Occupy: Wall Street / DC

So this is a long time coming and ive done a lot of thinking about my position and the statement i wanna make about this occupy movement. This "fad" of occupy came around with the advent of several European countries using the occupation of public spaces to push change in their countries. The most influential movement could be the Occupancy movement  that resulted in the Revolution that occurred in Cairo, which resulted in the leader stepping down from power. This movement in the states is attempting to model themselves after these movement by occupying public spaces, to push for a radical, or should i just say some, change within our government. Our movement revolves around the way our government favors financial institutions. This movement has be active for several weeks now within NYC and has spread to various cities across the country.

With that being said let me start with the good that this movement has done. First this movement has mobilized thousands of people across the country to issues that a normal citizen might not be aware of in their busy day-to-day life. It once it began to receive media attention sparked a realization that the way we have been practicing business isn’t sustainable and is creating strife for the largest portions of the population. And finally it has begun to, with the media attention, draw larger more influential groups to attempt to make change in our financial institutions. (I.e. Unions, Politicians, Lobbyist Groups). The negative is that a lot of the progress that has been made in this short time isn’t a result of the people who are protesting. They had no clear demands at first and presented as a few unorganized force. They have begun to attract and allow people to support them whose goals have mostly nothing to do with the cause they are fighting for, but intern would like the media attention. They also have lost in a large number of ways creditability, and yes if you interview people there is a large possibility the person speaking doesn’t accurately represent the people in question. But with this movement it seems like the large majority has no clue what is going on and have become lost in  the act of "committing and action" (protesting) and not working towards the goal that is in place. 

Also in kind of a side note the people, are in a way complaining that they have lost control of these financial institutions (which I do believe need to be reign in and control Laissez-Faire style capitalism has brought nothing but problems in the last few years, and truthfully is not a good idea.) but they are now allowing others politicians to control the outcome of this movement, no organized message has been present on how to fix the issue most of the people just want it fixed. This mind set got us into the problems we are in now. 

But in the long run this movement is a good thing it has brought to light and foster discussion on a topic that needed to be addressed and changed, I just hope that the thousands of people who are participating in this movement now will also write letters, vote, and pressure our political systems to change instead of just hoping that somebody will fix it. Though the other day one of my best friends "B" said that I had some great points, but at the end of the day there are thousands of people marching in the streets and that has to stand for something. I believe he is right and I hope change for the better is on its way....

How Did We Let Things Get This Far, And Shouldn’t We As Citizens Take Some Of The Blame????

P.S.

The behavior of the NYPD has been crazy and extremely unprefessional updates to follows.