Kno said:I think Occupy is confused, undisciplined & misdirected, but If you don’t see how income inequality is a problem in this country I don’t know what to tell you.
“Oh well…life isn’t fair, Rosa Parks.”
“Oh well…life isn’t fair, Anne Frank.”
“Oh well…life isn’t fair, Susan B. Anthony.”
“Oh well…life isn’t fair, Harvey Milk.”
Those people were fighting racial, ethnic, gender, and sexual discrimination and did something about it. Occupy is fighting… people with more money?
Those people were “powerless”. Money is power. This is an age-old adage. If a tiny slice of the populace controls ALL of the money—what else do they control? Politics, the environment, education, the military etc. and so on. We’re already seeing corporations being granted the rights of “people”, we’re seeing the Constitution shredded before our eyes. Money = power. If things keep moving on this path we’ll see classism on the level of any race, gender, ethnic, sexual etc. “ism” we’ve ever seen.
We have the 4th shittiest wealth inequality in the world—behind only Mexico, Chile and Turkey. Is that OK with you? It isn’t ok with me.
worm9103 said:
Hey Chris Gardner, you’re black and homeless. Give it up, dude. You don’t have a college education! What are you doing? Stop calling clients. Go home.
Yeah, I mean…Capitalists love to trot out the one or two success stories like a carrot on a stick—these stories are becoming straight up anomalies…and when they do happen, it often isn’t even hard work any more than pure, dumb luck & celebrity worship (Antoine Dodson). Name one well-known person under 40 who has went from rags to riches off of pure, unadulterated hard work in something not related to sports, entertainment or internet/computers. Where are this generations’ Sam Waltons or Henry Fords? Don’t worry, I’ll wait.
I’m really surprised I have to be the person to tell you this—have you been paying attention the past 10 years?
If things keep moving on this path we’ll see classism on the level of any race, gender, ethnic, sexual etc. “ism” we’ve ever seen.
We have classism in this country (England) already, where it’s not as racially segregated as the US but there is a huge class divide. It’s not on par with the atrocities of racism etc but it’s here, and is accepted, promoted and even celebrated by mainstream media. It’s leading to huge insecurities among the lower class and poor where they’re turning on each other instead of helping each other out etc.
Kno said:
Yeah, I mean…Capitalists love to trot out the one or two success stories like a carrot on a stick—these stories are becoming straight up anomalies…and when they do happen, it often isn’t even hard work any more than pure, dumb luck & celebrity worship (Antoine Dodson). Name one well-known person under 40 who has went from rags to riches off of pure, unadulterated hard work in something not related to sports, entertainment or internet/computers. Where are this generations’ Sam Waltons or Henry Fords? Don’t worry, I’ll wait.
This reminds me of the whole Jay-Z thing. Lowkey was talking about Jay-Z eating at the White House etc. and goes on to say: “Hip hop at its best has exposed power, challenged power, it hasn’t served power. When the US government loves the same rappers you love, whose interests are those rappers serving?” Jay-Z embodies the ideology of the American dream and is held up, like you say, as a carrot on a stick, as an example of how the american dream “works.”
As for people not related to entertainment/sports etc, can I suggest Michael Eric Dyson and bell hooks? They might not be rich (I’m not sure if they are or not) but they have both become two of America’s most well-known and best-loved intellectuals despite growing up poor and black in America.
I guess they’re not of this generation though, maybe we’ll have to wait and see on that one.
I still don’t 100% agree with the “right to education” argument because I feel like people have access to education these days more than ever before… buuuut wateva.
artistKno said on Dec 21, 2011:
StayTrue said on Dec 22, 2011:
worm9103 said on Dec 22, 2011: