Scapegoating the occupation
There have been large amounts of pressure lately from pro-capitalist forces to shut down the Occupy protest encampments throughout the country. One tactic often used by these forces is scapegoating—attempting to send the message that the Occupy movement is a fringe group filled with the problematic misfits of society. For example, Oakland City Council President Larry Reid recently stated of his local Occupy protest that it has been a major setback for the area while attracting sex offenders, mentally ill and homeless people, and anarchists. In essence, Reid avoids discussion of the deeper issues and instead attempts to deter people from supporting the Occupy movement by associating it with persons in marginalized segments of society.
This biased argument is a microcosm of the greater narrative where those in power try to distract the American people from understanding the root causes of our increasing economic stratification and, at the same time, to blame the many for the wrongs of the few. Thus, while the 1% try to categorize Occupy as the sick people of society, in truth, Occupy represents courageous people coming together to bear witness to what IS SICK in our society—economic inequality, corporate greed, and political cronyism.
PS—Perhaps there needs to be a registry not only for sex offenders but also for the financiers and their elected counterparts whose selfish and irresponsible actions led to an incredibly disproportionate amount of wealth and power in the hands of too few.
Sarah Rhomberg
Stanton, Ky
Bringing change to the system
This is how real change can come to the system (“Too big to fail, too big for me,” (October 26) . If everyone simply moves out of the too-big-to-fail, too-globalized-to-care-about-us banking system, it WILL fail. And the world won’t end. Real change will come because the citizenry not only demanded it but acted to make it happen. A revolution need not be bloody to be effective.
Hedgehog2
Smirking Chimp blog
Wall Street investment money is not insured. So, why are we keeping it there? When the economy tanks, all of those retirement plans are going to suffer huge losses of principal. By transferring it into a CD at a federally insured credit union or community bank, we are protecting our futures and screwing wall street at the same time. Naturally, check with a tax advisor, or someone you trust to make sure it is economically feasible to do so.
Eyuckk
Smirking Chimp blog
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