Occupy Pittsburgh to host permitted event (Warren, Wall: school, college, taxes)

[MeinGlanzendMotorrad]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

So basically it's the left-wing's version of the Tea Party?

Pretty much. Except somehow... dumber.

[Drover]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

So basically it's the left-wing's version of the Tea Party?

I guess you can say that, albeit with different tactics.

[Caladium]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

So basically it's the left-wing's version of the Tea Party?

It will be if they come up with a list of specific goals or if they make this about promoting specific candidates.

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by MeinGlanzendMotorrad

Pretty much. Except somehow... dumber.

I gathered as much from the article I read.

[gg]

Originally Posted by Drover

Trot out every left-wing trope you can think of, and that pretty much sums up their grievances.

Spoken like the people who cannot actually think. Sure is easy to just label something with a left or right and box it up and put it away without any understanding of it. I always find it so funny, but it happens often.

Not saying I agree or disagree with any of these messages, but I do feel things are WAY out of whack and the top 1% have too much power in politics. The leaders are for the people and the top 1% is just that. 1%! Just because they have all the money and power, doesn't give them the right to have as much say via lobby in Washington as they do.

People do need to at least have some understanding of things if they are going to voice an opinion on them. If you call it a left wing movement, you have no clue.

[Aqua Teen Carl]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

Why are so few people now able to pick THEMSELVES up by the bootstraps to better themselves?

You do realize that this is less about government is more about the 1% screwing all of us over right? That includes corporate CEO's that are rewarded with our tax dollars for failure, banks charging outrageous interest rates for us but giving fractions of a percentage back when we invest, schemes to put us into debt slavery via student loan debt and healthcare debt, and corporations having more power and influence on politics than the people themselves. The bottom line is this: those 1% at the top have been destroying our way of life for years to benefit themselves and people are sick of it.

The "boot strappy" thing died years ago. We're all in the same boat now, it's those in power and then it's everyone else.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

By whom?

The central claim is that there is a group of economic elite individuals and entities that is manipulating various institutions, including but not limited to governments, financial firms, churches, and media outlets, to unfairly enrich themselves at the expense of most other people. I believe their response to your self-reliance proposals would basically be that since these economic elites are rigging the game in their favor, people often can't get a fair outcome simply by playing that game, as you are suggesting.

I don't know if you accept that central claim, but I do think their conclusions logically follow from that premise.

[Drover]

Originally Posted by h_curtis

Spoken like the people who cannot actually think. Sure is easy to just label something with a left or right and box it up and put it away without any understanding of it. I always find it so funny, but it happens often.

And in some cases, it even happens to be accurate.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by Caladium

It will be if they come up with a list of specific goals or if they make this about promoting specific candidates.

The Tea Party folks have also not formed a perfectly coherent agenda/manifesto, but I agree that playing an important role in electoral results would be the logical next phase.

Edit: By the way, I don't think this is really a grab-bag of left-wing grievances at its core. Of course you can find various individuals doing whatever at the protests, but there is a unifying theme among the organizers and most of the protesters. That theme--which has actually been laid out in a relatively clear fashion in this thread--has a lot of different possible implications, but it is still at root fairly cohesive and specific. In fact, look at posts #25, #26, #27. I'm pretty sure those were all written at the same time, and they all pretty much described the exact same theme. That is suggestive of a fairly clear and unified agenda, at least on the conceptual level.

[SteelCityRising]

I suppose it's just disheartening to me that instead of looking for ways they can be industrious and innovative to propel themselves to being in that much-maligned "Top 1%" in this nation most people would rather bring that 1% down.

I had an inspirational teacher in high school. One day when he noticed I had been continuing to "dumb down" my vocabulary so that I could apparently fit in better with my peers he pulled me aside and gave me a lecture about how I should continue to try to help others rise to my level academically instead of inhibiting myself by lowering my standards. That message has always stood out to me, and to this day I look at most (not all) in the dreaded "Top 1%" as role models who (mostly) achieved their success and accumulated their wealth through a lifetime of taking calculated or even bold risks, being creative, and persevering.

ANY of us typing here could be in that "Top 1%". Why aren't more people looking to rise to their level instead of trying to topple pedestals to bring them all down?

I don't believe that "pick yourself up by the bootstraps..." mantra HAS to be dead. I have plenty of peers, namely former colleagues, who grew up impoverished in adverse conditions and are now living lives I truly admire. It just seems like each successive generation is now becoming lazier and whinier. Can I afford a large-screen TV? No. Can I afford a spa getaway? No. Can I afford a new pair of shoes? Not comfortably. Why is this the fault of President Obama, Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, or anyone else for that matter?