A government needs to balance the realities of many, many people. Fascism imposes one reality

[applegrove]

on a people. In the current case of the USA the GOP has one set of ideas (tax cuts, less regulation) for one reality (business). The OWS represents many, many realities and truths, the realities that are being ignored and undone by the 1%.

[applegrove]

1. When you start writing all your multiple realities down on paper, done by concensus even,

you flatten those realities down from 3D ones. I would warn the OWS not to try and capture (flatten) down the views. Let people connect to the mulititude of 3D ideas a little while longer. It has only been two months since OWS was started.

[woo me with science]

2. You know, that list (link below) made me tearful

with joy that people are talking about building a society that prioritizes human value and dignity over profit.

That said, I think I am agreeing with you, because my second thoughts were that it may be too broad in its goals, and maybe too specific for right now about how to achieve them.

We are still building our 99 percent, and some of what is on that list, while important, is only peripherally related to the central issue that is bringing all these people out. Either that, or it is too specific on methods and risks fragmenting our still growing 99 percent.

My view is that people are enraged first and foremost about financial corruption and the declining standards of living in the country right now. They are angry about the purchase of our government by the one percent in order to exploit the rest of us for profit. That is the central issue that is causing untold pain across the country, it is the issue on which we can ALL agree, and it is the issue that is bringing out people in droves to protest, whether they are Democrats or Independents or even Ron Paul types.

I would like to see us focus like a laser on that single issue. That, more than anything else, is what unites us and creates the 99 percent that we are going to need desperately if we have any hope of toppling these Goliaths.

Leave out all the talk about the the health care system and carbon emissions. They can be handled in different, non-OWS protests. OWS should remain about taking back our government from the banks and corporations and restructuring the system to ensure a level playing field.

Once we have done that, any other issue that the American people truly care about will be much, much easier to address...because we will finally have representation.


Good post, and worth talking about.

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*On edit: I was talking about this list: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x2364407


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[applegrove]

3. I liked the list too. But I kept getting that many people don't get OWS and are simply waiting for

a list of demands so they can judge OWS in that regards. And that is so wrong. The medium is the message. The creative way OWS handles itself is the most important thing to translate. And that will not change the way people are thinking if we just send them a list of demands. We need to keep percolating and bubbling with ideas. To talk about a multitude of inequalities and give examples. And have this process go on for a year or more. To try and include even more people in the 99% and the evolution of creativity and feelings that takes place when you come across new and great ideas. It is a type of freedom the GOP is not offering, what with their wedge and cultural issues over the last 30 years. It is freedom from the 1%.

[woo me with science]

5. That makes a lot of sense.

You make some wonderful points. It is at heart a movement about putting the people first again and valuing what they think and feel above profit and institutions. Breaking free from the destructive dogma we have been fed by the elites for so long. I am sure that is why OWS speaks to people in a way that the Tea Party never did.

I think I understand what you are saying. It is late, and I am a bit sleep deprived, so I may be missing some of it...but I agree with you that we are early on, and it is important to keep this movement growing with the excitement and creativity of people who are finally able to express themselves and think about the kind of society they would like to have, rather than being forced to choose within the rigid boxes that have been presented to us as options.

Thanks for this.

Happy Thanksgiving.

[applegrove]

4. Anyone or any organization that can hold multiple realities inside

its brain is going to be a empathetic entity. That is what OWS is. The realities that have been ignored or co-opted or suppressed or denied are all welcome. I'm just saying the thinking & creative process has been too short.