[quote]Jeffrey of Troy wrote:
“The claims that the ultra-rich 1% make for themselves - that they are possessed of unique intelligence or creativity or drive - are examples of the self-attribution fallacy. This means crediting yourself with outcomes for which you weren’t responsible… Is your boss possessed of judgement, vision and management skills superior to those of anyone else in the firm, or did he or she get there through bluff, bullshit and bullying? … They are no more deserving of the share of wealth they’ve captured than oil sheikhs.”
[/quote]
This is of course also a fallacy, because if bluffing, bullshitting and bullying is what it takes, that is what it takes.
Some have it, some dont.
The market does not reward virtue, but outcomes.
Also, I find it interesting that “rich” people are just bullshitting themselves, whereas poor people dont?
It also does not explain why millionaires who lose it all have enormously better chances of becoming millionaires again than the average man on the street.
[quote]orion wrote:
Also, I find it interesting that “rich” people are just bullshitting themselves, whereas poor people dont?
[/quote]
I don’t think the idea was that the rich are bullshitting themselves - rather, that they got rich through, among other things, bullshitting others.
The fantasty where every rich person worked hard, showed some incredible or special skill, or invented/innovated something… well, yeah, I gotta say, its a fantasy.
You’ve had your fun. You’ve suffered some pain. Some of you have even braved the cold. But you have also lost the rationale for what you’re doing. Your protest is adrift.
You see, if your sleepover was ever about banks and corporations and economic injustice, it isn’t anymore. It is now all about you. It’s about your infighting over how much of the proceeds of your begging passers-by your movement’s finance committee lets you keep.
It’s about whether it’s appropriate to clash with police and rescue workers when they show up to help after someone dies from a drug overdose. It’s about how many people in the encampments are learning about sexual assault awareness the hard way.
It’s time for you to go home and … well, do whatever you were doing before this all began.
Your protest has not been a failure. It has successfully raised societal awareness. Society is now aware that some people steal from food carts and vandalize them with their bodily fluids.
Society is grateful that the black-clad anarchists among you in Oakland, Calif., liberated us all from the tyranny of Whole Foods with spray-paint and brickbats through windows.
Closer to home, here in D.C., you have taught me that old ladies don’t belong at conservative political gatherings. (And I must say, you certainly showed them!)
Your movement has also raised interesting political questions about corporate greed that we will all have to grapple with. For example, the financial sector made $427 billion in profits last year – that’s billion with a “B.” That’s a lot of money.
A friend pointed out to me on Twitter that in 2010, that would have been enough money to keep our federal government running for 45 days and two hours. Which means. … Wait, what?
Anyway, your movement also spawned the ingenious “I’m Getting Arrested” app. It allows Droid users to send pre-set text messages to the people of their choosing with a single touch of the screen.
From now on, I will load this app every time I start throwing bottles and rocks at police officers, so that I can easily notify my wife of my subsequent arrest without having to fumble with a virtual keypad.
And finally, you’ve taught us one other lesson: You don’t need a diverse crowd to conduct a popular demonstration against economic injustice. Black unemployment stands above 15 percent, yet a study of Occupy Wall Street, your flagship protest, showed that 1.6 percent of the participants are black.
I will admit that I am sometimes irked by your behavior toward the news media. For example, that hobbyist photographer you beat up in Zuccotti Park this week – there are much better ways to harm a person without leaving all that tell-tale blood on his face.
But that’s still not the reason you should leave. You should leave because you’re starting to give a bad name to anarcho-collectivism, drug use, and public urination, which would ultimately undermine your cause.
As Sen. George Aiken, R-Vt., once said of Vietnam, it is time to declare victory, and withdraw.
[quote]therajraj wrote:
With the Occupy Movement having success in Israel, why would they stop?
[/quote]
They don’t have to stop. They have to go home and make it a legitimate political movement, or become their own enemy. They’re now losing, badly. Very soon they will be moved along. The public has grown disgusted with them and their tactics.
I like this one as a gen xer I don’t want all my peeps associated with this group
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your inbox, every day. Please enter your email address.Please enter a valid email address. Generation X Is Sick of Your Bullshit
You’re going to read this, and you’re going to say, how is this about tech? I’m gonna head you off at that pass: This is a message from Internet, the generation that became the voice that set the tone for everything you love about the Net. And it’s pissed. -Editor
Earlier generations have weathered recessions, of course; this stall we’re in has the look of something nastier. Social Security and Medicare are going to be diminished, at best. Hours worked are up even as hiring staggers along: Blood from a stone looks to be the normal order of things “going forward,” to borrow the business-speak. Economists are warning that even when the economy recuperates, full employment will be lower and growth will be slower-a sad little rhyme that adds up to something decidedly unpoetic. A majority of Americans say, for the first time ever, that this generation will not be better off than its parents. ?New York Magazine
Generation X is sick of your bullshit.
The first generation to do worse than its parents? Please. Been there. Generation X was told that so many times that it can’t even read those words without hearing Winona Ryder’s voice in its heads. Or maybe it’s Ethan Hawke’s. Possibly Bridget Fonda’s. Generation X is getting older, and can’t remember those movies so well anymore. In retrospect, maybe they weren’t very good to begin with.
But Generation X is tired of your sense of entitlement. Generation X also graduated during a recession. It had even shittier jobs, and actually had to pay for its own music. (At least, when music mattered most to it.) Generation X is used to being fucked over. It lost its meager savings in the dot-com bust. Then came George Bush, and 9/11, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Generation X bore the brunt of all that. And then came the housing crisis.
Generation X wasn’t surprised. Generation X kind of expected it.
Generation X is a journeyman. It didn’t invent hip hop, or punk rock, or even electronica (it’s pretty sure those dudes in Kraftwerk are boomers) but it perfected all of them, and made them its own. It didn’t invent the Web, but it largely built the damn thing. Generation X gave you Google and Twitter and blogging; Run DMC and Radiohead and Nirvana and Notorious B.I.G. Not that it gets any credit.
But that’s okay. Generation X is used to being ignored, stuffed between two much larger, much more vocal, demographics. But whatever! Generation X is self-sufficient. It was a latchkey child. Its parents were too busy fulfilling their own personal ambitions to notice any of its trophies-which were admittedly few and far between because they were only awarded for victories, not participation.
In fairness, Generation X could use a better spokesperson. Barack Obama is just a little too senior to count among its own, and it has debts older than Mark Zuckerberg. Generation X hasn’t had a real voice since Kurt Cobain blew his brains out, Tupac was murdered, Jeff Mangum went crazy, David Foster Wallace hung himself, Jeff Buckley drowned, River Phoenix overdosed, Elliott Smith stabbed himself (twice) in the heart, Axl got fat.
Generation X is beyond all that bullshit now. It quit smoking and doing coke a long time ago. It has blood pressure issues and is heavier than it would like to be. It might still take some ecstasy, if it knew where to get some. But probably not. Generation X has to be up really early tomorrow morning.
Generation X is tired.
It’s a parent now, and there’s always so damn much to do. Generation X wishes it had better health insurance and a deeper savings account. It wonders where its 30s went. It wonders if it still has time to catch up.
Right now, Generation X just wants a beer and to be left alone. It just wants to sit here quietly and think for a minute. Can you just do that, okay? It knows that you are so very special and so very numerous, but can you just leave it alone? Just for a little bit? Just long enough to sneak one last fucking cigarette? No?
Whatever. It’s cool.
Generation X is used to disappointments. Generation X knows you didn’t even read the whole thing. It doesn’t want or expect your reblogs; it picked the wrong platform.
Generation X should have posted this to LiveJournal.
[quote]orion wrote:
Also, I find it interesting that “rich” people are just bullshitting themselves, whereas poor people dont?
[/quote]
I don’t think the idea was that the rich are bullshitting themselves - rather, that they got rich through, among other things, bullshitting others.
The fantasty where every rich person worked hard, showed some incredible or special skill, or invented/innovated something… well, yeah, I gotta say, its a fantasy.[/quote]
Do you live in the US. Whether they worked hard, made smart investments, or had daddy hand it to them is no matter. Under the US constitution it is their property and have the right to bear arms and protect their property.
We are a constitutional republic, but the politicians and government in general has been trampling all over our laws and the citizens of this country. It has gone on long enough,
It is like state and local government putting restrictions on the ownership of firearms. It is directly unconstitutional because it is explicitly covered in the constitution. So the state does not have a right to infringe on that right. I thought that was the hole premise. The state could dictate where the constitution does not explicitly lay down the law or protect rights.
My Mayor, Mushmouth, who watched Veriteck split the uprights, is starting to turn away from the group he’s mad they’re taking services away from real homeless people, showers food etc. The occupods have been going to Fransican House, and have been using the facilities for the real homeless.
You’ve had your fun. You’ve suffered some pain. Some of you have even braved the cold. But you have also lost the rationale for what you’re doing. Your protest is adrift.
You see, if your sleepover was ever about banks and corporations and economic injustice, it isn’t anymore. It is now all about you. It’s about your infighting over how much of the proceeds of your begging passers-by your movement’s finance committee lets you keep.
It’s about whether it’s appropriate to clash with police and rescue workers when they show up to help after someone dies from a drug overdose. It’s about how many people in the encampments are learning about sexual assault awareness the hard way.
It’s time for you to go home and … well, do whatever you were doing before this all began.
Your protest has not been a failure. It has successfully raised societal awareness. Society is now aware that some people steal from food carts and vandalize them with their bodily fluids.
Society is grateful that the black-clad anarchists among you in Oakland, Calif., liberated us all from the tyranny of Whole Foods with spray-paint and brickbats through windows.
Closer to home, here in D.C., you have taught me that old ladies don’t belong at conservative political gatherings. (And I must say, you certainly showed them!)
Your movement has also raised interesting political questions about corporate greed that we will all have to grapple with. For example, the financial sector made $427 billion in profits last year – that’s billion with a “B.” That’s a lot of money.
A friend pointed out to me on Twitter that in 2010, that would have been enough money to keep our federal government running for 45 days and two hours. Which means. … Wait, what?
Anyway, your movement also spawned the ingenious “I’m Getting Arrested” app. It allows Droid users to send pre-set text messages to the people of their choosing with a single touch of the screen.
From now on, I will load this app every time I start throwing bottles and rocks at police officers, so that I can easily notify my wife of my subsequent arrest without having to fumble with a virtual keypad.
And finally, you’ve taught us one other lesson: You don’t need a diverse crowd to conduct a popular demonstration against economic injustice. Black unemployment stands above 15 percent, yet a study of Occupy Wall Street, your flagship protest, showed that 1.6 percent of the participants are black.
I will admit that I am sometimes irked by your behavior toward the news media. For example, that hobbyist photographer you beat up in Zuccotti Park this week – there are much better ways to harm a person without leaving all that tell-tale blood on his face.
But that’s still not the reason you should leave. You should leave because you’re starting to give a bad name to anarcho-collectivism, drug use, and public urination, which would ultimately undermine your cause.
As Sen. George Aiken, R-Vt., once said of Vietnam, it is time to declare victory, and withdraw.
or an “Occupy Ivy League”, its my understanding that the endowments of many of these schools are so big that they really don’t even need to charge tuition to cover their costs. Since student loans seem to be a big issue with the whiners, they would appear to be a logical target. If logic ever applied to these people . . .
[quote]orion wrote:
Also, I find it interesting that “rich” people are just bullshitting themselves, whereas poor people dont?
[/quote]
I don’t think the idea was that the rich are bullshitting themselves - rather, that they got rich through, among other things, bullshitting others.
The fantasty where every rich person worked hard, showed some incredible or special skill, or invented/innovated something… well, yeah, I gotta say, its a fantasy.[/quote]
Do you live in the US. Whether they worked hard, made smart investments, or had daddy hand it to them is no matter. Under the US constitution it is their property and have the right to bear arms and protect their property.
We are a constitutional republic, but the politicians and government in general has been trampling all over our laws and the citizens of this country. It has gone on long enough,
It is like state and local government putting restrictions on the ownership of firearms. It is directly unconstitutional because it is explicitly covered in the constitution. So the state does not have a right to infringe on that right. I thought that was the hole premise. The state could dictate where the constitution does not explicitly lay down the law or protect rights.
[/quote]
no, you are not free to do whatever you want; most of the rich are rich not because of being smarter, or working harder, than most people, but because they are the most ruthless monkeys. The psychopaths’ system of values is incompatible with human values. Can you resist the evil training, my fellow human?
the bill of rights of the U.S. Constitution - as actually written - is a series of limits on the powers of the legislative branch of the U.S. gov (“Congress shall make no law…” etc.); state and local govs can have the legitimate power to regulate and limit ownership of firearms. (Actually, the federal system is divide and conquer; one country should have one gov. I’m just describing the system of gov we OFFICIALLY have now.)
Follow the clues and connect the dots. Awareness is the only protection. “Our” government was hijacked by a clusterfuck of psychopaths (their brain defect makes them unable to feel they’ve done anything wrong) decades ago; the very individuals who caused the financial crisis were given 6 and 7 figure bonuses.
We the people institute a government because it benefits us to do so; that gov in turn makes itself legitimate by protecting the citizens - ALL the citizens. The Dems and Repubs both serve the richest 1% (and Israel, but I digress), and violently violate what’s in the best interests of 99% of Americans. No taxation without representation?
[quote]sufiandy wrote:
Was there any news coverage of people moving their money yesterday from banks to credit unions? I wanted to know if so few people did anything it was not even worth mentioning, OR no news outlet covered it because they might be sponsored by banks who wanted no coverage of it.[/quote]
Amounted to 1/2 of 1% of the big banks’ customers bailed. BOA continues to laugh. [/quote]
“NBC notes that - in response to inquiries regarding how many people have moved their money - Bank of America refused to provide figures, and instead sent the following defensive email:”
Statement from Chief Lanier Regarding Occupy DC
"While the Occupy DC movement has been here since October 6, 2011 and the Metropolitan Police Department supports an individual?s right to assemble, we do not condone nor will we tolerate violence or aggression. Prior demonstrations had been peaceful. However, the aggressive nature of Friday?s demonstration prompted the Metropolitan Police Department to adjust tactics as needed to ensure safety.
MPD will continue to protect life (residents, visitors, protestors --everyone) and property as warranted. The administration will do what?s necessary to maintain order in the city and to ensure that everyone is safe.
Five people that we are aware of were injured. That is no longer a peaceful protest. Demonstrators have become increasingly confrontational and violent toward uninvolved bystanders and motorists. Demonstrators have also jeopardized the safety of their own children by using them in blockades. The following videos highlight such actions by demonstrators:
Intentionally Blocking Traffic/putting little children in the street
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpDsogOy2IU
Using little children to blockade the door
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CguFPFJAqlA
Demonstrators blockade doors and injure attendees
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prgkEAuSQT0
Blockading people from leaving the Convention Center
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXXf56JhTbs
Regarding the traffic incident and allegations of hit and run, MPD is investigating and is seeking any evidence and witness statements. Anyone with information should contact police by calling (202) 727-9099 or 1-888-919-CRIME (1-888-919-2746)."
"But at some point between my grandfather’s time and now, getting your hands dirty became something to be ashamed of. My generation perpetuated that. We made it socially unacceptable to:
A) Do any job that requires sweat and/or a uniform.
B) Work 70-hour weeks to get ahead.
So if you don’t do either of those things, what’s left? Getting an education and waiting for a good job in your field. But now, when we catch you doing that, we mock you and tell you to go flip burgers. And that’s bullshit. We told you your whole lives that those jobs were for idiots and failures. You think you’re too good for those jobs because that’s what we’ve been fucking telling you since birth."
One man was killed after gun shots rang out near 14th and Broadway in downtown Oakland, police said.
The area, near Occupy Oakland, was immediately flooded with police.
At 4:57 p.m., Oakland Police found a victim suffering from a gun shot wound.
Police have cordoned off parts of Frank Ogawa Plaza between the Occupy encampment and the 14th Street BART station entrance.
According to witnesses, two men in the encampment got into an argument which escalated into gunfire. The victim was seen running away from the gunman, witnesses said. One bullet hit the Western Federal Credit Union.
