Comments on: Occupying Oakland

By: Herr Doktor Professor Deth Vegetable

Herr Doktor Professor Deth Vegetable — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 20:40:57 +0000

Truth: Speak for yourself.

By: scum

scum — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 20:34:14 +0000

Drum circles fucking suck.

By: Bruce Longview

Bruce Longview — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 20:30:00 +0000

the BoA sign should read, “Sorry for the convenience.”

And as has been said, this isn’t about electoral ‘reform;’ this is about societal transformation and taking back your life.

By: truth

truth — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 22:44:20 +0000

Dude, no one is aiming for “electoral change.”

This isn’t a reform movement.

By: Herr Doktor Professor Deth Vegetable

Herr Doktor Professor Deth Vegetable — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 19:37:03 +0000

Seriously? You’re going to pick on him for saying drum circles are obnoxious? How does that qualify as “inane chatter”? I mean, if you wanted to respond to him with a “No shit, sherlock, of course everyone hates drum circles!” that might make sense. Drum circles are the worst.

By: rod

rod — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 17:59:40 +0000

99% of mission mission readers no longer bother to read the inane chatter that cranky leaves in every single post on this blog.

By: goldplated

goldplated — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 17:39:54 +0000

Please only speak for yourself — the 0.000000001%.

Everybody is claiming to know the truth of what the 1,98,99% are, but no one truly can comprehend just how many people are angry over gov’t hedged roulette playing with YOUR money by most of the for-profit banks.

I myself don’t know, but fail to see how our country as a whole profits from Wall St. excesses, hence my guess is that it’s more than 1%.

Second, please be respectful and don’t reduce the movement to “drums and chatting”. I don’t think that hundreds of people who have breathed tear gas are not doing it because it’s fun.

By: Ben

Ben — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 15:59:49 +0000

No, it isn’t counter productive thinking, it’s being realistic. Do you need hardcore activists to start the occupation? Yes. Have they been effective in shifting public discourse? Yes. Are there enough of them to effect meaningful electoral change? Not by a long shot.

You have a good message that should appeal to nearly everyone when framed correctly. Every time somebody tacks on a demand for student loan forgiveness, ending the federal reserve, occupies a vacant building or what-have-you, that message becomes corrupted and more likely to get lost in the noise.

The people defending the status quo will do everything in their power to make the movement look like a bunch of loonies because it’s by far the easiest way to wreck popular support, and you’re only giving them more ammo. Enthusiasm got this thing off the ground but it’s going to take a bit more savvy if you ever want to see it through.

By: Herr Doktor Professor Deth Vegetable

Herr Doktor Professor Deth Vegetable — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 04:46:31 +0000

Agreed.

By: MrEricSir

MrEricSir — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 23:59:50 +0000

Hijacking a historical movement with your own misguided agenda is very much conventional thinking, I’m afraid.

By: Cranky Old Mission Guy

Cranky Old Mission Guy — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 23:49:53 +0000

99% of the human race don’t want to hear your drums and chanting. So there you are — the 1% who want to drum and chant versus the 1% who are your sworn enemy AND the 98% who think you both suck.

By: truth

truth — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 23:43:34 +0000

This sort of thinking is counter-productive. This is our movement. Don’t let conventional thinking define you. Conventional thinking would never have agreed with any occupation at all. And yet, here we are, nearly two months after the first day of OWS and we are tilting the conversation. It will be hard, but we can change things.

By: Cranky Old Mission Guy

Cranky Old Mission Guy — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 23:24:19 +0000

La la la…

By: Allan Hough

Allan Hough — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 22:39:09 +0000

That’s 23rd and Mission, biiitch!

By: Ben

Ben — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 22:22:57 +0000

Yeah, it’s also only palatable to a small slice of the population and is one of the surest ways to get the movement painted as something that should only appeal to fringe leftists and hippies who want to sit around in a drum circle.

I’m down with the Occupy movement, but shit like this is going to be the death of it. The whole point of the 99% thing is that we all got fucked by the financial industry, and nobody went to jail. Homesteading is not something that most people get behind. Don’t shoot the Occupy movement in the foot by tacking on stuff like this, do it separately if you absolutely have to.