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"OCCUPY WALL STREET"

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elrechazao said:
Do you know what a 401k is?

Yeah, that's that thing I had to cash out because I lost my job and unemployment couldn't pay the bills including Health Insurance.

When you let crooks
Bank of America, Credit Card Companies, Republicans/Tea Party, Oil Companies, Fox News, etc
run the countries finances, brainwash the public, and encourage them to do it with no way for the public to fight back, shit like this is bound to happen.
 
Manos: The Hans of Fate said:
LOL

Did you really think I thought that picture was a reference to 50 Cent?

Yes I believe you have no idea that is a photograph of a piece of art work by Damian Hirst. Your joke did not pertain to it, and you referenced something entirely different.

Your joke didn't work because it had no link to the picture you were joking about. Don't you see how close that is to the reason you are making fun of the protestors?

And you don't feel bad for me, that would mean you have empathy/sympathy, from your posts in this thread I conclude you have neither. Your posts in this thread show you are a narcissist possibly psychopathic.

And again, what do you find funny about the sign "sex workers against capitalism" ?
 
travisbickle said:
And you don't feel bad for me, that would mean you have empathy/sympathy, from your posts in this thread I conclude you have neither. Your posts in this thread show you are a narcissist possibly psychopathic.
LOL Amateur shrink. Oh man this is hilarious.
 
Manos: The Hans of Fate said:
“If I did ‘Blazing Saddles II,’ I’d have to clean it up, so I wouldn’t do it,’’ he says. “I’ve never been socially or politically correct. Those things are boring. . . . I like truth tellers. I don’t know. It should have gone the other way, but . . . it went from out there to more conservative. . . . It was like liberals were backtracking. Liberals were treading on their own toes. Liberals were saying, ‘You can’t say those words.’ The purpose of comedy is to hurt feelings. You have to hurt feelings. If you just massage people’s feelings, you may as well write straight, you shouldn’t write comedy.’’
-Mel Brooks

Just keep posting this. The white knighting of these look at me hipster protesters - that apparently spent hours and dollars on costumes while using ripped up a cardboard boxes and markers to present incoherent meme messages - makes this thread a must read.
 
DarkhawkX said:
Just keep posting this. The white knighting of these look at me hipster protesters - that apparently spent hours and dollars on costumes while using ripped up a cardboard boxes and markers to present incoherent meme messages - makes this thread a must read.
Will do. Always good to know people appreciate it and Mel Brooks!

Well it's a good thing we're not wasting resources or creating a fire hazard.

Day 3 Occupy Wall Street 2011 Shankbone 19 by david_shankbone, on Flickr
 
elrechazao said:
I'm not sure how you saying there is no such thing as middle class investors is relevant to your attempt to backpedal here. But ok.
It was a sardonic exaggeration to say that there are "no middle class investors", i.e., a rhetorical statement not intended to be taken 100% literally. The point is not that "middle class investors" don't exist, it's that their impact on the marketplace in terms of collective capital (to say NOTHING of individual capital) is minuscule, and thus, increases in capital gains taxes is irrelevant on a monetary scale to suppressing middle class investment. This shows that in speaking of capital gains taxes, one might say that there may as well not be any middle class investors at all.

Personally, I promote tying capital gains outside of 401k plans to income. This way, there will be a sliding scale of taxation that would allow the middle class to more effectively participate, so that perhaps we might one day have an investing middle class.

Also, I might show up to this whole thing this weekend if I can find the time and it's still going on. Why couldn't this take place in the summer when I DIDN'T have classes. :/

And to those hating on this: you DON'T think that the actions of those on the proverbial Wall Street are what caused this very destructive recession? You DON'T think that our economy is being dropped yet again because people are all saying that shit is hitting the fan? Here's the fun thing about the Global economy: get enough people to say that it's in the shitter, that's exactly where it will be. You don't see anything ridiculous about a system that conforms all too willingly to self-fulfilling prophecy? The truth of the matter is that those who "understand" the economy are fine right now. They're MORE than financially secure. Those who aren't don't tend to "understand" the economy as much. Because they have to work for a living and don't really have the time to guess how much oil there is. How is something going to get done if there's no sound an fury about it? Hell, I'd even say the Tea Party, putting aside those who fund it and my disagreements with their message is something I feel is ultimately positive, because it's getting people to involve themselves in the political process. That matters quite a bit and it goes a long way.
 
Manos: The Hans of Fate said:
Will do. Always good to know people appreciate it and Mel Brooks!

Well it's a good thing we're not wasting resources or creating a fire hazard.
Yes, because they are going to create a dangerous and raging fire from a public power outlet based out of a marble table. :|

Also, don't twist Mel Brooks. The man was a comic, and being politically incorrect is a hallmark of alot of liberal comics, i.e. David Chapelle and Lewis Black. There are many more. But the man was a comic, not a political commentator, and I'm sure he liked it that way.
 
ronito said:
I can imagine their diaries.

"Day two of the revolution:

These sheeple will just not wake up! Nevertheless, we continue the fight. After a strategy meeting in the starbucks we descended on the Federal building. It was glorious as we all stood there occupying a whole step. A few business yes men had to walk around us. But I'm pretty sure they were afraid. This is hard work. But revolution is never easy. Need more chalk."
Haha! This thread is too much... especially with all the cross leftists... poor guys...
 
doomed1 said:
Yes, because they are going to create a dangerous and raging fire from a public power outlet based out of a marble table. :|
.

How many different things are plugged in to said outlet? You also can't say that charging all of those products isn't using up a lot of energy.
 
doomed1 said:
Also, don't twist Mel Brooks. The man was a comic, and being politically incorrect is a hallmark of alot of liberal comics, i.e. David Chapelle and Lewis Black. There are many more. But the man was a comic, not a political commentator, and I'm sure he liked it that way.

It's just comedy here.

That said you really don't think Blazing Saddles is even partially a commentary on race relations in America and a parody/commentary of racism?
 
Manos: The Hans of Fate said:
The fact you have no sense of humor is pretty sad and couldn't pick up a reference to 50 Cent Blood in the Sand and the jokes about his Diamond Encrusted Skull!

You made a 50 Cent video game joke just because they showed a skull. That is pretty lame.
 
mre said:
That, my friend, is a slippery slope and a poor argumentative technique.
Yeah, that's why I prefaced it by saying it was a slippery slope. Still, though, I thought in legal reasoning it wasn't quite as bad as in pure logic? I remember Justice Souter saying specifically he used slippery slope reasoning in one of the cases he decided...
 
MidgarBlowedUp said:
Yeah, that's that thing I had to cash out because I lost my job and unemployment couldn't pay the bills including Health Insurance.

When you let crooks
Bank of America, Credit Card Companies, Republicans/Tea Party, Oil Companies, Fox News, etc
run the countries finances, brainwash the public, and encourage them to do it with no way for the public to fight back, shit like this is bound to happen.

Excellent answer. There are just certain people who have it made, or at least they think they do. That is until they lose their job and can't find work for a year, one of their kids get sick during that time, the house goes into foreclosure, they don't qualify for unemployment, they get sick and have to pull that money out as a last resort. These people need to wake the fuck up and realize that this is happening to educated people who are career professionals; not just the protester types that are there. The people that are getting fucked over can't afford a trip to this protest. They can't afford to be arrested or branded something just for voicing their opinions. These people are getting by paycheck to paycheck, just barely. They are the hard working Americans who are getting left behind and someone needs to do something about it.
 
cooljeanius said:
Yeah, that's why I prefaced it by saying it was a slippery slope. Still, though, I thought in legal reasoning it wasn't quite as bad as in pure logic? I remember Justice Souter saying specifically he used slippery slope reasoning in one of the cases he decided...
When you're sitting on the Supreme Court you can use slippery slopes, too.
 
Manos: The Hans of Fate said:
How many different things are plugged in to said outlet? You also can't say that charging all of those products isn't using up a lot of energy.
I can say that they're not using much energy at all with the same certainty that you say they're using alot. You're not there and neither do you have any equipment to test such things. Aside from that, they're probably using a power strip. Those things are designed to prevent overloads and surges.

Oh, and even if they are, how is that in any way related to their goal of economic reform? How does that somehow contradict that those who caused our economy to tank got nice golden parachutes while the rest of us got lay-offs and dried up job markets? How does that alter that their use of power outlets is entirely unrelated to the protest against a corrupt system? Please, enlighten me, because all I see are strawmen and red herring, along with the rest of your posts in this thread.
 
doomed1 said:
I can say that they're not using much energy at all with the same certainty that you say they're using alot. You're not there and neither do you have any equipment to test such things. Aside from that, they're probably using a power strip. Those things are designed to prevent overloads and surges.

Oh, and even if they are, how is that in any way related to their goal of economic reform? How does that somehow contradict that those who caused our economy to tank got nice golden parachutes while the rest of us got lay-offs and dried up job markets? How does that alter that their use of power outlets is entirely unrelated to the protest against a corrupt system? Please, enlighten me, because all I see are strawmen and red herring, along with the rest of your posts in this thread.
Because numerous people there also had posters about the environment. In fact the one of the main groups even lists nuclear power and the environment as one of their "thematic groups" so it seems fair game to me.
http://nycga.cc/?page_id=84
 
Manos: The Hans of Fate said:
That said lets end on a positive note. I'm not hating on flipping of LaRouche people.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/stanleyrogouski/6157013283/sizes/z/in/photostream/
6157013283_e5f66445d5_z.jpg

Chick in the middle looks damn cute. Why do the fascists have all the hot chicks while the lefty ones are ugly, frumpy, and/or hairy?
 
Manos: The Hans of Fate said:
Because numerous people there also had posters about the environment. In fact the one of the main groups even lists nuclear power and the environment as one of their "thematic groups" so it seems fair game to me.
http://nycga.cc/?page_id=84
And that makes those people in that picture automatically associated with that particular group in what is meant to be a heterogeneous public protest. Right. :|
 
why the leaps to a black and white argument? Is it impossible to be anti-capitalism and own an iphone? There is a hundred shades of gray.
 
Guys, stop being so hostile to Manos, without him this thread would have died days ago. He's doing his best to bring what support he can to the protesters by being as objectionable as he can manage, thereby stirring up all those who would otherwise stay silent to defend those doing the protesting.

<3 Manos. That reminds me, how does one access the posts per thread feature? Is it an addon or something? Methinks Manos has anyone else by at least 2:1 in this topic.
 
Manos: The Hans of Fate said:
Because numerous people there also had posters about the environment. In fact the one of the main groups even lists nuclear power and the environment as one of their "thematic groups" so it seems fair game to me.
http://nycga.cc/?page_id=84


Go on Manos say it, you're against the right for people to protest.

Noone will think any less of you, just a lot of people will stop arguing with you, and you can continue having fun without people being confused as to what your motives are.

Like I wouldn't argue with someone who is against gay marriage, or against equal rights for women.
 
Acerac said:
Guys, stop being so hostile to Manos, without him this thread would have died days ago. He's doing his best to bring what support he can to the protesters by being as objectionable as he can manage, thereby stirring up all those who would otherwise stay silent to defend those doing the protesting.

<3 Manos. That reminds me, how does one access the posts per thread feature? Is it an addon or something? Methinks Manos has anyone else by at least 2:1 in this topic.
Three to one I think. Just click on the total posts on the front page.
 
travisbickle said:
Go on Manos say it, you're against the right for people to protest.

Noone will think any less of you, just a lot of people will stop arguing with you, and you can continue having fun without people being confused as to what your motives are.

Like I wouldn't argue with someone who is against gay marriage, or against equal rights for women.

No of course not, people have a right to protest. No idea where you got that I'm against it from. It doesn't mean that they get a free pass on criticism or are immune from jokes being made about them.
 
Yep, they have the right to protest, we have the right to mock their protest. Freedom of Speech goes both ways.
 
Manos: The Hans of Fate said:
No of course not, people have a right to protest. No idea where you got that I'm against it from.


You have nearly 170 post in this thread, and not a single positive word about the act of protesting.

At the beginning of the thread you became angry at your own imagination of how the protests would pan out (violence, illegal occupation, arson...)

Then when the protest weren't as you imagined you became angry at what they were in reality (peaceful, non-violent..)

You then proceeded to make derogatory comments about every single "faction" of people that were at the protests, from anti-nuclear protestors to anti-war protestors, from pro-right to pro-left, from communist to socialist...

and you continue to make generalisations about people who take part in protests.
 
travisbickle said:
You have nearly 170 post in this thread, and not a single positive word about the act of protesting.

At the beginning of the thread you became angry at your own imagination of how the protests would pan out (violence, illegal occupation, arson...)

Then when the protest weren't as you imagined you became angry at what they were in reality (peaceful, non-violent..)
More due to poor planning and a lack of numbers than anything else, but hey I'm not going to be upset that it didn't look like a G8/G20 protest site and it was instead peaceful.

You then proceeded to make derogatory comments about every single "faction" of people that were at the protests, from anti-nuclear protestors to anti-war protestors, from pro-right to pro-left, from communist to socialist...
So basically I made fun of all people equally.
 
Manos: The Hans of Fate said:
Three to one I think. Just click on the total posts on the front page.
Almost three to one, just a bit short. Brucewayne is your nearest competition. Minus him you've got everyone else nearly 4:1!

I must admit I'm blind as to where the total posts feature is on the front page however. I don't see it under forum tools, nor do I notice it at the bottom of the page. I suppose it's of no consequence, just useless info to sate my curiosity.
 
travisbickle said:
You have nearly 170 post in this thread, and not a single positive word about the act of protesting.

Manos has no journalistic charter to abide by.

milkyjay20 said:
itt: cowards

don't even bother, travisbickle. just use this thread as a guide for the ignore list.

Put me on it, please. "itt" is surpassingly cretinous.
 
travisbickle said:
You have nearly 170 post in this thread, and not a single positive word about the act of protesting.

At the beginning of the thread you became angry at your own imagination of how the protests would pan out (violence, illegal occupation, arson...)

Then when the protest weren't as you imagined you became angry at what they were in reality (peaceful, non-violent..)

You then proceeded to make derogatory comments about every single "faction" of people that were at the protests, from anti-nuclear protestors to anti-war protestors, from pro-right to pro-left, from communist to socialist...

and you continue to make generalisations about people who take part in protests.

Maybe he just thinks the message is a joke? I suppose every argument on this message board be preceded by reminding one another, "Hey buddy, I respect your right to free speech, but.."

Let's not cry foul that criticisms of the protesters/message haven't bothered to preface the post with adoration for the act of protesting.

milkyjay20 said:
itt: cowards

don't even bother, travisbickle. just use this thread as a guide for the ignore list.

Cowards ignore those they disagree with. Sign me up for first slot on your list.
 
Salazar said:
What isn't funny about it ?
For someone who studies rhetoric, you surely don't seem to have any skill in it. Is the word 'sex workers' inherently hilarious somehow? Are sex workers supposed to support capitalism?
 
this country, as well as the rest of the world, is going down the toilet. for you to look away is bad enough, but to then make fun of people who are trying to change things, that's what makes you cowards.
 
harriet the spy said:
For someone who studies rhetoric, you surely don't seem to have any skill in it. Is the word 'sex workers' inherently hilarious somehow? Are sex workers supposed to support capitalism?

Sex workers aren't inherently hilarious, nor is their political mobilisation necessarily funny.

I don't find much of interest or persuasive power in a sign that casts capitalism as wholly pernicious; what I do find is humour. It might be that if I were to talk to a person carrying such a sign, or take a leaflet they had on offer, I would appreciate the validity of their critique. But the unfortunate fact is that I would be very much disinclined to do that because I find the sign absurd.

Granted, geography renders me unable to satisfy Empty_Vessel's injunction to go down and be among the people and get beyond the ludicrous surface image of the photos in this thread. I'm not convinced that there exists - beyond the field of etiquette - an obligation to take them seriously, though.
 
Salazar said:
Sex workers aren't inherently hilarious, nor is their political mobilisation necessarily funny.

I don't find much of interest or persuasive power in a sign that casts capitalism as wholly pernicious; what I do find is humour.
I am really not sure that people necessarily mean to cast cast the whole institution of 'capitalism' as pernicious. People protest against capitalism all the time to protest against the effects that what they perceive as the more extreme version of capitalism (or what they perceive as corporatism or corruption) has on their lives . You'll find a lot of people protesting in Europe about what they call 'capitalism' when the vast majority don't mean to take down the whole free market thing and going back to kholkozes, but more to demand social rights, markets regulations and other things which don't fall under one convenient word-umbrella. So, sure, capitalism is not the right word, and it's also 'propaganda' (as it contrasts their demands to what they present as greed), but i still fail to see what is SO OMG SO FUCKING HILARIOUSLY TROLOLO WRONG wrong with some of the sentiments these people may have.

That said, I haven't really spend a lot of time looking at those uproarious pictures or talked to these guys in person (and I certainly believe there is a fair amount of 'look at me' posturing/hipsterism at work as well), and I don't know what the actual prevailing sentiment of the parade is, but I don't believe you have to be fully educated on economics, politics, and internet rhetorics to just take the street and say you're unhappy with the way things are, nor do you have to be hilariously delusional to be so.

Also, don't take my word for it, because my sense of humor is probably both foreign and shitty, but you guys are not trying very hard. That skull joke was kind of bad.

edit: i would probably share your relatively low hopes regarding what this protest actually represents / can actually achieve, but I am also sure that those images were carefully selected to make those guys look as moronic as possible.
 
You're right that the sex workers sign isn't as ludicrous as the (ironically, much better designed - conceivably the work of a group rather than an individual) one saying "ABOLISH CAPITALISM".
 
Did somebody say capitalism?

Exactly how did we get into this mess with the capital markets? A situation where the global stock of derivatives is over $US600 trillion, which is about twice the capital stock of the world. A situation where high frequency trading is over two thirds of the transactions on the NYSE and about the same in the stock markets of the UK and Europe. Likewise they are over half the action in foreign exchange markets and they are rapidly becoming dominant in the futures market.

...

Why do we think liquidity is a good thing?” Answer, because it facilitates trade around the exchange of information. “Information about what?” one might then ask. “The company in which the investment is being made,” is the answer. Does algorithmic trading exchange information about the performance of the company? No, it is only working off information about trading behaviour. Ergo, it may increase “liquidity” but it is not fulfilling the purpose of liquidity.

That kind of shift to traders working mostly off what traders do, rather than assessing the value of what is being traded, has become an absolute plague. It has taken over most Western financial markets. Hedging, for example, used to be all about hedging bets to protect the underling exchanges (usually wheat, or pork bellies or physical things). Now, hedging is all about reading behaviour, which then leads to other hedging strategies that are based on reading the hedging behaviour, and so on.

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2011/07/time-to-take-stock.html

Wall Street is now in the business of decoupling liquidity from value. You can call that capitalism if you like. Money is a social construct afterall.

Related, Ted Talk by Kevin Slavin.
How Algorithms Rule Our World
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDaFwnOiKVE

Hipsters!
 
CNN and Fox News don't say anything about the protests atm but even the Dutch national channel did and you some of you still think that protest isn't needed? It's so obvious now, bet if this was Iran the news channels would be all over it. It's structural censoring, undemocratic.
 
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