I agree with that ^.
I also think your (Wyre's) critiques are valuable and accurate to a good extent.
But this begs the question: what alternatives are you backing, what are you doing to live up to the ideals you think these other people these "hippies" (a nice derogatory term for anyone who cares about issues you don't care about or feel you can do nothing about) are not doing?
Also, I see more than just a few persons of colour in the photos and videos posted here and all over the web. This is not just a bunch of spoiled white kids. The U.S. population IS largely white people, so what? White people can't stand up for any good causes? White people are all homogenous?
And when you do find impressive leaders of color who stand up to the powers-that-be in this country they tend to either get killed or imprisoned by those same powers (Fred Hampton, Malcolm X, Leonard Peltier, Geronimo Pratt, etc.), make their peace with those powers (Cesar Chavez, Van Jones, etc.), or otherwise get sidelined by betrayals of those within their own movements or simply burn out.
No, it's not a life or death situation. I will concede, however, that there has been a share of hair-pulling, arrests and pepper spraying by the NYPD but it's not on the same level as losing life and limb for something you believe in.
Maybe I missing something but I don't recall anyone here claiming that.
It's possible to note the level of injustice of this particular predicament since a rotting economy and uneven scales in regard to national wealth and individual welfare are quite hard to ignore. But in regards to having a vivid, rational solution other than sleeping on top of each other in public, nahhhh, not so much.
I'm not saying they don't exist, it's not like they're fucking unicorns or something. It's just that out of this demonstration, no one with those qualities has stepped forward to take control of the masses. It's literally people coming with their friends to yell and chant and hold signs. And even if one person didn't have all the qualities, anyone thinking about it with a clear head would start an organization to include people who do make up for certain shortcomings to make the best of the situation. As well as work on organizing other occupations at the proper places in other major cities.
Fair enough, but I just thought you were generalizing a bit too much. I haven't been particularly impressed by this or other such protests much either. They don't mean much without having some strike action backing it up for the working-class to flex a bit of economic muscle.
We certainly do live in a democracy.
No we don't. It's an electoral oligarchy as I explained above, and you have yet to attempt to refute any of the points I made on that.
The power of the ballot from each and every citizen still holds as much power as it ever did.
Who said it ever held much power in the first place? The franchise has only ever given the wealthy power over our society and government, going back to 1787 at least. It has given those of modest means some very limited influence, but any significant influence it has ever given the poor or working-class has ALWAYS had to be backed up through non-electoral means/direct action-- the Civil Rights Acts, the New Deal, Women's Suffrage, the Great Society, the Abolition of slavery-- all of these legislative acts had to be demanded through massive demonstrations, strikes, boycotts, and a great deal of bloodshed. The ballot alone has never been enough for the ordinary citizen to demand social, economic or political power. At least not in this country it hasn't.
People are more or less focused on rather selfish reasons for electing particular candidates (the more fiscally conservative bunch on a large amount of topics) or have no idea who their options are in the county, city, state, and national elections. We're all running around the internet tagging photos or posting photos and talking about shit that won't be relevant in an hour let alone when the next election date rolls around.
Oh, all true, but apathy is not only a cause of political disengagement, it's also a result of it. While many people who aren't politically engaged are ignorant or lazy, there's a not insignificant number who realize, with varying degrees of clarity, that their votes make very little difference in their everyday lives, so why bother?
People should be more politically-engaged, but not at the ballot box. In fact, I support an organized electoral boycott.
Topic: Occupy Wall Street protests