make up blog

Since I miss a class Mike told me to blog about what we talked about in class. Thursday we talked about our up coming project and had some examples shown. Sam's example let to a group discussion on technology. Students had different options on how the directions should be set up. Some liked how they were, some wanted picture, and others wanted directions to find the pictures. At this time in our world we have a huge gap between people who understand and don't understand how to work a computer. In my family my dad can use the computer well because he trades stocks for a living, which is done through a computer. On the other hand my mom was a genetic counselor, but has not worked for twenty one years now. My mom is a very bright woman, but has very little skills on a computer. She knows how to play music, email, and google things. My brothers and I are much more skilled with computers compared to my parents because we were brought up with computers. I think when you have computer instructions one should keep it short and sweet, but have things to click for pictures and where the pictures are located on his or her computer.

pure happiness

Since i wasn't here for a class time the other day, Mike wants me to write something that's appealing to me, that's what i'm going to do. What i like is happiness, for example, For someone to be happy they need to know that everything that has happened in their past has happened for a reason and that it has happened in order for them to become a better person. Not only does it make them a better person but it also makes them realize how good they have it or can possibly have it. Although things might be hard to deal with at the moment, people need to realize that they will be able to learn from their experiences and that they will learn to take the good from them all.

In the end, the hard times will help people strive for happiness. Happiness isn't free. You have to earn it and work to keep it. The price for happiness is having to suffer and having to question events that occur during one's life. People need to be able to adapt to their surroundings so that they can get the best out of them. (this may help others for the concepts question)

Where I Stand for OWS

In response to our discussions on Thursday, I found that my opinion on the Occupy: Wall Street movement has changed considerably.

At first, I considered the movement to be a waste of time. By having no set position in their argument or clear list of demands, I thought that the movement was going nowhere. The blank agenda, at first glance, seems irresponsible and unorganized. Overall, I doubted the effect that this protest would have on the country.

However, after reading the article and the discussion in class, I find that for Occupy: Wall Street, it’s not about specific changes or dramatic results. Instead, the search and underlying theme of this protest is simply to stand up and create a voice. It’s not about results, it’s about a start. While change is something everyone wants in the OWS protests, they are also being realistic. First, they need to be heard more than anything else.

Now, I find myself agreeing with the current OWS standings. By sitting out on Wall Street, or Boston, or wherever else, we are creating a visible and sustainable idea of the people. It’s not one or two individuals. No, this is a nation’s worth of people are seeking for a change in the current system that we have. How this change is going to happen is still left to the imagination.

Occupy Wall Street, in my opinion, is not going to change the way our world is working. However, I do believe it will create the foundations for the movements in our future that will. OWS’s great theme of change is a mere rallying device. It’s is the starting firecracker, but not the grand finale.

At the same time, OWS is far in the back of my mind when it comes to my concerns. I much rather get through my education first before worrying about finding a job and paying for money. For now, I’m a temporary supporter. I believe that changes should be made, and I believe in what the OWS is starting up. At the same time, I find myself disconnected for the time being from this issue. However, if conditions still haven’t approved once I graduate, than I will consider joining. Then again, OWS may evolve into an actual, effective protest with a specific goal. As of right now, it’s a matter of silent support for me, since it’s something I will only relate to once I graduate.

OWS

     This article in Rolling Stone talks about Occupy Wall Street. Throughout this article it becomes clear that Taibbi the message behind it was to bring people together and express their thoughts and feelings. This created their own community. The protests had no clear direction, it was not just about the corporate bosses or large banks. It was more extreme then that. It was about the unhappiness these people felt in our country. That being said nothing really changed from Occupy Wall Street.
     This community tried there best to make a change, but after almost a year since it began nothing has been done.  I do not think this is the end for this community. They have a goal and will figure another way to reach it. I believe they need to think of a new way to get there message across. The Occupy Wall Street led to some scary events, including rapes and death. The community of Occupy Wall Street did not completely fail, their voices where hear. Now this group just needs to work on another method to express their thoughts.

Response to class discussion on Taibbi

During last Thursday's discussion, I think a few notable things took place.  The first notable thing is that I realized that I was not alone in not understanding the OWS movement.  I had come to class expecting to be blown out of the water by classmates with much greater knowledge of the topic than me.  I was under the impression that the article was written to a different audience than me, and that I would not be able to participate in any analyzing of this text, once our group had been meeting for about 2 minutes I realized I wasn't alone.  I thought that I had misunderstood the article, or that the main thesis had gone over my head.  But after meeting with my group, I realized that I was pretty much spot on, in not really knowing where the spot really was.  The second notable thing that happened in class had to do with the drawing/creating Taibbi's argument exercise.  This was something that I had not been asked to do before, and it was difficult to really wrap my head around what exactly that meant, to draw an argument.  This task seemed difficult for the entire class, which again was a relief, because it meant I'm not just slow.

OWS Bethune

I missed the first one and was absent during class so I am going to write about Taibbi's article. I really like how he has is 5 basic points and how each one is needed for the success of the economy. My personal favorite is his fifth point about changing how they are paid. His first line "We need new laws preventing Wall Street executives from getting bonuses upfront for deals that might blow up in all of our faces later." I feel as if that is a really good point because if they make a lot of money off of any bonus they do. They should just make a bunch of deals in which they know will not work just so they can get a lot of bonus. As we are now what is there to really stop this person from doing that. Also I really like his point on them paying for their own bailout and not having the government save them every time they start to fail. Every time they need money it comes from everyone, "A tax of 0.1 percent on all trades of stocks and bonds and a 0.01 percent tax on all trades of derivatives would generate enough revenue to pay us back for the bailouts, and still have plenty left over to fight the deficits the banks claim to be so worried about." I feel as if he has really spent time and thought provoking this article in a way in which he is correct with his thoughts. He really isn't just thinking about the people, but really wall-street and what they really have to do.

Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/my-advice-to-the-occupy-wall-street-protesters-20111012#ixzz1n2Yh2w8U

OWS Class Discussion

The OWS discussion was...interesting. I applaud the creative idea of using the elementary classroom materials (such as Megabloks, polygon shapes, wooden blocks, etc.) to express our thinking and interpretation of the OWS Movement (and why were they in the classroom in the 1st place? Perhaps an elementary education class?), but I still think that most of the class felt detached from the topic itself. It's not that we don't care about the OWS Movement, far from it, it's just that maybe we see it as a movement that ultimately won't go anywhere. We, as college students, have other worries to deal with (homework, social life, relationships, jobs, loans, etc.) and to try to participate in this Movement seems to be wasted time and effort on our part. True, the participants of the OWS Movement are trying to object/protest and bring change to our society, but unless they can actually make something happen (have some teeth in other words) (and getting arrested doesn't count), I don't see it lasting very long. As it is, I haven't seen it mentioned in the news recently which worries me. If they don't get any press/media coverage, then their message (or "goal," if they have one) can't be broadcasted to the masses. As far as our views and thinking changing by the end of the class, I've yet to see and/or hear anything different in my fellow peers. Maybe it's just not the right topic to incite change in us...

Occupy Class Discussions

Our class discussion was rather divided. There were the people who believed our government is supposed to protect us and that the Occupy Movements were really just a bunch of hippies wasting money. And then there were the people who agreed with Taibbi saying that the movements were much more than just Wall Street or politics, they were a movement to change society and our modern culture. 

I became personally heated when someone stated that the government is like our parents, and they are supposed to protect us from everything, including ourselves. This upsets me I have lived the life of an occupier and not once has the government ever stepped in to protect my mom or me. My mom has raised me completely on her own and we always had to live with a restricted income and a fearful mentality towards tomorrow. My mom is an honest, hard working woman who would never abuse or cheat the government systems and yet, when she lost her job for a year, the government gave us barely enough money to live. If the government is supposed to protect us then why are there millions of homeless people on the streets? Why did the government take away my moms food stamps when we already couldn't afford to pay rent or any of the bills? Oh and the best part is that the people who do cheat the system get everything! Our downstairs neighbors both collect unemployment, welfare, food stamps and child support, while the husband works under the table and the wife supposedly stays home to take care of the kids. These people are poor enough to have to collect all this government money, and yet our house always wreaks of marijuana, they came home with a LCD flat screen TV a few months ago, they have more than enough toys for their kids and they seem more well off than some upper middle class families I know. 

If you ask me the government and it's system is a complete contradiction. If you are a good, honest and just member of the society, you get fucked. If you screw the system and blow off the government then hey you'll do great! And all of this messed up mentality lies on the shoulders of my generation and our children's generation, and quite frankly I'm scared to death. I don't know how to fix this and obviously the Occupy Wall Street Movements weren't strong enough to fix it. So while I spend the next 10-30 years paying off my ginormous college debt, what is going to happen to this country? I can only hope that some of the bright minds in this class discussion will be able to aide our government and sway our society to make better choices. 

OWS Class Talk

During our class in which we took the time to highlight the intricacies of the occupy Wall Street argument as a whole to be turned out to be, in a since, informative. I come from a long line of business men and associates, and I have even worked in a few companies that some deaminized directly (LiquidNet)  so the topic in general was nothing new or thought provoking. What wasn’t clear to me however, and what I ended up taking away from class that day was just how unclear everything in fact was in the eyes of everyone else.

Normally in an argument like this, there are a million and a half “should coulda woulda’s” being thrown around in hypothetical situations that would have ultimately bettered the outcome of the OWS protests – instead we spend most of our time going into details as to what it exactly was and the confusion it presented. To take things even further, no one in class even got the chance to voice their opinion on the OWS movement, if it was right or wrong – we just talked about it from a 3^rd party view which ultimately left for a not so thought provoking conversation (on my part atleast) , we did however play with blocks which makes up for the dry conversation.

Class Discussion's and the Expanding of Our Minds

To be honest this class discussion was much like the one we had in our class last semester. People who didn't know what the OWS protests were, were informed and those who did know got to speak their opinions on it. Although I think many of us knew what they were just not the whole logistics of it and what it was really all about. This is where Taibbi's article comes in. Not only did we see a view point of someone for the protests, who went into it not really knowing what it was all about. But we got some good information, helping those who had no idea what these people were exactly doing, understand just that. We talked about those reasons in class. Such as that the movement was not just about over throwing the government, or just about taking out big CEO's because people feel they have too much money or power. It's a lot more than that. It was a start of something that people have wanted for a while. People want change. They want so much more and so much better from our country and they are not getting it. This protest was a chance for anyone to come out and speak their minds about what they wanted to change about our society today. But then most of the conversation either led to the, "Well it couldn't/ wouldn't happen because..." which brought up the point of these protests not being organize in a way to get things done. But then being said, it set a starting point for future movements and people are defiantly going to build off from it. The conversation then led in other directions such as voting rights, and that if the younger generation were to vote it could sway certain votes, or like how some people believe the political parties should be different and most people sway to the middle. It went on and on. Our class has a lot to say about this subject, and a lot of other subjects and I love it. It opens our minds and helps us see others and their opinions in a different light that hopefully expands our own.

Class Discussion OWS

After the discussion in class on Thursday I was somewhat disappointed to find out that the majority of our class didn’t know about the Occupy Wall street movement.  What's ironic is that the media painted the movement as a bunch of liberal college students when here we are in Vermont, a liberal state, in a college and most people don't know about the OWS movement.  Although I feel like I talked a bit too much in class on Thursday I think one point that we missed in the article is that the media probably distorted and under-reported on the OWS movement because the protesters themselves were against the media.  People like Rubert Murdoch who own major news networks like Fox and The New York Times lobby day in and day out for what the protesters are against, so it's a no brainer that media successfully implanted into our heads that the OWS movement didn't have a clear message.  It had very clear message, the 1% hold too much of our nations wealth hence the slogan, "We are the 99%".  The issue is that the solution is not clear.  In class we compared it to the egyptian revolution where the message was simply to get rid of Mubarak.  In the egyptian revolution the message and the solution was clear, but in the end there really wasn't a clear argument to be made.  Nobody really attacked the argument of the entire essay, we simply agreed that the message was not clear.  I didn't even think that much was correct.


Another item that I found surprising in class was how a lot of people in class didn't know how our political system worked.  To me, I thought it was a well known fact that the reason why politicians have 1950s values is because the majority of the voters have 1950s values; but in class I continued to hear arguments like, "Teenagers should vote because they would have swayed the vote".  When in reality, young voters have been voting less and less over the past 50 years.  I also found it surprising how people didn't believe when I said that the overall population is getting closer and closer to the center of the political spectrum when this was one of the first things I was taught in my US Government class.  I realize that saying this makes me sound somewhat like a stuck up asshole, and I don't really mean to sound like that as I definitely understand that other schools have different curriculum, but I was just surprised that it my school's curriculum was so uncommon.

Matt Taibbi's Article/Class Discussion Response

When I first learned about Occupy Wall Street, I’m going to be completely honest when I say I had no idea what it was at first. I knew it was some kind of protest, but I didn’t know what towards and the cause of it. Sure, I seemed naïve at first, but later I learned the bare minimum that it was about our economy and how people were finally fed up with it and this national movement was to make the banks do something about it. After reading Matt Taibbi’s “How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the OWS Protests” and our in class discussion, I learned that there was so much more that Occupy Wall Street had to offer than to what meets the eye.

Again, when I first took an approach towards understanding Occupy Wall Street, I was like every normal college freshmen; we all know nothing about credit. And I make this analogy for specific reasons. Credit is something that in time you can learn, and yet it’s important in life that you know how credit works. I feel that this is in fact the same way as in Occupy Wall Street. It’s important to learn about the economy. We, as freshmen, will soon be entering this world where we must deal with “credit” and “the economy.”

My first look at really understanding Occupy Wall Street was actually what Taibbi said in his article, that “Occupy Wall Street [is] a bunch of dirty hippies who should get a job and stop chewing up Mike Bloomberg's police overtime budget with their urban sleepovers.” I really thought it was just random people complaining about their lives.

After our class discussion and reading Taibbi’s article, I learned that it isn’t necessarily people who are fed up with the economy, but everything. “What both sides missed is that OWS is tired of all of this. They don't care what we think they're about, or should be about. They just want something different.” This gave me an entirely new insight on the movement.

In our class discussion, what I remembered the most was how our future is controlled by people who are older than us, and have the ability to vote and control how our future economy will be, and yet when it comes to it, we’re the ones it directly affects in the future. I hope one day they will give kids the power to vote. There are adults now that have no idea what they’re doing and their voting and it directly affects us. One day, I hope with Occupy Wall Street, us young adults will have the ability to make a difference in the world now, and not later for our future children.

Class Discussion

            After getting the chance to take a few days and think about our broad class discussion on the Occupy Wall Street movement, I have been able to consider other peoples opinions that I previously wouldn't have. I have found myself to be quite stubborn when I hear opinions regarding the restructuring our American government. During that class period, the discussion moved from the Occupy movement and what it stands for, to why our government needs to be restructured and how currently our voices aren't being heard, which began to especially "heat me up". Sometimes when something like that happens, my opinions tend to get very narrow and are not easily changed, which is not good for argument. If one doesn't have the capability to change their thought, theirs no reason in verbally disagreeing with them in the first place.
         The Occupy movement is one that I strongly disagree with, however I have come to respect them more than I have previously, not their cause, but their drive. During that class period last week I was arguing that not only their message was bad, but the way they were putting across that message was equally ineffective. At the time I feel like I may have been arguing that all protest for a cause was wrong. Like I said previously, now that I look back, I feel I can relate more to their protesting whether I agree with the cause or not. The fact is, sometimes our voices aren't heard without us getting a little louder, and thats what the Occupy group is trying to do. They are just getting louder, sometimes going too far, but that can happen.

Afterthought from the OWS discussion

Occupy Wall Street Argument

I come from the same position that Taibbi did, seeing the protest as a gathering of eco-warriors looking to stop the government from further a stranglehold on the public. This was the view of many public onlookers as the crowd of activists took to the streets and started the chants. But about further investigation and research we find that the beginning of the movement held an encompassing message, distribution of equal wealth. This message morphed into a list of irrelevant request, leaving the movement in an awkward position, lacking a clear purpose.

Through the group discussion during class the introduction of information that the movement in the end was dispersed by the government. Leaving the impression that the movement may have started strong, but in the end the goal was never achieved. But the one thing that I left that class was that this may be the first step to a larger revolution. Maybe gathering inspiration from many of the government revolution in the Middle East, and the spark is occupies message, equality in any aspects of life.

Class Discussion

I must say that the class discussion on Occupy Wall Street and Matt Taibbi’s article was quite interesting also. I really enjoyed the class discussion on last Thursday and infact learned as well many more things that I didn’t know before. Although my opinions on OWS didn’t change much as it did for many other people. The reason why it didn’t change that much because I didn’t know much about it until now that I got to know what it really was and how it affected the society in general. Moreover I believe it is hard to meet people’s need in general we don’t live in perfect world. Their will always be some sort of problem going on in this world. Whether it is with politics or environment we can’t really find a good solution that will solve everyone’s problems. You solve one problem in one corner of the world and than you get another problem in the other corner of the world. That’s how the cycle goes on and on without any solutions to the problems.

After Class Discussion

In the last class we discussed Matt Taibbi’s Occupy Wall Street article. My opinion of his article did not really change. Many people brought up good points but I still stuck with my idea that he doesn’t really know what he is talking about. He changes from side to side the whole article and contradicts himself every so often. People in this country cant make up their minds of what they want. There is always so much bickering of what point they are really trying to make. Everybody in the class even takes the Occupy Wall Street different ways and no one knows what its actually about. My opinion has personally not changed, I think the idea is good but if you cant get one common idea between everyone involved then there is no point. I honestly think that they shouldn’t be occupying Wall Street or Burlington is that they should be occupying Congress the real problem is there.

OWS Diiscussion

After the discussion about OWS, there wasn't much of a change in my opinion. I'm still pretty much on the fence. Yes, I understand more about OWS than before, but I'm still kind of confused as to exactly what's happening. I still think that they need a direction before I can really choose a side, but there's no denying the passion in their movement. I truly enjoyed listening to everyone's viewpoints and what they thought of the OWS movement. The sad thing about the movement, in my opinion, is that it won't be getting anywhere anytime soon. It needs more backing.

After class discussion

After our class discussion about the OWS article, my opinion on the topic hasn't really change. I understand more about OWS than I did before but I still don’t understand the entire point of it all. I still think that they need to do something different because it doesn’t seem to be working. I think that the protesters need to slow down and take it step by step because all they are saying is they want change. I think they need to be more specific and work harder towards it. It’s not going to just get handed to them. One thing that I got out of the discussion is that we all seem to be on the same page in that OWS is of no use. I came to the conclusion that OWS has to agree on strong arguments and stay positive in order to be successful. Also, I feel like they need to reach out more to the people outside of the protestors so they can understand what’s going on.

OWS After Class Aftermath

Even after the class discussion, my opinion of the OWS has not changed: it's a great idea, but they're going about it wrong, and they are the ones being blamed for what they are doing when they are the good guys. The people in the OWS movement are trying to voice their opinion about the corruption in corporate America, yet they are doing nothing but speaking softly to the masses who don't care what they say. Then, the corporations have the police brutalize the protesters, acting like the protesters were doing something wrong and the police needed to act. In the end, the protesters look bad in the eyes of America because the police was needed.

OWS is a great idea: corporate America is completely corrupt, and too much money is being given to the greedy upper class while the lower and middle classes are being starved for money. the upper class doesn't need any more money, yet they are just getting more and more,  and the lower classes are losing more and more. the OWS protesters recognize this and want to change this, but as long as they only speak and don't do something more (but not violent), then their voice will never grow stronger.

As students, we are going to be indebted to student loans once we graduate, and we have to find jobs in a decreasing economy and market, find houses when there's little wealth to go around, and eventually pay off these debts, a process that can take months or years depending on how fortunate you are. Yet at the same time, many students haven't been following along with the movement because as students, we aren't immediately concerned with the economy. We care about our education and getting out of school and into the job market. However, the OWS movement's opinion affects us too: we are also part of the lower classes who are losing money, and when it comes time to pay back the loans and we've been unable to get jobs of enough money because there isn't enough in our class to go around, then we'll truly see just how much the movement affected us.

I agree with the movement: something needs to be done to bring more money into the lower classes and out of the upper classes. more money needs to go around, which will open up more job opportunities and, for graduating students like us, more opportunities to get a job out of college and be able to pay off our loans. However, I can't see something happening in the foreseeable future, unless the OWS movement becomes stronger voiced.

Class Discussion

After discussing Matt Taibbi’s article in class I was able to understand a different perspective on the Occupy Wall Street Protests.  During our discussion it became aware that we all need to realize how everyday choices effect us as a society. The discussion made me realize that the problems and controversies are going to continue to grow if we are constantly arguing and protesting. We need to find the source of the problem, being the big banks and corporations, and change the way we rely on them. Our class discussion came to the conclusion that OWS would be a lot more successful if they decide on strong arguments and positive ways to make these changes instead of just protesting the overall picture.  During the discussion I began to realize that I share similar if not the same outlooks on the OWS that my fellow classmates did. We all came to the agreement that we would not have dismissed the concept of OWS so fast if we were presented more facts about the overall protest. Maybe OWS need to appoint people that represent the movement rather the the movement representing the people as a whole.

Overall this article discussion was interesting to me because it was not pushing us to join OWS but it showed how everyday people are effected and are going to continue to be by the recent events. We created a society where corporations have grown so powerful and so driven by the concept of making money. After this class discussion I realized how important it is to be aware of what is happening around us. It isn’t impossible for us to change the world and how we function as a society. Although OWS is not well organized, they have done a great job of letting society know they want change. This article has inspired me to make simple changes in my every day life, and not be so absorbed in the social normal ways.

OWS Article Reflections

Discussing Matt Taibbi’s article in class reinforced one thing for me: as a generation, we are relatively unconcerned with a lot of the things happening in the world around us. Occupy Wall Street is at the moment a rather innocuous event in comparison to international issues with Iran and the military conflicts in Afghanistan and other places in the Middle East. But that does not make it unimportant, especially when a large number of the protestors are recent college graduates without jobs or any professional prospects.

I cannot speak for everyone, but personally I think a lot about the number of student loans currently in my name, that at the end of just this year I will be in overwhelming debt with no choice but to let it sit and gather interest while I study and try to make the most out of my time at Champlain. Everyone insists that the turnaround will be worth it “in the end,” but at the age of nineteen it is hard to put into perspective a time when five figures of debt won’t be a constant burden.   

Occupy Wall Street represents the catch-22 that is a college education: there are hardly any options professionally for a person that possesses only a high school diploma, but what is the point of going to college when a person accumulates on average $25,000 in debt and does not have a job come graduation?

Taibbi’s article really impressed me because it offered a brand new way of looking at a movement that before had been painted in a really negative light by the media. Hypothesizing that the entire movement is about much more than the 99% versus the 1%, Taibbi offered a blanketed challenge to our generation.

In a mere four years—an incredibly short amount of time, in all reality—we will be the ones faced with debt and minimal job opportunities, unless someone takes the initiative and makes a change. That is what OWS represents to me, a challenge to our generation to be the initiative for no other reason than our own success in the future. It is unsettling that as a society interests abound in national issues only when that issue reaches its boiling point. We as a generation should have enough respect for our futures to fight for our dreams before OWS becomes a cultural dysphemism that is akin to Afghanistan and Iran, to promote the positive power of the movement and make the change.

OWM class discussion thoughts

During our class discussion on the Occupy Wallstreet Movement I was curious about how strong is the movement today? I know that the OWM started in the beginning of my first semester and I haven’t heard anything about it in a long time. So I did a little Google search to try and find some current news about the movement. Instead I found this blog that talked about the “five ways” the generation before mine ruined the occupy generation (also my generation). Talking about things like my generation was taught that you can’t survive without college, or how we stopped playing outside and just having fun. We’ve become this angry generation that feels like the whole world has under prepared us and now we have this whole financial situation to deal with.

So what’s our generation do? Create a massive movement in the hopes of some financial reprieve. Unfortunately our involvement has just created some confusing mess that for me has shown no results. I love that we have been able to show that we can gather together and work towards a greater purpose but nothing can be done if there isn’t a common cause. We all want different things, and to be honest some of them are so outlandish there is no way that they would ever happen. But there are causes that we could fight for if we unite and really work towards a uniformed and organized cause. My generation is faulty in that we want results and we want them now or we lose interest, something better happen and happen soon, or any attention for the OWM cause will be lost.

I agree that something needs to be done about everything going on in today's society especially from a fiscal standpoint, but is it going to be the Occupy Wallstreet Movement or will something more powerful and organized actually come along? For the meantime the OWM still has my attention and maybe some of the rest of my generation but if they don’t make a move soon, I can say I won’t be the only one moving on with the rest of my life.

OWS After Class Discussion

After talking about Matt Taibbi's article about OWS, my opinion hasn't changed very much.  The only thing that has changed is my concern about my future financially and that I am aware of some of the reasons why OWS is happening.  Taibbi directed his article to those who are struggling and I know that in the future, I will be struggling with student loans and trying to start a future that includes a house in the real world.  However, I am still very confused at the entire point of OWS; I don't see any good that has come out of OWS since it started.  I had only briefly heard about OWS last semester.  But no one was really able to explain to me what it was, because they themselves didn't know what OWS really was.  So I quickly dismissed OWS and thought nothing more about it.  It was a topic that wasn't driven by purpose, in my opinion and that's why I didn't find it anything important or interesting.  The only think I knew before reading this article is that it was a protest.  I thought the point of a protest was to create change in the end.  Also, I feel that there is a specific cause of a protest and I think most people are just jumping on the bandwagon when it comes to OWS and not for any specific purpose per se.  People can't say that they want change and not explain what changes they want and that's what I feel is going on with OWS, people aren't being specific and voicing their opinions about what changes they want made.  They may think that by protesting and getting others to join in, they will get what they want.  But in reality, change is going to take a while and I don't think they understand that.  If many citizens, like me, don't understand the purpose and what changes these protesters are asking for, then the people with the power aren't going to know what changes are in demand.  How is there going to be any change if no one knows that changes are wanted and needed? People are going to have to come up with a better way to voice their opinions of what they want changed, because so far, to me, this protest hasn't sparked the route of change yet.

Class Discussion

After talking in class about Matt Taibbi's article my opinion on the subject wasn't really changed. I still don't know that much about OWS or quite understand it. I do, however, understand what Taibbi was saying in his article. I understand that these protesters don't need to explain exactly what they are protesting just yet and that they are just trying to get their opinions out there. However, I think people, like myself, would have a better time understanding what OWS is all about and probably be more inclined to support it. They can't just say we want change, that is way too broad of a statement. If they actually want change they have to take it slow and choose one small thing to change at a time. Also, they have to be patient. These people can't expect one set of protests that one time to change anything. All through out history, people that wanted change had to fight very hard to get what they wanted, they didn't expect it to be handed to them after one try. So yes, for now, the end of Taibbi's article will suffice, but i think he should have also added that these protesters are going to have to keep fighting for exactly what they want.

Afterwards.

After discussing the OWS movement and Taibbi's article in class, my thoughts haven't really changed. I still don't see the point in OWS, or any other Occupy movement. I haven't seen any change come from the protest thus far, and it's been going on for a while. There's just been a whole lot of noise, and nothing else. After talking to everyone else in class, we all seem to have the same opinion on the whole situation--it's useless. The protesters need to find another way to get their point across, as they are trying to change too much as one time. We all mostly agreed that even though Taibbi said that the protest is fine for the time being, we disagree. They need to reorganize their movement relatively soon. Simply put, it's not working. When hardly anyone knows the full extent of your cause, there is a problem, and it's time to reevaluate what you're doing. Also, the whole point of your protest shouldn't simply be "fuck this shit". That's just protesting for protest's sake, and that just doesn't work.

OWS in class.

Discussing the OWS in class didn't change my opinion at all. If anything it just made me feel even more strongly about my opinions. The people at OWS, for the most part, weren't lazy people that didn't want to work. As I said in class, just telling the people to vote doesn't fix much because that's taking away from the fact that when the elections took place before we could vote. That's also taking away from the fact that most of the underpaid and overworked people aren't American citizens, meaning they can't vote. We talked about whether the end of Taibbi's article was enough. I still think it was. The way that I naturally think about things is by knowing what I don't want and working from that. That's what the protestors were doing as well. The protestors weren't okay with what the government was doing so they made it known. They might not have had an answer, but who really does? The country isn't agreeing on what to do so maybe just showing your frustration is enough to show that people are tired of what's happening. I don't think anything is going to change soon, but I hope something is done to make it better.

OWS Class Discussion Aftermath

After discussing Taibbi’s article in class, I still feel that my concern to this event is still the same, which is to say that I’m indifferent about the matter. Talking to people who are passionate about this article and who, for most part, sided with Taibbi’s observations and new perspective after he understood the situation was definitely appreciated and respected. I understand why they are so passionate about his levelheaded words because Taibbi is directing the article to all of us who are in this struggle, and I cannot deny that all my life my family has been and still is struggling to make way, but we can’t let the hardships of the economy get the best of us. This leads to the part in our class discussion when we discussed how one of the main obstacles for change is the social rank difference and the bias view individuals have on one another based on status. Mr. Kelly brought up the fact that we could find all different types of individuals within a social rank; there are those who are in the lower class and no matter what they do they are never given equal work opportunity and then there are those lower class people who want to be spoon fed and given a free ride but put no work and effort to deserve rewards. In the upper class, there are those who work their butts off, who climbed the ladder deservingly and who are trying to help the lower class, and then there are those who are scandalous, who unfairly climbed the ladder and who could care less about anyone but themselves. How can one determine an individual’s self worth among the masses? That’s just it, we can’t. So how do we go about change? This question is still left unanswered. Although I have little concern about this issue because my focuses are elsewhere, I am curious about how people will repair our country. Is our economical situation going to make a turnover for the better or will our economy not make a rise until we hit rock bottom?  Hopefully we can avoid that, but until then I have experience to gain so I can get the career I want! 

After discussing Taibbi's article

After the discussion that we had on Matt Taibbi's article in class, I have learned a lot of things behind his article. I learned the different viewpoints that my other classmates had on the issue of the Occupy Wallstreet movement. I didn't really know too much about the issue till we discussed it in class. The Occupy movement is more then just people blaming the banks and the big corporate companies for things, they are basically just putting all the things that they have found wrong with the govt. and banned together to make a riot in order to get what they wanted. Within the movement you will find anyone, from a person that works a 9 to 5 and has a wife and kids, and you can also find the person that works three jobs in order to support his family. You would be surprised who you see at the Occupy Wallstreet movement. I like the fact that Dr. Kelly brought up when he said, that according to the blog noone really knew what the movement was really about, he brought up the point, "Why doesn't your generation care about this issue?" The class then brought up the points that we don't really need to since it doesn't affect us directly, most of these issues affect our parents and in the long run will affect us but we don't realize that it is coming.

Respons on Matt Taibbi article

Unfortunately I missed out on blogging about this article the first time around so ill make sure to make sure I do the article justice in this blog. After reading Matt Taibbi’s article about his stance on the  occupy wall street movement a lot of new perceptions where made on my part about OWS. Like Matt Taibbi I had mixed feelings about this whole occupy wall street movement when I saw what city hall park looked like a few months ago during Burlington's own OWS rally. To me it looked like a bunch of bumbs living in soggy tents preaching that wall street made them homeless. I was further discouraged when the news informed us that people were caught abusing drugs in those soggy tents. Despite the fact that Matt Taibbi and I had different experiences observing OWS rally we both came away with the same questions why bother? In the beginning of his article Matt Taibbi shares my thinking in that how could this movement be taken seriously by Citibank's and other Goldman Sachs of the world as Taibbi put it. Do a bunch of tenacious dirty bums think they can change the way our country operates. After reading the article I realized that along whit wanting change these people want freedom. Freedom from commercials, billboards, and salesmen. Taibbi sates that We see 10 million commercials a day. Our lives have become a presuite for material things at all costs. This intense disier Americans have to have nice things along with the allure of buying on credit has hurt a huge portion of our population. People have seem to have had enough and this is where OWS was born. This movement is about dropping out and tuning in to a group of people that shares your frustration. This movement wont last forever but for the time being I feel its a good thing for people to express their frustration and have some hope that change will come.

Today's Class

I was surprised to hear all the different views and opinions on OWS.  I still fell the same way about the movement as I did before the class, but now I am aware of more reasons why the movement happened in the first place.  Ayra made a very strong point about what's frustrating about not being able to vote and suffering from decisions made from other people.  I agree that that sucks, but I also agree with pete about eighteen being an appropriate age to start voting.  People constantly complain with no legitimate solutions or even common goals.  Not everyone can get their way; its how it works.  No one is holding anyone at gunpoint threatening to pull the trigger if they leave the country.

OWS; They need to Change, to Make a Change

Coming into this article I already knew quite a bit about Occupy Wall Street. From our previous discussion in our previous Rhetoric class and then my own research I basically came up with what Matt Taibbi hit upon through out his article. That he didn't know what it was all about, but then realized that it was a coming together of different people to ban together to get across how unhappy they/ we all are with our country. It's not just about big banks and corporate bosses, its about much bigger and deeper than just that. However in my opinion, as was said in Taibbi's last paragraph, they is no clear direction in these protests. For at the time, when the protest was still new, that was fine. They we're still making headlines, world wide. They were being known about and they're ideas of things like "Fuck This Shit", meaning all the things people think is bullshit in our society were being heard. However nothing was really being done. And now, with it being almost a year its been since this movement has started, still nothing has been done or truly acted upon. I feel if they wanted things to get done, or changed, they need to change the way to go about it. They need to get a leader, narrow done what it is they are really fighting for and start to organize. However, going with that, I think it may be too late for that first movement, I feel now, a new movement with the same values and goals can look back on OWS and work off from it. A new group can revise it and make it better. OWS has set a starting point, now we just need someone to come along and work it up to a true revolution they were looking for in the first place.

Response to Matt Taibbi's article

When i read Taibbi's article on the Occupy Wall street protests I found many points that he brought up to be true. The first one that I agree with him on is where he goes and talks about how the whole Occupy movement isn't directed mainly at the big banks and things, it is just a protest simply on everything. People are beginning to realize that they are fed up and that they should take action in order to fix the problems that they have with today's society. The article goes on to explaining what everyone who isn't involved in the movement doesn't know. He shows the background information behind things that gets us familiar with the problem. He then goes into saying that there possibly is a deeper reason other then just the banks that people are protesting about. They might also just all be protesting about everything that they are upset about. Matt goes into saying that the media portrays the people within the occupy protest to be an almost hippie-like urban sleepover. Where in reality the occupy movements mean so much more then that. The people in the movements are fighting for their rights, and things that they deserve. The media twists how the citizens of America view different things. It is about time that someone steps up to our government that is trying to control us with the corporate america.

Occupy Wall St Protests

Matt Taibbi brings up a lot of very interesting points in his article, most of them being very thought out and intellectual. The majority of the country looked at Occupy Wall St. and did not take the organization very seriously and thought that the dedication and energy would eventually run out. I agree with Taibbi when he says that Occupy Wall Street was about more than just big banks and corporations. There have been too many problems in our community for too long and it was only a matter of time until there was an effort to change it. The right side of the media thought of the protestors as hippies who were just sitting around not getting a job. Which would be true if there were a plentiful amount of jobs available, but the job market is scarce. The protestors are considered hypocrites by most because most protestors own cell phones, clothing, and coffee from corporations. Although in society today it is almost impossible to not rely on any corporation at all. People need to be clothed, the majority of our country owns a cell phone, and if you buy a coffee from any store it will come from a corporation. There definitely are many protestors that are in their own little world and are not bringing anything constructive to the table. Although they are not the only problem, police for the most part dedicate themselves to our country to stop crime. There may be some distorted lines about what is crime and what is not. Peaceful protestors have been beaten, arrested, and pepper sprayed by police and there has been a lot of violence. Of course there will be protestors that take it too far but there is no need for police to assault anyone, it is an abuse of power. Although OWS is unorganized I believe it is a good start for something even bigger. People can look back on this and take the idea and make it organized so that there is a clear message.

OWS Article Response and Feedback

After reading Matt Taibbi's article, I have to say he made some valid points. It got me thinking back to other times when I'm by myself and tend to think very deeply (let my mind wander, if you will), I've come up with good questions and concerns about my future. Will I be able to pay off my loans that I needed to pay for college? Will I get a good paying job once I graduate? Will my hard work studying my major actually get me a job? And when my parents pass away, will I have to deal with their debt? My father made some poor financial choices when he was younger (before my brother and I were even thought of) having him take out loans to which he is STILL trying to pay them off today (on top of trying to support a family of 4, paying for groceries, paying bills, paying for the house, paying for new renovations, etc.). It gets annoying (and depressing at times), when our phone is ringing a couple of times a day from companies who want to be paid. I'm sorry, but even with my Dad getting paid well, it's still not enough to pay off all the bills and support us (even worse is that they don't understand this point but want to be paid regardless). Our culture, our society, is so focused around money that it's ridiculous. If you don't have a high paying job (or have "a" job) then you're screwed in more ways then one. And I know this sounds morbid, but with the way how life is so harsh to survive each day financially, you're better off dead in order to escape these problems. But I digress. Taibbi says that, "we're all born wanting the freedom to imagine a better and more beautiful future," but we can't have a better future if we don't have the money to make our dreams come true. Want to start a company selling a revolutionary product that could change the world? You need money. Want to buy an old house and remodel it? You need money. Want to go to college in order to get a good career that pays well? You need a loan for that (a.k.a. you need money!). Point is: No money, no anything for you. Another point Taibbi made, is talking about the problems with Law Enforcement. He says, "It's not that the cops outside the protests are doing wrong, per se, by patrolling the parks and sidewalks. It's that they should be somewhere else. They should be heading up into those skyscrapers and going through the file cabinets to figure out who stole what, and from whom." The problem with this scenario is that police can't go searching through these records to catch the bad guys because of so much red tape. The red tape acts like a barrier to prevent corporate thieves from getting caught because they bribe a higher up in the police force to put a stop to any efforts being made. You end up banging your head against a wall, because no matter how far and how much evidence you get to convict a corporate bad guy, they will manage to weasel their way out of it. Still, I commend the Occupy Wall Street's efforts, I just hope that something good will come from this and that change we (the 99%) need will happen. 

Occupy Wall Street

After reading the article about the Occupy Wall Street I have to say I was extremely surprised after what I know now than what knew before not knowing so much about it. For example I didn’t know that OWS was all about how banking systems work and change a ordinary peoples lives. For instance if you fail to receive a few past-due notices about a $19 payment you missed on that TV you bought at Circuit City, and next thing you know a collector has filed a judgment against you for $3,000 in fees and interest. This is the reason why people hate banks so much now because any wrong move on not paying your bills on time it could lead you up to a big time debt.

Occupy Wall Street -- Brianne

When the first Occupy movements began to appear on Tumblr and other Internet sources, I became very interested. I thought that I fit right in to the "99%", being an only child of a single parent that struggled from paycheck to paycheck just to live. And now being the first generation in my family to attend college, and take on the financial burden that will haunt us forever. I always agreed with the Occupy movements, and I knew it ran deeper than just bringing the big banks down, but Taibbi got the experience I never had the pleasure to view first hand.

Inherently, every point Taibbi makes is truth. Media and people who neglect to do their research just see movements like Occupy as another group of lazy people trying to better society, but only waste tax dollars. What you see on the news is so far from the truth. The people at the protests want everyone in society to take a step back and see how our culture is taking a toll on us everyday and discover how we as people of America, or rather people of the world can make a change if we want to.

It’s about time that people step up and take a hold of their lives. Enough of the government and its big business buddies controlling our every move. Enough meddling media thinking for us and telling us what is right and wrong, when we know nothing about the subject. Enough monopoly and conspiracy and corruption. The Occupy Wall Street protests were a perfect example of what our society needs to do to be better, and the fact that they were stomped out like a cigarette butt on the cold hard cement sidewalks of New York is a perfect example of just how bad our society has become.