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Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Ocupado

Two weeks ago, while I was in Chicago, I had my first and only intelligent conversation about this "occupy this, occupy that" movement. I don't say that to be disrespectful, merely to note that from everything I had seen and heard there was little intention or future plan for the momentum generated by these events.

I found myself wanting to be supportive, but unsure of what I would be supporting. It seemed it was a bunch of young adults following their twitter invitations out of boredom, just hoping to be a part of something bigger.

I wondered how many of the participants actually knew what they were "protesting." 


My cousin and my Aunt had some information I found helpful regarding the purpose of the events and their interpretation of the end-goal. According to the two of them, whom I always consider reliable sources, the point of the Occupy storm is to generate awareness of the 99% of our population that doesn't benefit from the manipulative practices of corporations and big business. Fun fact: you and I are probably in that 99%, unless you are interdependently wealthy. If so - well done. Thanks for reading my blog when you could be counting your stacks of hundred dollar bills.

This runs from wall-street hedgefund managers to big banks that most of us use. The end goal is to start a shift from dependency on a system that doesn't benefit the every-day joe/jill, to a system that empowers small businesses and locals.

If that is in fact the goal - I'm all for it. I'm just unsure of how I will participate. I kind of like banking with Chase because it's easy...even if they are going to start charging me for my debit card... but I guess that is the exact problem they are trying to call attention to, huh?

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