Eight years ago, people from diverse backgrounds turned out in the thousands with a definitive message: don't invade Iraq. I guess that was pretty impotent too, considering Iraq was invaded anyway, but at least there was a combination of popular mass and an actual agenda, not just a few discontented slackers with a vague sense of dissatisfaction with the world and a convenient yet eternal scapegoat to blame it on.
Well, since you asked: I want fewer people sleeping in parks and playing in drum circles and pretending to be reporters, and more people working inside the system to right its course.
I THINK, and this is just my hunch, that he, and a lot of other people, are looking for some sort of definite, positive, cohesive, rational, achievable agenda that the country (or, you know, at least 99% of it) could get behind.
Instead of, you know, just a bunch of people whining about how horrible things are in a world where being a member of the economically disadvantaged majority means owning a satchel full of luxury electronics like ipads, macbooks, and DSLRs.
Movements like this, unfortunately, don't have a central cohesive agenda. This isn't civil rights or women's suffrage. These occupations are comprised of people who are upset with some aspect of the system enough to take a stance in the meat world and try to deal with it. It seems hokey and cheesy at times but that's because people need to keep their spirits up for motivation... and some people are just kooks. But you can't confuse that with pointlessness.
If you want to see something come out of this, you need to be that something. You need to go down there and find people like you and make something happen.
Pretending like the occupation is pointless, or even counter productive, is missing the point. It's about you. What do you have to say? What are you dissatisfied with? Go down there and find people who are willing to get out of their houses and try to do something about it.
Haha. What do I have to say? I think these people are largely spoiled asses who have no clue about poverty, economics, or even hard work. I think they look at a world that doesn't put quite as much wealth into their pockets as they wish and they see other people with more wealth and they whine about it. I think these people imagine that with more regulation and an even more redistributionist tax system that the world would be just oh so much better and "fairer" and they would get the comfort and riches that they justifiably deserve.
I don't believe that. I think regulation, excessive taxation, and excessive government spending are at the core of our problems, and even a major contributor to the growing disparity of wealth. I think we would be better off with a smaller government, less taxation, and greater individual personal responsibility. I think we'd be better off with a degree of regulation that encouraged individual saving, entrepreneurism, and self-reliance. I don't think people understand how so much of our labor laws and regulations actually increase the power and entrenchment of big corporations. I'd rather see a world where the average worker has little debt (other than real-estate), tends towards freelancing or self-employment, has much more control of their own career advancement, and works as many hours as they want depending on their personal choice of balance of income vs. free time. And I see the "occupy wallstreet" / "99%" demonstrators and their incoherent whining as being actively detrimental toward progress in that direction.
That said, I still support their right to protest peacefully.
This is my feeling. These protesters complain about how globalization has shunted money and jobs away from them, as if those in the 3rd world have no right to a good life.
It's a real bummer that you can be so demoralized by what people 'seem' to be doing.
I'm glad you can vent on the internet though.