Quote:
Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame
I don't disagree with you on this point, but if people have the chance to contribute to a cause without getting off their butts they'll do it. Online petitions, for example, are one of those very examples that can have a mass effect if necessary.
When you think about it, the number of subscribers on a Twitter feed, or the number of "Likes" on a Facebook page are (in some ways) a form of online petition. Corporations are susceptible to these. A "social media backlash" can drive corporate strategy, such as happened with the GAP, Nivea, BP, Kia Motors, even Bank of America's debit card fees drew significant ire. Many companies have had to reverse policies or change tactics due to online disapproval and protest.
For actual, physical protests, then yes - feet on the ground matter, and in large quantities. However, visibility in the sense I think you're using it isn't a pre-requisite to drive change. At least not in the Information Age.
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As someone who has been shamelessly using "Cause" and "Community" features on Facebook to drive aspects of my volunteer work, as well as Twitter, I can agree to some extent.
I'm just not getting any sense at all that Occupy Wall St. is resonating and building . . . . . and I wouldn't mind saying so if it was.
If you're of a like mind to this group like our friend Woob, it's no doubt invigorating . . . . but that's not the perspective to look at it. If you're trying to build something, it can't be just about what your regulars think about it. That's the easy sell. And these are the easy, early days.
"You'll die on the vine waiting for P-O-T-E-N-T-I-A-L" were the wise words once uttered to me by an arch-capitalist.
Occupy Wall St. can't live forever on a small number of narrowly focussed left wing extremists and expect them to magically duplicate themselves into thousands and tens of thousands.You need new people. Specifically, the people who aren't the easy sell. Lotsa them. And that's unlikely given the earlier extreme messages being espoused and still being heard.
Again, in terms of many theoretical demands, when you finally get around to it, you might find me on something of the same page. Enhanced regulation and oversight on derivatives, limiting political donations etc. . . . . and I'm an arch-capitalist myself.
And, by the way, the push for regulatory enhancements regarding derivatives has been underway for a while now, although difficult to co-ordinate across all possible jurisdictions. Its a complicated problem. But that's been happening long before this movement ever showed up.
As The Hill poll revealed, the majority of Americans realize the remedies for these issues are at their legislatures, that capitalism is what it is and so is Wall St.
Placards decrying corporate greed are sincerely comical. I know they're greedy. So am I. So are most people. Wall St. serves an extremely useful purpose in the prosperity of us all . . . . . if the general population uses Wall St. carefully in return. These are dangerous guys if they get out of their cages.
"Good luck storming the castle boys!!!" - Max The Miracle Worker in The Princess Bride. I'm not hoping against you. Just skeptical about the future of what seems like a extremist gimmick.
Cowperson