This seems to be very handy because it is, after all, much easier to sit in the arm-chair and be the skeptic or nay-sayer than it is to go out and be the pioneer and/or stand up for what you believe in. And whereas on one hand it appears that there is a common understanding and agreement amongst the protesters as to what is broken and needs to be fixed, on the other hand, the protesters proudly proclaim that they are individuals and that no clear set of grievances or demands should be issued.
“How does that work?”, you may be asking yourself.
To better understand this paradigm, it’s time to step outside of the box. While there are a readily available set of stereotypical social categories that we all have become so accustomed to, it’s important to keep in mind that that’s just what they are – categories. Our society seems to love categorizing people, well beyond a silent obsession. For most of us, it’s habitual. So, the sight of a black man and a white man, protesting the same things together may be an unusual sight for anyone who is guilty of quickly viewing the world through a 
prefabricated lens. This, of course, also applies to calling active protesters that are affiliated with the Occupy movements, “hippies”.
This leads to two key questions: “If you categorize anyone, where is your line that separates reason from racism, understanding from immaturity, or rationalism from quick judgement?” and, “How is your day today?”. These two questions are important because anyone who is above irrationally assigning people to categories would certainly see the glue that holds together the individuals of the Occupation movements.
Still confused? Go ask a protester how their day is today! They will be more than happy to fill you in. That is the commonality that the mass-media has tried to feverishly avoid mentioning at all costs; dissatisfaction and discontent. Collectively. From individuals. On different issues. Traditionally, movements were held together by specific issues. Today, they are held together by general disgruntlement. The implications of this are extremely significant.
Granted, we are still much better off than say… Nigeria. And there’s a reason for that – the protesters holding the signs are preserving our way of life. They are fighting to keep our nation and its economy intact. They aren’t sitting in the arm-chairs while scoffing at virtually everything that comes up for review. Just by getting out there and making the attempt at change and improvement, they are doing infinitely more toward fixing our country than those who come home, turn on the national news, get told what to think, and then go to bed.
The brightest shining attributes of who we are as individuals in a collective American society cannot be found on television. That can only be found amongst ourselves. How refreshing it is to see how different we, as the American people, truly are from how we are being portrayed by the media each and every day.
27 Responses to “Understanding the Commonalities”
Nicely said and done.
It’s quite disheartening to see so few comments on here, keep up the good work though… I attended the occupy london events betwwen saturday and monday, at the time I’d booked the tickets I didn’t know about the one in birmingham… Is it still going? Do you guy’s have a tent city? I may join you at some point. I have to be a bit careful as my partner is nearing the end of her pregnancy, but I want to support you guys!
Barry,
This page is for Occupy Birmingham, Alabama, USA, not Birmingham UK. I believe their site is:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Occupy-Birmingham-UK/154845231274653
Instead of watching reality ~ WE ARE LIVING REALITY! *working to improve the quality of life for EVERYONE*
~peace, love, and LIBERATION~NOW!
What an eloquent summation of some very fragmented and unsettling factors keeping the status quo in place.
One wonderful and natural outgrowth of the meetings and marches is people having the chance to experience each other, freely relate and express whatever their particular angst is, and find others of like mind, all while the entire body is bound together with common, universal interests that are the same for every man, every woman, every child.
I am an Occupant!
We all agree we’re sick of the same old same old. We have to start somewhere cause the system’s in total dysfunction. 1st up should be the demand of outlawing lobbying (legal bribery). Next should be strict limitations on the length of time & money that can be given to or spent by politicians. If everyone involved in Occupy would get behind this demand & all start flooding our Reps & Sens with constant correspondence, maybe they’ll get the message. If they drag their feet & put up resistance, I’d say the time for a Nationwide shutdown might get their attention.
Where are the lobbyists? …In Washington DC… Why are the lobbyists in Washington DC? …Because that is where the money and power are due to the overreach of the federal government… How do you get rid of the lobbysits in Washington DC? …Reduce the amount of money being confiscated from us by Washington DC, and reduce the amount of money being printed out of thin air by the fed with the blessing of Washington DC, and reduce the powers of the federal government to those specifically outlined in the Constitution…
Make sense?
No it doesn’t make sense. The problem with that is it would result in no Social Security, no FDA to make sure our drugs are safe to take, no EPA to make sure our air and water were clean, and no USDA to make sure our food is safe. The Salmonella outbreak is bad, imagine if there was no USDA or CDC. You would not be able to trust a single thing in the grocery store. And the CDC would be gone too. So much for occupational health oversight, no more research on vaccines for H1N1 or HIV research or cancer or Alzheimer’s. No more TB treatment and research. Medicare, Medicaid, and Food Stamps would be gone. There would be no one inspecting houses and making sure living conditions were adequate in apartments. No more Homeland Security or FEMA when disasters hit. No more FBI or federal prisons. There’s no way we can reduce government to just what’s in the Constitution.
The Department of Agriculture awarded the University of New Hampshire $700,000 investigating methane gas emissions from dairy cows. The National Science Foundation spent $216,000 to study the use of “ambiguous” statements by politicians. The Census Bureau blew $2.5 million on a 30-second ad that ran during the Super Bowl. The US military is deployed in more than 150 countries. US aid to Israel, around $6 billion per year, every year, in the form of military, economic and indirect aid. Gov’t officials believe at least $17B was spent on fradulant unemployment last year. Solyandra is $535M gone. Federal entitlement spending is growing like cancer, more than 1/2 the budget. Congress has allowed government employees to spend tax dollars on iPods, jewelry, gambling, exotic dance clubs, and $13,500 steak dinners. We spend $25 billion annually maintaining unused or vacant federal properties. The Securities and Exchange Commission spent $3.9 million rearranging desks and offices at its Washington, D.C., headquarters. The refusal of many federal employees to fly coach costs taxpayers $146 million annually in flight upgrades. The Federal Communications Commission spent $350,000 to sponsor NASCAR driver David Gilliland. Members of Congress have spent hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars supplying their offices with popcorn machines, plasma televisions, DVD equipment, ionic air fresheners, camcorders, and signature machines — plus $24,730 leasing a Lexus, $1,434 on a digital camera, and $84,000 on personalized calendars. Congress recently gave Alaska Airlines $500,000 to paint a Chinook salmon on a Boeing 737. The Defense Department wasted $100 million on unused flight tickets and never bothered to collect refunds even though the tickets were refundable. Congressional investigators were able to receive $55,000 in federal student loan funding for a fictional college they created to test the Department of Education. Fraud related to Hurricane Katrina spending is estimated to top $2 billion. In addition, debit cards provided to hurricane victims were used to pay for Caribbean vacations, NFL tickets, Dom Perignon champagne, “Girls Gone Wild” videos, and at least one sex change operation.
Etc. Etc. Etc. Etc. Etc……
This is what happens when government is God. This is how votes are bought.
I totally agree with you Norma. Please contact me at my e-mail address as I am a Senior citizen and eager to get involved with Birmingham Occupy. It is time to take a stand
[email protected]
Suzy Graham
Nice writing. We need more internally produced content like this from our own movement. We do want the mainstream media to engage us, but let’s not waste their time. All should be keeping journals and practicing the craft of the wordsmith.
When we have a congress and senate that is willing to vote against what 75 percentt of Americans want (using the jobs bill to hire more teachers), I think flooding their offices with phone calls, emails etc is not proving too useful.
Let the local governments hire teachers. This is a commonly used scare tactic meant to tug at your heart strings and make you feel good about a burst in new federal spending and power. Don’t fall for it. The federal debt ceiling is now $16,000,000,000.00. More borrowing, printing, and spending will speed us toward bankruptcy and the collapse of the dollar.
The local governments do not have the money to hire teachers. Alabama is under a 3% proration for the Education Trust Fund. That’s on top of the 12% proration from Governor Riley’s Administration. Jefferson County has 90 teacher positions that were NOT filled for the 2011-2012 school year. That results in up to 30 kids in each class. Kids can’t learn like that. The federal government is trying to help that by giving money to the states and local school boards to hire the teachers back.
Obviously what we need is some accountability. Where is all the money going?
Do we put 30 kids in a class or do we borrow more money from the Chinese? Put some discipline in the classroom and get teaching. Get parents involved. Get creative. Find a solution. Be innovative. Create school competition. Try the voucher system. Etc.
If you do a little digging you’ll also see that many of the school districts that spend the most on education have some of the worst test scores, drop out rates, and illiteracy rates. The Washington DC school district spent $28,170 per pupil in 2009. The graduation rate was around 72%, even worse than the national average. Why should a taxpayer fund such a failed system? Who is benefiting from this? (Hint: Not the kids)
Sheesh!
I get your point. But we need to focus on what is happening right here in Alabama. I can’t fix Washington’s education problem, but I can make a difference right here for the kids I see every day.
The problem is there is NO national curriculum for K-12 education. So we have a mixed bag of band-aid fixes all over the country. Alabama is notorious for raiding the Education Trust Fund to cover other programs. I’m not suggesting we nationalize the schools. What I am suggesting is that a basic curriculum be laid out on a national level so every kid has the same basic education. We should not have kids in Alabama studying in 5th grade what kids in Ohio are studying in 3rd grade.
In Alabama, the Education Trust Fund should be put in a lock box so the State House can not use it to cover other programs. We need higher teacher pay. The pay rates should be set across the state so a First Grade teacher in Selma makes the same as a First Grade teacher in Hoover. We all know Education funding in Alabama is unequal. If we’re going to keep it that way, then poorer schools need greater funding to bring them UP to the level of the better systems. Schools in Bullock County should be getting the needed funding to bring them up to the same level of teaching as Jefferson County Schools. If we’re going to have inequalities in funding, then let’s have it in a way that BENEFITS our kids.
We need to make Special Education a priority. We have 84,772 kids in Special Education in Alabama. Most of those kids will NOT graduate with a diploma. The Alabama Occupational Diploma can not be used to go to Trade Schools or College. So these kids are stuck. They can’t pass the graduation exam because the schools do not provide enough extra help and they can’t go to a trade school because they can’t get the regular diploma.
25% of Alabamians are functionally illiterate. 1 million of our fellow citizens can not read on a 3rd Grade level. And the graduation exams and high stakes testing isn’t helping, it’s adding to the problem. That’s why we have to focus here in Alabama FIRST. We need to do something to make sure we don’t end up with another 1 million people in Alabama who can not read.
right now we are less concerned about value of the dollar in foreign exchange markets than we are with JOBS, trade policy and democracy.
oops so sorry-this went to wrong post
Is anyone upset about Solyndra or Fast & Furious? Who should be held accountable for these scandals? Why haven’t those individuals who sat in charge of oversight of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the architects of the housing bubble, been held accountable? Who is going to be held accountable for the terrifying record federal budget deficits accumulated over the last two years? And why is the federal government funding teachers and fire firghters which are local government issues?
The federal government is trying to fund the hiring of teachers, police and fire fighters because the states are too broke to do it. Alabama is under 3% proration for the Education Trust Fund for 2011-2012 school year and 15% for the General Fund and is laying off hundreds of police and fire fighters. That is on top of the 12% proration the schools were already under. Many schools are laying off teachers because they simply can not afford to keep them. If the federal government can step in to help pay the salaries of these people then it makes our society as a whole, safer. Jefferson County laid off 101 deputies and closed several police stations. That means longer response times and less availability of police as a visible presence. It also means there may not be a policeman or deputy there when you need them. The cities in Jefferson County are laying off fire fighters. Which again leads to longer response times. In the case of firefighters, longer response times means some people will die before they can get there or some people will watch their house burn down because the fire department got there too late. Jefferson County lost 90 teacher positions through retirement or other means. These were not filled for the 2011-2012 school year. That means more kids in each class. You can’t expect kids to learn in a class of 30 kids. The teacher would spend most of his or her time just getting them to be quiet much less get any work done. The federal government has to step in to help. Otherwise, people will suffer even more than they are now.
I’m from Maryland and they’ve been using the we-have-to-raise-taxes-or-let-go-teachers, firefighters, and policemen and close libraries forever. They threaten this and then taxes go up and then of course SPENDING goes up even faster. Then a few years later they do it all over again and have a similar crisis and talk about class size and doing it for the children and then taxes go up and then SPENDING goes up even faster.
On the federal level they did this until the money was gone. Then they started borrowing from foreign countries. Now they’re printing money like crazy to cover it up (which will also backfire). In other words, we justified our excesses and now we’re bankrupt. Deficits over a trillion dollars two years running. Calls for more spending.
Then you wake up and you’re Greece.
Spending is the problem, much of which is designed to buy votes.
you wrote the book on how to turn a recession into a depression…wich is you guy’s real ambition- to destroy the country so it can be rebuilt in some libertarian utopia paradise…well if you like that kind of stuff, go to somalia- theres not much of a governmet to ‘harass’ you there. American- love it or leave it! Tighten the purse-strings and you get a depression, create jobs and grow your way out of rcession, while decreasing deficits, you choose.
The belief that we can spend our way out of a recession is delusional, especially at the level of deficits that we have experienced in the last few years. It is nothing more than being totally irresponsible (if not criminal) and kicking the can of debt down the road to future generations. Yes, there are so-called economists who say spending is the way to go (Krugman, Reich) but they have a very set agenda, which is the total takeover of our lives by the government.
The purse strings haven’t tightened in the US. Federal spending is up a reported 5% over last year.
There are terrible consequences coming for the debts “you people” have piled up. Our standard of living is about to change drastically.
The baseless charge that someone like myself wants to tear down the economy is foolhardy. I simply want to restore the republic, the gift of our forefathers, that which gives us our freedoms, and stave off the totalitarian form of government (institutionalized slavery) that will be implemented in the event of a collapse.
When I went to school we had 30-36 kids per class. We were taught in split grades. We had the highest graduation rates in our country. By the way, I’m from Canada where copious amounts of tax dollars are spent on public education. This doom and gloom if we don’t raise taxes is as real as the tooth fairy. This article is a mish-mash of random thoughts that as per usual says nothing. I would love a poll of the salaries and wages of the protestors to see if they truly represent the 99%. I am definitely in the 99% but I am definitely not for this movement. Read the reply from Big Guy. That is the real issue. Amazingly but not shocking not one of you “occupy” people had a comment about that.
Great article. One thing that was not mentioned is that today’s movement is not based on a single issue which can be remedied by a single piece of legislation, like the Civil Rights Movement. Nor is it a movement which is looking to totally change the society, like Ghandiji’s movement. (The honorific “ji” means teacher). This movement is more based on a tacit agreement that things have gone wrong in society, but we want to see the problems remedied without a total restructuring of that underlying society. The personal issue for each person may be different, but the movement it’s self is not bound by one issue. It is a coming together of individuals who have the same basic dissatisfaction, and who realize that the personal issues ARE in one category, social justice. All we ask is that America returns to it’s ideals of equality and fairness. The banks should be forced to return to a time when they operated fairly and openly, without the huge profits and bonuses. Return to a time when Congress might disagree, but they would act with honesty and fairness and find common ground. We want a return to an American society where each person has the same opportunity to advance in life. The same chance to a good life with enough money to live comfortably, have good health care, a good school to send the kids to, and a knowledge that on retirement they would have enough resources to live in comfort, without fear of being a burden to anyone. In short, it is a movement of thousands crying out to be heard.
I disagree, corruption is at the root of the issues and it is not that hard to pass a campaign finance law/lobbying restrictions etc. Once the legislative is able to hear our voice and no longer be drowned out by special interest, then we can get laws passed that we actually want.
Please send me info on the next gathering of the occupy Birmingham, Al. I was told it would be in railroad park this Saturday Nov 5 is this true and where is railroad park. I am a grduate from highschool 1964 I marched at Kent state among maney other places and protested in 60ties and 70ties for the injustices during the NIxon era.
I believe we Americans are being given a bunch of crap from our legislators. No one can make a decision except to give to the rich in this country. We need our manufacturing base back, good trade agreements put in place do not import more than we export!!!! What a great idea duh! So think back to the sixtys who was right ? Could it be that we who marched then are still right now. Thank God the youth of this country is getting smarter not putting up with the bull they are being given. Social Security is solvent it would be better off if the Republicians and democrats pay us back what they borrowed from it 4.5 trillion dollars. How does that hit ya. I am now a senior citizen and I have been around to see all of the mess that has occurred since the 50′s. It is not that I do not trust the government it is that I know if we as citizens continue to let them cheat and steal from us the citizens of the US , of course they will. Youknow the old saying. “If you continue to do the same things you will continue to get the same results.” So we need to vote them out all of them bring in new blood someone who can compromise and get something done. Do not blame the President he can only suggest but it is up to Congress and the Senate to pass the bills and then the President will either sign them or veto. What a shame we cannot get a bill passed since a certain party took over !!!!!! WE need to have term limits for Congress and Senate not just for President.
They need to pay into social security, they need to have to carry the same insurance as we do, Please note they just received another raise two weeks ago simply by not voting against a raise as they get automatic raises each year from a bill passed in Reagans term.
Fellow Americians are out of work , Congress and Senate get a reaise , will not pass a jobs bill of any kind, they get insurance now and until they die even after they leave government office. They want to cut medicare and social security and they have stolen my money from social security , myself and millions of American Seniors have paid into since we were 14 or 15 years old and working. They are wanting to continue to steal your money as you have also been paying into medicare and SS since you started working.,
I do not believe in candy coating anything. but I do not have faith that Birmingham Occupy will be much of anything as most individuals in the south do not want to make a ruckess. Being a transplant to Alabama in the 60′s from the midwest I have not seen alot of people in the South standing up for themselves … Fact in point look at who keeps staying in office for the state and federal governments. STAND UP ALABAMA FIGHT FOR THE RIGHTS YOU ALL DESERVE. The only way to loose a war is not to fight long enough. Yu have to wear the other man or woman down. God Bless Hope to see you at Birmingham Occupy
Susan Graham Proud to be an American