As to my view on these protests.

What is happening now says it all.

SoCal Street [AUTOLINK]Cart[/AUTOLINK] Vendors Hurting After ‘Occupy’ Group Splatters Blood, Urine [AUTOLINK]CBS[/AUTOLINK] Los Angeles

Lazy people, thugs etc, when they aren't handed what they want....

This thing may have started with a good motive, but it has been taken over by bad elements.

Peter2150 

As to my view on these protests. What is happening now says it all. SoCal Street [AUTOLINK]Cart[/AUTOLINK] Vendors Hurting After ‘Occupy’ Group Splatters Blood, Urine [AUTOLINK]CBS[/AUTOLINK] Los Angeles Lazy people, thugs etc, when they aren't handed what they want.... This thing may have started with a good motive, but it has been taken over by bad elements.

Could you please explain how you extropolate from this video that lazy people and thugs not handed what they want have now taken over ( paraphrasing of course). Seriously and repectfully, I am not being argumentative - but that is a pretty sweeping condemnation . I am trying to understand the basis and data supporting your commentary.

Is it possible that thugs are just opportunist using the cover of protests?

Is it possible that thugs are "import upstarts" so to speak to discredit the protest? similar to G20 in Toronto and this is a common tactic to discredit groups.

Are lazy people likely to stand outside with signs for months - wouldn't they just go home if they were really lazy?

Didn't the tea party also face the same time of sweeping condemenation although from a different perspective?

I am neither defending or attacking - just asking. I am highly sceptical of the media regardless of the issue. Sound bite journalism can tell any story it chooses.

Believe Nothing that you hear and only half of what you see.

forrestang 

Not sure how true this is, but THIS is how one effects change. This type of movement would be 1000 times more powerful than people standing in front of banks on Wall Street. This is actually using the power of consumerism, which is actually effective and will influence a banks decision.

Completely agree. Voting with one's wallet is just as (if not more so) powerful as voting at the ballot box. Now, having said that, moving to a local credit union from a fee-gouging big bank is a relatively easy move for the average Joe to understand and actually do given a good number of credit union options. However, not so easy a move for those that extrapolate this argument to big businesses like Walmart. Since there are generally not really any cheaper alternatives locally (seeing as to how Walmart effectively ran most local competitors out of business), it's not quite so easy a move for that same average Joe (on a tight budget) to stop shopping at Walmart given he'd likely be spending more elsewhere. Anybody got any bright ideas for that scenario?

I almost never have bright ideas but I am a shit disturber so let me give it a go.

In my opinion we have become too comfortable letting others do the sacrificing - volunteer military- a miniscule segment of the population doing the heavy lifting for years. I am old so I cannot participate at that level nor do I have the courage to. Below are not sacrifices but compromises that I think can affect change.

If you have to pay a little extra or buy a little less and support local vendors that makes a statement.
At one time 30% of Americans grew their own food. Now we cover good soil with fertilizer and lawn seed and compulsively give military hair cuts to our lawns. Until recently90% of the produce in the USSR was grown on small crappy plots of land and that fed everybody. We buy food from stores and have no idea or connection to what is in it. We sacrifice time from our families in order to work to buy stuff previous generations did naturally. Eating locally grown and cooking healthy food is the best health care expense you can make for your family

For entertainment , you can go to Walmart or Home Depot and play - try and find something that is made in America. This is no easy task and you only need to play once to realize we no longer manufacture much of anything. People used to sew their own clothes, very common not too long ago, and good quality clothes that survives more than one trip thru the dryer. Those fabric stores have all but vanished.

Read a book to your kids instead of renting a movie. Just some simple ideas. The book attached DO NOT read to your kids is about the meat industry and factory farming. Very disturbing health implications for all. Stay healthy and stay away from the sick care system - it cost me years of my life.

I've put a new poll up, come share your opinions:

https://nexusfi.com/#polls

Mike

IS THERE NO SHAME? The Burning Platform

Answer: The psychopaths are in charge of the asylum.

Here is a nice little quote about "American Exceptionalism"!

Quoting 

“By the skillful and sustained use of propaganda, one can make a people see even heaven as hell or an extremely wretched life as paradise.” ― Adolf Hitler

Bear in mind that the causes of the financial crisis are rooted in CRIMINAL FRAUD. Why are so many of you intent on not only protecting, but venerating, these CRIMINALS?

https://neweconomicperspectives.blogspot.com/2011/11/bill-blacks-address-to-occupyla.html

From the Madman
"God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers? What was holiest and mightiest of all that the world has yet owned has bled to death under our knives: who will wipe this blood off us? What water is there for us to clean ourselves? What festivals of atonement, what sacred games shall we have to invent? Is not the greatness of this deed too great for us? Must we ourselves not become gods simply to appear worthy of it?"
—Nietzsche

from wikipedia:

The death of God is a way of saying that humans are no longer able to believe in any such cosmic order since they themselves no longer recognize it. The death of God will lead, Nietzsche says, not only to the rejection of a belief of cosmic or physical order but also to a rejection of absolute values themselves — to the rejection of belief in an [COLOR=#0645ad][B]objective[/B][/COLOR] and [COLOR=#0645ad][B]universal[/B][/COLOR] [COLOR=#0645ad][B]moral law[/B][/COLOR], binding upon all individuals. In this manner, the loss of an absolute basis for morality leads to [COLOR=#0645ad][B]nihilism[/B][/COLOR]. This nihilism is that for which Nietzsche worked to find a solution by re-evaluating the foundations of human values. This meant, to Nietzsche, looking for foundations that went deeper than [COLOR=#0645ad]Christian[/COLOR] values. He would find a basis in the " [COLOR=#0645ad]will to power[/COLOR]" that he described as "the essence of reality."
Nietzsche believed that the majority of people did not recognize this death out of the deepest-seated fear or [COLOR=#0645ad]angst[/COLOR]. Therefore, when the death did begin to become widely acknowledged, people would despair and nihilism would become rampant. This is partly why Nietzsche saw Christianity as nihilistic. He may have seen himself as a historical figure like [COLOR=#0645ad]Zarathustra[/COLOR], [COLOR=#0645ad]Socrates[/COLOR] or [COLOR=#0645ad]Jesus[/COLOR], giving a new philosophical orientation to future generations to overcome the impending nihilism.

Unaware, we create new deities - or they are created for us - and this type of idolatry is void of any morality.

Penn State zombies screaming" we love you coach Joe" immediately comes to mind. Disgusting. But what a revolting coward who witnessed the rape of the little boy by the football coach and did nothing to stop it. This was a football player and he had no courage to protect a child. Improvise a weapon. Grab a football helmet from the locker room and crack the raping bastard across the head - a half dozen times. Then call the police. Sometimes pragmatism has to trump philosophy.

@drago1

Thank you for your post. I first started reading Nietzsche in high school and his work has had a profound impact on my life. Alas, he is probably the most misunderstood thinker. Ayn Rand did her part by bastardizing his ideas, but most simply seem to lack the mental flexibility to appreciate his writings.

Contrary to popular belief, his work is full of humor and warmth, but on a deeper level than most are willing to go.

It is challenging reading, but it is well worth it.

The fact of the matter is the ratio, ie. 99 : 1., and who rules who?
Then the burning question is, which side do you think you are on?

Did you guys see this OWS guy picture around...he makes me think of the "Don't tase me bro" guy.
The first time I saw it the first thing in my mind was "what a Moron".