Jay-Z knocks Occupy Wall Street

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jimi_dini said:
Nope.

Calling Occupy Wallstreet terrorists? Protesters are not fucking terrorists.

Saying terrorists want to blow everyones houses up because of envy?

He cray.
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he's a radio/podcast host. of course he was taking it to the extreme and exaggerating by making the terrorism connection for entertainment purposes, but the crux of his point was valid.
 
RangersFan said:
yes why should successful people be rewarded for their hard work?
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Yeah, Jay-Z's hard work at the expense of whom? No matter how rich he gets, he'll always have ruined more lives than he has helped. His music career was funded with drug money from selling crack. Yeah, I could be successful too if I had millions of crack money dollars.
 
and what is with the Occupy vs Tea Party comparison? The Tea Party had the backing of right-wing corporate elite and didn't have to deal with police (aka the status quo's puppets) beating them down and jailing them just for protesting. Of course Occupy will die down with the latter happening.

Fox News is also #1 in ratings, so if MSNBC/CNN etc... ever made the Tea Party look bad, that was offset with Fox News making OWS look worse in the eyes of the country due to its popularity. And Rupert Murdoch had the New York Post shitting on OWS in the papers.
 
YoungHav said:
and what is with the Occupy vs Tea Party comparison? The Tea Party had the backing of right-wing corporate elite and didn't have to deal with police (aka the status quo's puppets) beating them down and jailing them just for protesting. Of course Occupy will die down with the latter happening.

Fox News is also #1 in ratings, so if MSNBC/CNN etc... ever made the Tea Party look bad, that was offset with Fox News making OWS look worse in the eyes of the country due to its popularity. And Rupert Murdoch had the New York Post shitting on OWS in the papers.
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It doesn't change the fact that OWS' message was incoherent.
 
YoungHav said:
What is so incoherent about a movement named "Occupy Wall Street"?
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Ok. You're occupying wall street. All there. All packed in.

Great.

Now that you're here...what exactly is it you'd like? Just to occupy wall street? You mean physically be here. Nothing else? Alright. Good luck with that then!
 
RangersFan said:
adam carolla's take:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJEbWMS_IHE

can't say i'm really a fan of the guy, but he hits it dead on here.
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Can't really agree with Corolla. He comes across as a "Fuck you I got mine" kind of person.

I agree with Jim Sinegal. Here's his speech at the Democrat convention:
http://www.demconvention.com/speech/jim-sinegal/
I particularly liked this part:
In Tampa last week, we heard all about job creators. But at our company, we recognize that job creation requires time and investment and commitment to the long term. It requires companies that plant and grow, not executives who reap and run. That’s how we do our part to build an economy that lasts. At Costco, we’ve created over 116,000 American jobs. During the next 12 months, we expect to add 7,000 more. And we’re proud that Costco pays the highest wages among our peers, that we provide benefit and health care plans that are second to none, that we’ve grown our business by promoting from within. So we’re not just giving Costco people jobs, we’re empowering them to build careers and support middle-class families.
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They catch shit for this platform during investment meetings. But at last glance, their stock continues to rise.
 
A movement named Occupy Wall Street taking place within 3yrs of a financial meltdown that Wall Street was partially responsible for? I think the movement was about making Shenmue 3!
 
YoungHav said:
A movement named Occupy Wall Street taking place within 3yrs of a financial meltdown that Wall Street was partially responsible for? I think the movement was about making Shenmue 3!
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It doesn't explain shit man. This is the problem. You expect people to know what the fuck you're talking about.
 
goodfella said:
Well that doesn't help us, we want more money. All this talk of wealth disparity is bullshit. People want more money, that is all.
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Maybe they want more money but when wealth is redistributed it should go towards those that need it.
SpectreFire said:
I agree with that sentiment, but let me tell you the truth about sweatshops.

They will never end. Why? Because the same Americans who want income equality, will not at all tolerate the price increases of consumer products that comes with increased wages.

The American worker and consumer are often one in the same, but they stand for complete opposite things. One one hand they're complain that there are too many jobs sent overseas, and that they aren't making a decent wage. But once you bring the factories back to the states and giving out reasonable wages, they start complaining about how prices for things are too expensive compared to what it was back then.
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I think you are underestimating the common person. I think most people want sweat shops to stop. If the wealth is redistributed in my view those developing countries deserve the money.
 
Furio53 said:
It doesn't explain shit man. This is the problem. You expect people to know what the fuck you're talking about.
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I can't figure out if it's willful ignorance or genuine ignorance.

Here's a report from OWS protests at the Wall-Street Convention in Charlotte.

News reports universally suggest it was the protesters that shut down the intersection. This treats the protesters as pests intent to shut down the convention by blocking traffic. It removes the politics from the action. The reality is, had the police and other security personnel had a plan to move the protesters through the city, as they should be able to do during the convention, there would have been no standoff.

Additionally, let’s be clear: there is nothing about the First Amendment in the 2012 Democratic Party platform. There is nothing about policing of protests or police violations of press freedom and people’s right to record, as has been widely documented by those following the Occupy movement for almost a year. What it does mention, however, is an American universal value of being able to “assemble without fear,” which should be promoted in countries abroad.

The message is two-fold: the Democratic Party considers a heavy police state to be part of protecting the right of people to “assemble without fear,” even though it opens up hundreds to stop-and-searches without probable cause in violation of one’s privacy. It intimidates families who would come out and exercise their right to assemble if they did not have small children. It makes Muslims or immigrants afraid because they do not want to be targeted by law enforcement. And it ensures only a small group of people, the most radical of the radical or the most passionate of the passionate, show up to protest.

http://dissenter.firedoglake.com/20...vement-marches-in-support-of-bradley-manning/


I think there's an argument to be made, that OWS is a pretty accurate representation of how America will handle dissent going forward, politically speaking. Certainly the highest tested in recent memory. The Democratic party essentially launders the left leaning electorate, leaving all the 'radical' dissent to sift through Orwellian "free speech zones". Which, not inconveniently, gives the movement a 'bad name'.

Contrast this with the Tea Party astroturf. As Joe Bageant liked to say, You don't know you're in a cell until you try the door. So while all these mid-upper class white kids are getting police records for 'no economic reason', OWS helps delineate things. As an unorganized movement, they've demonstrated what not to say and where you're not to say it. Quite helpful. It probably deserves a bit more credit than many realize.

This is quite helpful as well.
http://occupyourhomes.org/
 
http://globalgrind.com/news/jay-z-right-99-times-aint-one-blog-russell-simmons#ixzz266xGpRwO

Jay-Z Is Right 99 Times, But This Ain’t One


As a person who cares deeply about Occupy Wall Street, I have to honor their year-long effort and educate my long-time friend, Jay-Z. This weekend, he was interviewed by the New York Times where he discusses OWS, where he was quoted as saying “I’m not going to a park and picnic, I have no idea what to do, I don’t know what the fight is about. What do we want, do you know?” If he understood it and endorsed the movement, it would make a big difference to poor people. As the same man that said he would pay more taxes if it helped educate more children and create affordable healthcare, Jay-Z's words matter. He was honest enough to say that he didn’t understand it. A lot of Americans don’t. He was also honest enough to recognize that there are some in the 1 percent who "deceiving" and "robbing," so I know in his heart he gets it. I know he is a compassionate person who cares about the poor, so I'm certain if I had two more minutes with him, I could change his mind.

I went to Zuccotti Park, the home-base of the Occupy Wall Street movement, almost everyday for months. I listened to the young people talk about their 99 problems. The 99 percent. Healthcare reform. Prison industrial complex. The war machine. Bad schools. Lack of access to affordable higher education. Genetically modified food. Gay rights. Immigration reform. Crumbling housing projects. Climate change. Everyday, there was a new protester with a new sign, fighting for the rights of the under-served. There was never an official agenda or media-friendly talking points. Zuccotti Park and the Occupy camps that sprung up around the country were places for any and every person to come and share ideas about how to better perfect our union. Our democracy.

I would agree that for many it was hard to understand the purpose of the movement if you did not attend any of the General Assemblies, or march hand-in-hand with the millions of protesters around the country. The months during the height of the beginning of the movement were unlike anything we had seen before in our nation. A protest led by no one, but always led by leaders. Organized through social media, yet no organization at the forefront. This was a true people’s campaign.

If we look back at the accomplishments thus far of Occupy Wall Street, there are many. For one, the national conversation that preceded September 17th, 2011 was dominated by a manufactured political fight in Washington to raise the debt ceiling and avoid a credit default. Within the first weeks of OWS, the conversation had been changed to the real issue that is eroding America; economic inequality, a topic that hasn’t been discussed for decades. Within the first few months of OWS, the conversation evolved into an examination of how Wall Street’s money has destroyed our political system and took control of our democracy. The prison industrial complex, lower taxes for the rich, the outsourcing of jobs, Wall Street running rampant, poisonous foods for our children, even some wars and almost everything that disempowers the poor, is a result of money passing from lobbyists and corporations to our politicians. And that is what Occupy Wall Street is fighting against. It is a sad state that the politicians work for the people who pay them, not for the people who elect them. That is not democracy.

If you look at the current Presidential election, Money Mitt Romney and his buddies are spending 12 times that of President Obama in special interest money and/or Super PACs. Money Mitt is clearly being manipulated by big corporations and folks who can write $10 million checks. The man changes his position every three days. When the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Citizen’s United, our democracy sign was placed on the front lawn with big red letters: FOR SALE! I am encouraged by President Obama’s support of using a Constitutional Amendment as an option to return our democracy back to the people. This will be his legacy issue. I am sure of that. And without the pressure of Occupy Wall Street, this conversation might never have happened.

So, Jay, here's the deal. You're rich and I'm rich. But, today it’s close to impossible to be you or me and get out of Marcy Projects or Hollis, Queens without changing our government to have our politicians work for the people who elect them and not the special interests and corporations that pay them. Because we know that these special interests are nothing special at all. In fact, they spend millions of dollars destroying the fabric of the black community and make billions of dollars in return. For example, the prison lobby paid politicians to create a so-called "War On Drugs" that resulted in a prison economy that disproportionately locks up black and brown people, including many of your friends and mine. They took drug-infected, diseased people, locked them up, educated them in criminal behavior and dumped them back into our community, thus producing a jail culture for our streets. There are more black people under correctional control (prison, jail, parole, probation) today, than were enslaved in 1850, a decade before the Civil War. This is just one issue that has been bought and sold. If we have to occupy Wall Street or occupy All Streets to change the course of direction of this nation, then we must. We must take our democracy off the market and let the world know that it is no longer for sale! Mic check!

Your Friend,

~ Russell Simmons
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He and his wife are assholes for closing a fucking hospital floor to let their surrogate birth their kid yes, but he is 100% correct here that the Occupy movement was a mess.

If they had shown up with one clear message and dressed well (seriously, a polo shirt and some khakis would have killed you?) middle america would have taken note, but a bunch of hippies with a "manifesto" of 101 issues that essentially said all capitalism was bad was never going to take hold.

I went to the site a few weeks before they got moved (was in NYC for gf birthday) and it just seemed silly at that point.
 
Russel Simmona never quite got that occupy has nothing to do with him. It's still quite possible for someone to get out of the projects through a career in rap and entertainment, it's just highly improbable. Don't nod your head to what Russ wrote just because he's on "your side," him stepping in and trying to get entertainers involved was another OWS problem.


I'm a particular fan of the "this is what OWS is about," where he made a bucket list of unrelated things.
 
SteveWD40 said:
He and his wife are assholes for closing a fucking hospital floor to let their surrogate birth their kid yes, but he is 100% correct here that the Occupy movement was a mess.

If they had shown up with one clear message and dressed well (seriously, a polo shirt and some khakis would have killed you?) middle america would have taken note, but a bunch of hippies with a "manifesto" of 101 issues that essentially said all capitalism was bad was never going to take hold.

I went to the site a few weeks before they got moved (was in NYC for gf birthday) and it just seemed silly at that point.
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It happens all the time.

The only reason you even heard about it was because it was a more popular person doing it this time. And that hospital was very well compensated as well.

But be mad anyway - that's the issue with the majority of OWS. Being mad and not being able to get a solid point across. Yeah, if we go the extra mile and fish for it, we might get to what you're saying. Then we have to piece it together for them as well. Then we can tell our friends what OWS is trying to say.

GJ

That's a lazy ass movement and pitiful way of getting a point across.
 
J10 said:
http://globalgrind.com/news/jay-z-right-99-times-aint-one-blog-russell-simmons#ixzz266xGpRwO
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As usual, when he says "If we look back at the accomplishments thus far of Occupy Wall Street, there are many," but then the list begins and ends with changing the "conversation" and no actual tangible result.

SteveWD40 said:
He and his wife are assholes for closing a fucking hospital floor to let their surrogate birth their kid yes, but he is 100% correct here that the Occupy movement was a mess.
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They didn't close a hospital floor; the hospital administration closed a hospital floor after being presented with a moneyhat.
 
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