UPDATE:
Wow! Lots of awesome discussion in the comments. Thanks. This is what Democracy looks like!
I wanted to summarize some points made below for further discussion going forward.
EileenB and many other kossaks prefer 99%ers. That's cool and in use. I don't hate it. I think it works also. I just happen to be sort of "fixated" on forcing the media to explicitly address us as the majority. For once. But she's made some cool logos and set up a cafePress page. It's all good, man.
Some others brought up that the word Bolshevik means Majority. Ouch. That could become a PR disaster for us. (That's why this community is so effin' awesome!) So some folks suggested adding an additional descriptive. I personally like "American Majority" best. But also suggested were People's Congress, The People's Lobby
Main Street, The Fair Deal, Common Patriots, The People's Majority. (And GUM :P)
Maybe narrowing it down and taking a revote? What to you think? Someone want to diary a revote? I've now moved to favor "American Majority" with 99%er being a close second OR the individual way we refer to ourselves. The American Majority as the group made up of a 99%ers.
I don't know. But anyway, it's been a great discussion!
In the CNN Coverage diary yesterday written by Ministry of Truth, there was some discussion about developing a moniker for the occupiers, replacing "protesters" and "occupiers" with something else.
And it got me thinking.
My background is in advertising and branding. I've worked with ad agencies and small and large business of all types as well as govt and political entities for the past 14-ish years.
I want to suggest a moniker that I think will ROCK. I'm posting this here because I want to crowdsource it before our on-the-ground kossaks can bring it up at the General Assembly.
Follow me over the squiggle to see what I have up my sleeve. I think you're gonna like it.
The Majority
That's right. The Majority.
Now consider this. Not only is it 100% TRUE, (which matters) but I also believe it's much less obscure than The 99% (which, I love, and mostly well-understood in activist circles. But perhaps not so much in apolitical circles, although I've not focus tested it).
I think that The Majority is a positive sounding word that everyone wants to be (or believe he is) a part of. No one wants to be in "the minority". It's basic and psychological. We're social creatures and we all want to be part of the "majority". Polling also suggests that for once, the Majority of Americans (regardless of ideology) are starting to realize that our "representatives" really aren't representing what we, The Majority, want. That we're being ruled by a hostile and greedy minority of big money interests who buy and sell congress at our expense everyday.
But more than that, here's another benefit: Every time the news has to report on the protest(s), they have to say "The Majority".
"Today, six members of The Majority were arrested outside Wall Street..."
"Next week 25 members of The Majority have arranged to meet with congressional leaders with their demands..."
"In a recent development, The Majority has claimed victory in its year-long protest on one of the key pillars of its demands - Wall Street reform - after lawmakers were forced to pass a financial transaction tax..."
(Just so you can really get a "feel" for it, replace The Majority with Tea Party. At one time, that would have sounded "funny" to our ears. And now, it doesn't. If an outrageous astroturfed lie-of-a-group can become so ingrained linguistically and socially and politically in just over a year (try searching for anything Tea Party related before 2009) we can make our moniker work. Better.
Think about that for a second. We know the media will not help us in how they refer to us. But in this way, we can force them to at least have to use the term, The Majority, in their reporting, which is, admittedly propagandistic. But so what? It happens to be true. As the movement grows and the MSM is forced to report on it more and more, every time they say it Americans will hear "the majority, the majority, the majority".
Did I mention that it happens to be true? Yeah. That too.
One more benefit: no matter how many people are actually camped out, the represent The Majority. Period. 200? The Majority. 2? The Majority. 2,000,000? The Majority. We are The Majority. Period.
So what do you think? Should we put it up to the general assembly on site or ???