The Occupy movement captured many of the social and economic issues nagging at our national conscience. I attempted to encapsulate some of the diverse interests that comprise this movement which has brought back to our cities the protests and mass demonstrations that were emblematic of the sixties, the decade when I came of age. This video is comprised of images I made in Union Square Park, Manhattan, in the spring of 2012.
Spring is just around the corner!
The others Springs resulted in changes in govt form, structure, rulers. The other Springs had a specific purpose, manadate, desired outcome The other Springs were not comprised of the "dropout" element of society. In addition, many of the places that did have successful movements are even worse off than they were before the movements began. It isn't revolution that is bad per se, but the desire for 'something else', 'change', etc has to be defined as a positive series of steps towrds a specific outcome. The outcome cannot be some vague pothead's dream of 'things should be different'
So how would you characterize the crowd at Enron or Worldcom and their auditors, the good old boys at Lehman and Goldman, the parade of traders and hedge fund guys going to jail for insider trading, Madoff, or my absolute favorite, Mozilo of Countrywide? American heroes?
They, this movement, are able to fill a large metropolitan park with people of many stripes carrying many gripes about this, that, and some other things. Once gathered, they can then be cloaked as ninety-nine percent-ers, and the organizers, the money behind the movement, are then free to spin their numbers toward their true, underlying agenda or objective. I am sure there is a specific outcome, we just haven't been clued-in yet. The video images were made in Union Square Park. Some of the participants are students or faculty at NYU, Cooper Union, Baruch, Pace and The New School. Certainly, viewers are free to assume some of them are drop-outs, but I would generally disagree with that assessment. "Something different" is a good descriptor for change, in general. It (they) would seem to be trying to put the monkey on the backs of our politicians to go figure what something different ought to look like, to sound like, and to feel like. That is different than trying to take over the government and then making those kinds of mistakes referenced around the Mediterranean, the same kind of mistakes made in the aftermath of the capture of Damascus by T.E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) way back in 1918.
I did not say that their goal was to "take the 'system'". What I did say was that their goal "is different than trying to take over the government", and that "we just haven't been clued-in yet" (to what is their specific objective). I certainly appreciate your point of view, but request that you please avoid changing my own words and their clear meanings. Thanks, V..
Wall Street, corporate America and big government are a cabal feeding off each other and everyone else not in on the game (ie the 99%). Things WILL change sooner or later. The only issue is whether it's gradual and manageable or with a big bang.
I suppose if they live at home long enough, and can't put their sheepskin to work and start repaying their college loans, they could become hippies, or protesters, and give the impression of being "aimless" by choice instead of as the result of the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.
You say; "The video images were made in Union Square Park. Some of the participants are students or faculty at NYU, Cooper Union, Baruch, Pace and The New School." I say, not one word is spoken or person indicates, other than your information, that your statement is true or relevant. No one says "I attend Cooper Union" or "I am (Phil Aglassof) a faulty member at NYU and am here to support......" or "I am (Judy Bloom) an NYU student and here are my thoughts." You will tell me that this what they said to you and that is fine, but it also holds no water. If you are going to continue to do what you do, please make sure that you actually have facts and can verify your sources.
"Blame" and "assume" would not be appropriate words to convey the reality that, were I financially able to retire then I would have left my job for another person to step into. I cannot retire and maintain the standard of living my wife and I aspire to, and thus my health and other circumstances afford me the ability to continue to contribute in my job while maintaining our current standard of living. As long as I am in this job, someone else is not. No blame, no assumption; fact. As 2013 has started, I have had to reduce my 401k contribution rate by 2% (percentage points of my salary) to compensate for or offset the 2% increase in FICA withholding that starts immediately, and independently of the so-called fiscal cliff. So, not only will I be kicking-in two percent more of my salary toward Social Security, during this year I will also have to pay income tax on an additional two percent of my salary formerly sheltered in my 401k plan. My wife will receive a miniscule increase in her SSI benefit starting this month, which will have been totally wiped out (and then some) by the increase on my FICA witholding. There is nobody to blame, really. Only there needs to be different people for us to elect to represent us in the future. I mean, to actually represent us in the governing of our nation.
Neither am I, so we are apparently on the same page. When I leave this job, my company is obliged to replace me, under a variety of regulations. At that time, there will be person coming into our company who is not presently employed here, who will replace me. There is a term, 'POP', presently growing in popularity in the corporate world: "Pensioners on the Payroll". This term is generally regarded as one of the impediments to employment growth and career advancement in America.
AT&T, Verizon, IMB, HP, CITI bank, Chase, BOA, the list goes on Chris.I can also tell you VERY rarely if EVER do they go to the streets to replace these people, in some cases entire business units are dissolved people lose jobs and the business or WORK is sold to a third party to undertake. aka outsourcing either here or overseas, which is infinitely cheaper then employing people on payroll with benefits, pensions etc. It all about MONEY and profitability.