What is it about the Occupy movement that the Establishment doesn't get?

1. 66

   rickzimmermanposted 13 years ago

   What is it about the Occupy movement that the Establishment doesn't get?
   
   What is it about the Occupy movement, and the diverse forces driving it, that much of the Establishment, the Elites and the 1% don't get? and why?

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2. 60

   jhaggenmillerposted 13 years ago

   I'm stumped like you. I've done a bunch of reading on the Gini coefficient and the US is on par with quite a few Third World Countries, when it comes to inequality. And, even if you've benefitted from the current system, you still have to know how broken it is.
   
   It seems that we should all be with this movement. I'd love to know what others think.

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3. 72

   Cow Flipperposted 13 years ago

   It isn't a matter of whether or not they "get it" because in truth they get it, the question you should ask yourself is if they believe it is really going to change anything and they know it won't. They know that after all is said and done the people will go back home to watch it all unfold on their televisions, they will go back to consuming the goods provided by them in houses they no longer own and to lives where the norm now is food stamps and unemployment (for those that are still able to collect it). This is the establishment of consumerism. It kills the poor through neglect of health care, neglect of nutrition, neglect of education. It systematizes the people and still forces them conform or in a very real way perish.
   
   The system is broken when banks hold the titles to homes of the very people who bailed them out.
   
   It is a broken system when companies have their goods made in third world countries to be sold back to us while they send our jobs over seas.
   
   It is a broken system when a person in a first world European country is able to receive government sponsored health care and child care and we as the greatest first world power has nothing like this to fall back on.
   
   The truth is they don't care and they never will.

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4. 38

   Dolores Coleposted 13 years ago

   It has been in my experience growing up that the government and the Charities that get free money to help those in need only help those they want to.  As a teenager we had two fires three years a PART AND BOTH TIMES WE WENT TO ORGANISATIONS FOR HELP..  My father was really sick and my mom was working just to meet the bills. The organisations said we picked the wrong time for our house to burn down like we really had a choice. No insurance because we could not afford it no way to put a new home in replace of the other. When my parents gave money to support these organisations then we needed help and was turned away for what ever reason.  Then My mom got real sick and I had to take rent money to pay for her medicine again I went to these same people and was told she picked the wrong time to get sick. Like everyone can pick a time to have a tragedy happen be ready for any thing.  I understand that they do not have to help everyone but,  I have known them to help people that had insurance to cover their tragedy. people that where working and means to provide for their family. Honestly do you think that the government really knows what these organisations are doing and who they are helping.  We often here how some people work for the county and state that take for themselves.  The government needs to put people out there to talk to and find out what we the people need to improve our lives as well as our country.  How can they help the people if they do not know how things really are among the unemployed the homeless.  They need to be on the streets to hear the people about the jobs and companies.  The government needs to get real and so does the rich people because they  have no idea how it really is as long as they all are comfortable in their own little lives.  You never know about the other people  until you have lived it as long as they have.

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5. 59

   LucidWarriorposted 13 years ago

   It is not that the establishment doesn't get it. It is that the masses haven't.
   
   The elite believe they can continue to control the masses the same way they have for the last 100 years. They are betting that we will not figure out that the 99% out number the 1% 100 to 1.
   
   The masses believe they owe their way of life to the elite so they don't rock the boat. When the masses wake up and see they have been lied to all this time then they will take over the elite and establish an equitable society.
   
   Like the boss grasshopper said to his gang of grasshoppers in the movie "Bugs Life"...'if the ants ever figure out they out number us 100 to 1 our way of life is finished'.
   
   Well Americans are finally doing their math. The 99% movement is catching on. The 1% is scared. I am excited to see what they do next, but I think we have reached a point of no-return and the elite know it.

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6. 59

   w1z111posted 13 years ago

   
   
   Hmmm...actually, I think "The Establishment" gets it alright.  They know they've allowed (or perhaps a better word is "manipulated") their incomes to increase over 250 percent during the same period that "the 99%" increased by 6 or 7 percent.  They know their investments brought them earnings in the 20 percent range when "the 99%" were LOSING much of their investment earnings in 2008. 
   
   They know their money is more influential in places like Washington D.C. than some pesky Occupy groups that can't seem to clarify anything that they want "them" ("the 1%") to do to make them happy. 
   
   I am, of course, part of "the 99 percent"...so I try to keep up with some of the Occupy movements...although I am not affiliated or associated with anyone actively engaged in any of them.  I applaud (most of) their persistence and dedication to what seems to be a very broadly outlined "mission", but I do think there needs to be something more, if we really expect the future to be different regarding some of the inequities and blatant exploitation of the masses by the few with the means, the capabilities, the demeanor and the personal character...to allow and engage in such things.  I'm just sayin'; see also:[http://w1z111.hubpages.com/hub/Just-Saying-My-Piece]

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7. 52

   crazyryouposted 13 years ago

   There are so many things the Occupy movement would like to change, but it cannot change them all at once. If you ask any two members, they will give you two different answers. And that is why it so hard to come together on any one issue~there are just too many issues and opinions. I believe the establishment knows this and plays with us. They do not believe there will ever be consequences for their bad behaviour because who among us is willing to drag them out of their homes and tar and feather them?

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8. 59

   feenixposted 13 years ago

   The question implies that the entire "establishment" is unaware of what is driving the "Occupy Movement" and such an implication is a vast and sweeping generalization.
   
   That said, I must say that even though I am nothing but a "mere 99-percenter" who, according to many, is being used, abused, neglected and ripped off by the "one-percenters," I am deeply grateful for the fact that I am a resident and citizen of the United States of America.
   
   I know that this great country provides me with an unlimited number of opportunities to advance from being a "99-percenter" to being a "one-percenter."
   
   The only things I have to do achieve that is work hard and work smart, and avoid wasting my time out in the streets protesting and pleading with the big shots to toss me a few of their scraps.

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