How dare the poor people complain! The wealthy must be protected at all costs!

wisty 15y ago
But what will complaining do? Protests are effective at shaping government policy, but they seem to be protesting some nebulous inequality, not anything concrete that the government can do. OK, we all have our opinions on why the government is screwing up, but I doubt there is enough coherence within the protesters' opinions'. You can stop a war by protesting, as all it takes is an executive order from the President. It's a concrete measure. If they were protesting for a bill to stop bailouts, and give the bailout money directly to tax payers (which can filter up to banks), then it might be worth protesting for. If they wanted some specific legislation passed, it could work. But unless there is some step that Congress feels pressured to do, they are just a disorganized and unplacatable rabble, which can only be ignored, or contained by force.
- blendergasket 15y ago
  I think of this like horsetails in my Mom's garden. My mom's garden is shot through with horsetails, but it's really all one horsetail connected by a single, massive rhizome. If you pull up one horsetail stem it won't do a thing to the horsetail as a whole. If you pull up 100 horsetail branches the horsetail might be slightly weakened, but it'll come back. These things've been around since the time of the dinosaurs. If she wants a garden without horsetails she'll have to get a backhoe and uproot the whole thing, then plant a new garden. The horsetails will come back eventually, then she'll have to do it again, but for a little while she'll have a nice clean garden. There is a fundamental sickness in the system. A giant, rhizomic structure of venality and corruption that has undercut and basically replaced the system I, as an American, have been raised to believe is the proper form of government, with a government where all activity is dictated by power wielding corporate interests. Greed has become the dominant ideology; all branches of government and the media have become subsumed by it. A just and functional society is not and will never be an emergent property of a greed-based system.
tzs 15y ago
From the article: The arrests took place when a large group of marchers, participating in a second week of protests by the Occupy Wall Street movement, broke off from others on the bridge's pedestrian walkway and headed across the Brooklyn-bound lanes. "More than 500 were arrested on the Brooklyn Bridge late this afternoon after multiple warnings by police were given to protesters to stay on the pedestrian walkway," a police spokesman said. "Some complied and took the walkway without being arrested. Others locked arms and proceeded on the Brooklyn-bound vehicular roadway and were arrested," he added How exactly does this have anything to do with stopping poor people from complaining or protecting the wealthy?
- sbov 15y ago
  Not sure how true it is, but the full story as claimed by many of the commenters: > This article is misleading. It makes the protesters seem like they caused the incident by blocking traffic. The group was led onto the bridge where police kettled them in and arrested them 1 by 1.
  - tzs 15y ago
    Based on the story at the New York Times it sounds like what happened is something this: 1. There was no problem as long as people stayed on the sidewalk. 2. A small number of protestors left the sidewalk and took to the street, chanting that they were going to take the bridge. 3. Police told them to get out of the street or they would be arrested. 4. At some point, the police were walking in the street, and the protestors in the street were following them. 5. People on the sidewalk farther back or not yet on the bridge saw that, and thought the the police were given the protestors an escort in the street and that it was OK therefore to walk in the street. These protestors really need to get better organized. When they decided to head across the bridge, they should have made it clear that the plan was to stay on the sidewalk. The leaders knew this, but apparently it was not communicated to the masses.
    - chopsueyar 15y ago
      Link please?

wisty 15y ago

But what will complaining do? Protests are effective at shaping government policy, but they seem to be protesting some nebulous inequality, not anything concrete that the government can do. OK, we all have our opinions on why the government is screwing up, but I doubt there is enough coherence within the protesters' opinions'. You can stop a war by protesting, as all it takes is an executive order from the President. It's a concrete measure. If they were protesting for a bill to stop bailouts, and give the bailout money directly to tax payers (which can filter up to banks), then it might be worth protesting for. If they wanted some specific legislation passed, it could work. But unless there is some step that Congress feels pressured to do, they are just a disorganized and unplacatable rabble, which can only be ignored, or contained by force.

blendergasket 15y ago
I think of this like horsetails in my Mom's garden. My mom's garden is shot through with horsetails, but it's really all one horsetail connected by a single, massive rhizome. If you pull up one horsetail stem it won't do a thing to the horsetail as a whole. If you pull up 100 horsetail branches the horsetail might be slightly weakened, but it'll come back. These things've been around since the time of the dinosaurs. If she wants a garden without horsetails she'll have to get a backhoe and uproot the whole thing, then plant a new garden. The horsetails will come back eventually, then she'll have to do it again, but for a little while she'll have a nice clean garden. There is a fundamental sickness in the system. A giant, rhizomic structure of venality and corruption that has undercut and basically replaced the system I, as an American, have been raised to believe is the proper form of government, with a government where all activity is dictated by power wielding corporate interests. Greed has become the dominant ideology; all branches of government and the media have become subsumed by it. A just and functional society is not and will never be an emergent property of a greed-based system.

tzs 15y ago

From the article: The arrests took place when a large group of marchers, participating in a second week of protests by the Occupy Wall Street movement, broke off from others on the bridge's pedestrian walkway and headed across the Brooklyn-bound lanes. "More than 500 were arrested on the Brooklyn Bridge late this afternoon after multiple warnings by police were given to protesters to stay on the pedestrian walkway," a police spokesman said. "Some complied and took the walkway without being arrested. Others locked arms and proceeded on the Brooklyn-bound vehicular roadway and were arrested," he added How exactly does this have anything to do with stopping poor people from complaining or protecting the wealthy?

sbov 15y ago
Not sure how true it is, but the full story as claimed by many of the commenters: > This article is misleading. It makes the protesters seem like they caused the incident by blocking traffic. The group was led onto the bridge where police kettled them in and arrested them 1 by 1.
- tzs 15y ago
  Based on the story at the New York Times it sounds like what happened is something this: 1. There was no problem as long as people stayed on the sidewalk. 2. A small number of protestors left the sidewalk and took to the street, chanting that they were going to take the bridge. 3. Police told them to get out of the street or they would be arrested. 4. At some point, the police were walking in the street, and the protestors in the street were following them. 5. People on the sidewalk farther back or not yet on the bridge saw that, and thought the the police were given the protestors an escort in the street and that it was OK therefore to walk in the street. These protestors really need to get better organized. When they decided to head across the bridge, they should have made it clear that the plan was to stay on the sidewalk. The leaders knew this, but apparently it was not communicated to the masses.
  - chopsueyar 15y ago
    Link please?