- Occupy Wallstreet (and Vancouver and Toronto, etc., etc.) started in one place: wanting more jobs, and better jobs, more equality, a more equal and transparent distribution of wealth, end to corruption and limiting the influence corporations have on the government. These things are real, and it is plainly obvious to me that they are huge issues our generation is facing. Real hardworking Canadians and Americans started this movement. Don't fool yourself into thinking that a bunch of uneducated hippies and homeless people found a free computer at the public library and started the movement....
- But it continues into another place: Young free-living pot smokers (and yes, some homeless people) have jumped into the "occupy" camps. Hipsters, and street musicians, free-lovin people that have had life beat them down..AND, yes, rich kids with iPhones, hypocrites even some would say... rebels without a cause joing a huge movement...that is quickly losing focus..because there are so many issues at hand here. BUT don't let that discourage you from the movement itself because it is IMPORTANT.
- I'll weigh-in on one major mis-conception (in my mind).... Yes oil and gas made pretty much all the crap that you use every day. Fuel is just one part of it...plastics, vinyl, rubber, manufacturing, computers, etc. etc. all stem from petrochemicals. But wait a minute...why are they are so cheap?! WHy are they EVERYwhere? And why are even the people protesting massive corporations (like the oil and gas sector) using items directly produced from petro-chemicals? Because oil and gas are great! They are versatile, are a reservoir of energy in a state easily accesible to exploit, and give us the best bang for our buck as far as effort and return (on energy)... or they USED to be. But the industry is subsidized by government!; or to not go out on a limb, "this is my understanding"...but ya...no...they are. Oil and gas industry (backed by our government) has every intention of holding the monopoly on fuel and consumer goods until every last drop is gone...even if the costs ($, fuel, environment) to produce the stuff, outweighs that which you (the 99% of you!) get out of it.
- Sooooo what choice does your 99% of the population have but to use the daily items produced by the petrochemical industry (I haven't seen a cheap permanent marker made of hemp from wind energy...have you???) Not because the technology doesn't exist, because it does, but because we have no intention of diversifying and taking some of the money from oil and gas and investing it elsewhere. Not yet anyways. Its not about doing away with oil and gas (or pharmaceuticals or fast food), or disregarding the hard working people that work in that industry, its about wanting more jobs, and better jobs, more equality, a more equal and transparent distribution of wealth, end to corruption and limiting the influence corporations have on the government (see paragraph 1).
Tuesday, 22 November 2011
Missing the Mark on the "Occupy" Movement
I have read so many posts about the protesting and "Occupy" movement that I just had to throw my 2 cents in.
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