by brinstar » Wed Jan 11, 2012 5:14 pm
i haven't responded because i've already expended waaaay too much energy trying to explain shit that people here, for whatever reason, had already decided not to understand
jay, i read your post, and i liked it. obviously people like you are neither a) the problem nor b) who OWS is trying to reach out to
drem, the way OWS organizes itself requires conscientious participation and mutual respect from everyone involved. obviously that's nearly fucking impossible if/when negative elements are allowed to go unchecked - litter, graffiti, violence, etc. that being said i am sorry OE couldn't get their shit together. we are a model camp here - no litter, no violence, no rape, no drugs, no nothing. someone (we never found out who) tagged a wall a block over with OCCUPY LINCOLN so we banded together and cleaned that shit up on OUR dime. parks dept loves us, they don't have to send workers to clean our area because we do it ourselves. we have even set aside funds to replace the grass our tents have killed. we have our shit together and have had zero drama with the local PD. edit: and the city attorney has actually stuck up for us against VERY loud criticism from Nebraska Right to Life - which, in a state like this, means a fat lot. NebRTL is the biggest conservative political force in NE (outside of the actual GOP) and for the city atty to stick up for us says a lot about how the fuck we handle ourselves.
has OWS on a whole mishandled some things? obviously. anyone involved would admit that. but it has succeeded in redirecting the national conversation from stale partisanship haggling over deficits and debt ceilings to shining a light on one of the main reasons we HAVE a deficit: outrageous income inequality and systemically corrosive incest between business and government. it has also put some traction under a growing push to overturn the massive travesty known as Citizens United. finally in a broad sense it has reenergized a stagnant progressive base. but nevermind, go back to making chicken for rich people.
compost the rich