Wall Street Protests

[infinite monkey]

Originally Posted by Brianna

Life is rarely that simple. Life is rarely black and white.

Everything is just fine until something unimaginable happens - like a catastrophic illness or the breadwinner loses the job (after doing everything "right" like in the above posters sign)


Life isn't like following a recipe: Do A and B and C will happen. I mean, you can try - you should try - to do the right thing but life has a way of making its own way. You can't blame people when cosmic shit happens to them.


eta - I am wondering. Do you think everyone should follow your example and live like you do? should everyone take direction from you? can you, will you explain the meaning of life to everyone? You certainly make out like you have all the answers and if people would just do as you say, it would all work out for them. If they don't do as you say, or do as you did, they are
god damn fools, right?

Even merc said that the world needs "ditch diggers" (I use that phrase only because it's fairly recognized as a 'lump-all' for less 'skilled' professions.) Yet merc seems to think that those ditch diggers should become better than ditch diggers if they want to make a living wage. How is the inequity even remotely defensible? We need the people who clean and who make widgets and who run the grocery etc and so on. Should they be denied something even close to a comfortable existence? Is the gap between the poor and the rich, and the subsequent squeezing out of the middle class, sustainable? No, it is not. Something, eventually, has to give.

I also wonder about merc's college students. Only because of the constant reminder that his kids get everything they could ever possibly want (crash a car, get a car, for example) am I quite wary that merc's kids are anything remotely close to the young person depicted in the sign in terms of sacrificing some of the finer things in life. This is not an insult. MOre power to merc and his family, good that you can help them start their lives. I'm sure they're wonderful people. But as Brianna pointed out, life is rarely simple, and I don't think the slots merc thinks we should fit in are one size fits all, after all.

Originally Posted by DanaC

At least they're only singing about it. The people and organisations being protested against have taken a much more active approach to fucking the USA.

Amen. Patriotism is working to make things better, for the good of the country. Patriotism is not hoping everyone falls on their face just so the supposed 'patriot' can say I told you so. That's a dangerous need, to have to be 'right' over being beneficial, over sustaining a country, over the needs of most and in favor of the wants of some.

We had a nice run as a superpower, though. All good things don't have to end, but greed and power-hunger and tyranny will surely take us right to that edge.