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Old 04-29-2012, 11:00 PM   #3
Despanan
 
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Join Date: May 2008
Location: Sugar Hill
Posts: 3,887
Many of the bad narratives about Occupy spring from an article by Gina Belafonte of the NYtimes. The positions which you, and Saya, along with thousands of other bloggers, and members of the mainstream press are still echoing.

Let me explain how this works:

1) Multi-Ethnic, Multi-Racial, Cross Generational protestors of both genders meet under the umbrella of Occupy Wall Street.

2) Friction results from these groups not being used to interacting, and problems inevitably arise. These problems are made more difficult due to the protest itself being an umbrella over a number of minoritized causes (from ‘Free Puerto Rico’ to ‘No Fracking’) as opposed to a set of hegemonized ideals under a traditional heirachal power structure.

3) The establishment Corporate media, intent on silencing this movement picks up on these problems, and amplifies them to the population at large, focusing only on the problems and not on the why, how, or what is done about them. Those who are within the corporate media’s reach (ie: everybody) then is effected by this propaganda and begins to look for evidence to confirm the bias which was planted by the establishment. As a result well-meaning, intelligent people who are not involved in the movement are scared away/actively work to denounce the movement.

4) No one wins except the 1%. Rinse and repeat.


It is NOT that I am dismissing your facts, nor that I am refusing respond when occupiers behave badly. This is to be expected, and when I see it, I take them to task for it. What I am saying is that you only have a very NARROW view as to what is going on in Occupy, and you are focusing on and critiquing a small (but still important) aspect of the movement (the fact that there ARE dumb, racist, and/or crazy people involved with occupy) and then ascribing that critique to the entire movement at large and demanding I apologize for it and/or denounce them with you. Again, I do not support these people but I have no power to throw them out of occupy, and if I focus on them as you have, I damage the very GOOD and important things that Occupy is doing while playing directly into the anti-revolutionary establishment’s left’s hands.


I am not saying that you are incorrect to be concerned about them. I am concerned about them. I am not saying your facts are wrong, what I am saying is that your perspective ON these facts in incorrect, because of all of these other facts which you are now aware of.

TL;DR – Stupid, Racist, Chauvinist people suck, but as Saya pointed out, those people aren’t endemic to Occupy, they don’t control Occupy, nor are they well-liked IN Occupy, so please stop blaming myself and Occupy for them, and instead get involved and help me to make OUR voices louder.

PEACE. OUT.

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