Being a part of the 99% the Occupy Wall Street (and other parts of the world) protestors are protesting for, I have say that I agree with them. The majority of people need equality politically, economically, and socially. I feel that these protestors are bringing a lot of attention to the injustices facing the people of the world and I hope that governments see this and take action. However, I do have fears with the protests occurring. A few of the things going on in the protest could be manipulated to the conservatives advantage. For one thing, some protestors are calling for the abolition of the capitalism. This could be turned around and used to frame protestors (and by extension liberals) as socialists. This could cause some people to back away from supporting any legislation that arises from these protest. Also, I came across a disturbing video (below). One of the protestors in Occupy L.A. had extremely anti-Semitic beliefs. Like the call for the end of capitalism that some protestors were urging, this could be used in a negative way.
All in all, I hope that something good can come from the protests around the world. Hopefully enough people with good ideas drown out the few with not so good ones.
Ending the Day on a Light Note
1 hour ago
3 comments:
I think it's absolutely terrible she would say such a thing. I feel like by mentioning she worked for the Los Angeles school district, she kind of hurt their reputation. Furthermore, I agree that this definitely could backfire. This could easily be used against protestors, associating them with anti-Semitism. If they have such views, their other beliefs and ideas could also be labeled as negative. I think that these protestors need to think before they speak in order to speak to their advantage. Anything can be manipulated into negative things, unappealing to the general population, which could hurt their reputation.
I highly doubt that the voice of one person will ruin the whole movement. First of all, the media has already caught on to the fact that the voice of the the "Occupy Wall Street" protesters is inconsistent. Second, the teacher does blatantly say that she represents herself.
If we were to say that the views of one TEA party politician (such as Christine O'Donnell) reflected the whole TEA Party, then the image of the whole Tea Party would look different. It is dangerous to generalize an entire movement by assuming the ideas of a few specific people define the movement.
Regardless of what the right wing says, the primary message of the Occupy Wall Street protesters is clear: there is discontent among the lower and middle classes.
I agree with Andrew that the voice of one person does not necessarily match the voice for the group as a whole. However, I think it will be interesting to see in the coming weeks how the movement holds out. I was watching the news the other day (I cannot remember which channel, but I am trying to find the video) that talked about how the coming of cold weather could influence the protesters, especially on the East Coast. The commentator discussed how he believed that in order to leave a lasting effect, the protesters must continue to occupy even as the chilly winter approaches. However, he believes that their message is an important one that will place a key role in the coming November 8, 2012 election.
Post a Comment