I'm really getting tired of the story that nobody knows whats being protested by OWS. And the only people to blame are people who are involved with OWS: the protesters and us on the left. You can be a leaderless, grassroots organization and still clearly spell out what you're after. They/We haven't, and so the media just spins this story about there being no clear demands, no clear reason for it.
This is so Democrat. Every time we lose an election, its because we try to explain too hard. Nuance. Detail. Republicans win because they have a bumper sticker. And its catchy. Our stuff is complicated, real-world kinds of things that people can't grasp so easily and black/white GOP talking points.
The explanation from the Occupy Wall Street site is a prime example:
"Occupy Wall Street is leaderless resistance movement with people of many colors, genders and political persuasions. The one thing we all have in common is that We Are The 99% that will no longer tolerate the greed and corruption of the 1%. We are using the revolutionary Arab Spring tactic to achieve our ends and encourage the use of nonviolence to maximize the safety of all participants."
http://occupywallst.org/
Really. That sounds great. WTF does it mean? It sounds like it's like performance art. 67 words, where many, many less will do. It is so bad to be to the point? Ok. So then the demands get specific. And when they get specific, they get really specific.
http://nycga.cc/...
My god. Thats like every fucking thing on the planet. It's too long, too self-righteous, and honestly, a bit boring to read.
Why don't we all try to just boil this down to one line. Our demand is this:
"Stop corporate ownership of the US government."
That's it. Do we need more? Ok, if asked then talk about campaign financing, lobbying, poisoning of our food/environment, failed energy, incessant wars, generic meds, etc... But every demands ladders up into corporate CEOs and boards buying/owning politicians and dictating laws to help benefit their corporate and personal wealth, instead of having laws that make sense and benefit all Americans.
But every news story seems the same. They ask someone whats it about, most can't explain and then those who actually know, just have oral diarrhea about it.
Just answer the question!!
"Stop corporate ownership of the US government."
Until we start finding easy to understand, rational sounding explanations, we just continue to feed the stupid media machine.
Sorry. Im just really irritated when any of my friends, family ask me about this, and I say that one line. They always say- "thats not what I heard on TV/radio/internet/newspaper".
Unless I'm wrong. I probably am. I don't write diaries ever, or comment much anymore. But this is really bothering me. Am I wrong? If so, I'm sure you'll all let me know.
In the meantime, I'm sticking with the one-line when I'm asked "What's it all about?" b/c its jus so easy to grasp.
But if I am wrong, can one of you give me the real one-liner?