here come the manipulative exploiters
with tea pottiers claiming they make up half of the wall st protesters, i guess i shouldn't be surprised to see insidious attempts to use the #ows movement to advance profiteering agendas. it's fertile ground. just look at wikipedia:
An October 11 poll showed that 54% of Americans have a favorable opinion of the protests, compared to 27% for the Tea Party movement,[23] and up from 38% in a poll conducted October 6–10.[24] An October 12–16 poll found that 67% of New York City voters agreed with the protesters and 87% agreed with their right to protest.[25]
what marketing pro wouldn't love to exploit numbers like those?
enter mike dillard, who sells pro-capitalist moneymaking. mike flew to NYC, went to zuccotti park, and figured it all out in a single hour:
Walking the grounds for the next hour, I did my best to identify the real mission and purpose of the protestors…
Were they here to end the Fed? Bring the banks to justice? Impeach politicians? Demand the end of Capitalism and a move to Communism?
The answer is… All of the above.
I am at a loss for words to describe the variety of goals, opaqueness of mission, and diversity of people…
There were the educated technophiles who are most likely the crew feeding the OWS social media sites…
yes, the answer is "all of the above" yet the mission is opaque, and tho he says he's "at a loss for words", dillard managed to put together a couple thousand of them, concluding with
If there was a message that was seen most often during my visit to OWS, it was that the 99% wanted to bring down the 1%.
The poor are looking to blame the rich. The poor are looking for their Robin Hood.
This is a very dangerous goal when used as a blanket theme because it does not account for the critical distinction of how that money was made, and demonstrates a complete lack of understanding as to how individual prosperity is created in general.
The vast majority of wealthy individuals have become rich by providing over-whelming value to the world through the creation of products and services in a free market. This is capitalism, and this is the primary reason why the United States has enjoyed more prosperity than any other nation in history.
What the protestors need to realize is that they’re not protesting the wealthy. They’re protesting corruption and the accumulation of wealth by the government, banks, and select corporations through out-right fraud and theft.
It is not the 99% against the 1%. It is the people of the world against the corrupt.
Ultimately, bringing these people to justice will only serve as a temporary solution. You can remove the tumor, but if you continue to smoke, the cancer will return.
True, lasting change can only be accomplished when each of us takes responsibility for our decisions and our actions.
We must educate ourselves in the ways of money, or that money will be stolen.
We must educate ourselves in the ways of food and health, or we will find ourselves eating genetically modified fillers covered in poison once again.
And we must educate ourselves in the ways of value creation and a work ethic, or find ourselves and our children slaves to debt and dependent upon food stamps.
Teaching the people of the world how to fish for themselves once again is the mission of The Elevation Group, and if you have not yet joined us, I invite you to learn more by clicking here…
the link gets you a video and a brief bio that tells of the $20 million he's made, the million entrepreneurs he's recruited from 65 countries, and how 4 months ago "he walked away from everything in order to share the urgent message" that we need to sign up for his free webinar so he can sell us his get rich scheme.
if you skip the link you can read several hundred comments from dillard's fans, ranging from subjective fawning to superficial analysis, with very few exceptions.
i posted a few comments that didn't support dillard's thesis. you won't find them. when i checked after less than 48 hours, no trace remained. i just posted one more. bet it's gone soon too.
in case anybody wonders, here's the comment i responded to, followed by my own comment:
ReplyDeletehis:
"'What the protestors need to realize is that they’re not protesting the wealthy. They’re protesting corruption and the accumulation of wealth by the government, banks, and select corporations through out-right fraud and theft.' - Mike Dilliard [sic]. To all those who love protesting."
mine:
"no. 'They are mainly protesting social and economic inequality, corporate greed, and the power and influence of corporations, particularly from the financial service sector, and of lobbyists, over government.' http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupy_Wall_Street
of course nobody likes corruption, but it's not what this movement is about. and it's not about the tea party or "the accumulation of wealth by the government" either. that's absurd. if the government were accumulating wealth it would have no deficit.
the point, restated, is the corporate elite use their wealth (whether corruptly or legally) to influence government officials so they can get even richer at the expense of small business owners and farmers, underwater homeowners, underpaid workers, and the unemployed.
if you need proof, just look at the way social security tax is set up: 80% of us pay the tax on every dollar of our income, but somebody making a million dollars a year pays it on only 10% of his income."
here's a more recent summary of public opinion polls from the updated wikipedia entry:
ReplyDeleteAn October 13 survey by Time Magazine found that 54 percent of Americans have a favorable impression of the protests, while 23 percent have a negative impression. An NBC/Wall Street Journal survey found that 37 percent of respondents "tend to support" the movement, while 18 percent "tend to oppose" it.[114] An October United Technologies/National Journal Congressional poll found that 59 percent of Americans agree with the movement while 31 percent disagree.[115]
An October Quinnipiac University poll of New York City voters found that 67 percent of New Yorkers approved of the movement with 23 percent disapproving. The results also found 87 percent of New Yorkers find it OK that they are protesting.[116] Despite media criticism that the protestors views are incoherent, the poll also found that 72 percent of New York City voters understand their views.[117] An October Rasmussen poll found a plurality of Americans approved of the movement with 33 percent favorable, 27 percent unfavorable and 40 percent with no opinion.[118]
in the last couple days i heard 2 different gops claim the tea party has more public support than the occupy movement, so here's the current updated wikipedia article's public opinion section. much of it's a repeat of the one above this, but new data has been added:
ReplyDeleteNational polls over October and November 2011 were mixed, with agreement/approval ratings for Occupy Wall Street varying from 59% to 22%, but approval was fairly consistently larger than disapproval, with large numbers often not giving an opinion. A November 3 poll done by Quinnipiac University found that just 30 percent of American voters have a favorable view of the protests, while 39 percent do not. The same poll found that among independent voters, 29 percent have a favorable view opposed to 42 percent who have an unfavorable view.[89][90]
An NBC/Wall Street Journal survey released October 12th found that 37 percent of respondents "tend to support" the occupy movement, while 18 percent "tend to oppose" it.[91] An October 13 survey by TIME magazine found that 54 percent of Americans have a favorable impression of the protests, while 23 percent have a negative impression. An October 18 Gallup poll found that 22 percent of Americans agree with the protest's goals, while 15 percent disapprove and the remaining 61% say they don't know enough to decide. Gallup found that Democrats, Independents and Republicans all follow the news about OWS in equal numbers, and those who closely followed OWS were more likely to approve of its goals and methods.[92] An October CBS News/New York Times polls found 43% of Americans agree with Occupy Wall Street while 27% disagree.[93] An October Rasmussen poll found an almost even split, shows that 33 percent of Americans have a favorable view, while 27 percent are unfavorable and 40 percent have no opinion.[94] An October United Technologies/National Journal Congressional poll found that 59 percent of Americans agree with the movement while 31 percent disagree.[95]
An October Quinnipiac University poll of New York City voters found that 67 percent of New Yorkers approved of the movement with 23 percent disapproving. The results also found 87 percent of New Yorkers find it OK that they are protesting.[96] Despite media criticism that the protesters views are incoherent, the poll also found that 72 percent of New York City voters understand their views.[97] A NY1-Marist Poll released November 1st showed 44 percent of New York voters supported the Occupy Wall Street movement, while only 21 percent supported the Tea Party.[98]