Why Are We Occupying?

[xchrom]

http://www.nationofchange.org/why-are-we-occupying-1347889143

Why are we occupying? Or to put it another way – what’s wrong with the world?

Of course, most of us know what’s wrong with the world. We know about the poverty, war, violence and disease. We’re conscious of the injustice, but not fully conscious of it, because frankly, we have enough to worry about in our own lives. As such, we’ve come to accept these injustices as simple facts of life – prepackaged side effects of the human condition, as natural and intertwined with our existence as water to a stream, beyond our capacity to effect in any significant way. This collective sense of powerlessness and default apathy is why we’re striking.

Our growing sense of isolation and disconnection, whether from ourselves, from those next door to us, or from those producing our food and products halfway across the globe, is why we’re striking. Our forced support of perpetual war waged for and by the 1% - whether explicitly with speech, or implicitly with inaction and tax dollars - without ever paying mind to the true causes and motives behind it, is why we’re striking. Our failure until now to connect the dots and realize that the benefits of a cheap iPod, lovely as it may be, would be far outweighed by the benefits of a truly just world free of exploitation, is why we’re striking.

The fact that most of us are too busy being exploited to realize we’re being exploited – too busy greasing the cogs of our economic system to notice how the fruits of our labor never fail to float up and out of our reach - is why we’re striking, as is the fact that most aren’t able to do anything about this exploitation even when we do notice it. While some of us are lucky enough to have jobs and careers that give real meaning to our lives, allowing us to take full advantage of our talents and fulfill our destiny, most of us have jobs devoid of meaning and dignity, yet full of the feeling that we are fulfilling someone else’s destiny. Our recognition that the ruling class’s seat at the top of the pyramid is prepared and propped up by the working class is why we’re striking. Our knowledge that it’s actually the CEO who is the most dependent among us, and that the ones truly indispensable to our society are not bankers, lobbyists and politicians, but workers, teachers and engineers, is why we’re striking.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

1. We need to occupy the media

The media spew out propaganda so that the masses believe the big corps and their right wing puppets

[tama]

3. And that's what we are doing

We are the media, we are the message, the multitude of our voices. Of course we shouldn't underestimate the power of the capitalistic propaganda machine, but also not overestimate. Each word of truth, each sentence spoken from heart is a stone cast on the still surface of status quo, creating waves that strengthen each other and are growing into storm of change.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

4. We are being squeezed out though

[tama]

6. From what, from where? nt

[porphyrian]

2. . n/t

[randome]

5. Not everyone thinks of him/herself as exploited, you know.

Some of us have jobs and families to take care of. 'Greasing the cogs of the economic system'...um, that sounds like a steady job that pays the bills.

[OneGrassRoot]

7. Most people have families to take care of...

yet, even if employed, fewer and fewer feel they are adequately compensated or have the quality of life they desire or are reaping the fruits of their efforts, so to speak.

It's easy to feel we're cogs in a wheel when the salary of the average worker is light years from the income of CEOs.

But the main point is that it isn't about us as individuals; it's about all of us.

If someone has a great job they're happy with and a quality of life and all is wonderful, that's fabulous! But recognizing they are not an island and that we're all in this together -- with many suffering and demoralized -- is the point of Occupy, as I see it.