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We had an Exalted game on Monday, and I had a few things I wanted to talk about in terms of gaming, but lately I've gotten so frustrated trying to explain the Occupy movement to people making wrong or outright disingenuous statements that I'm almost sick to my stomach. So my nerves are raw, my last day is Friday, and I can't really get it all out of my system.
The Occupy movement has never been about free money. First of all, that doesn't make any real sense, except that we know that we've seen huge financial establishments fuck up big time and get a free pass. I know that if someone offered to forgive me my student loans, I wouldn't say no, but that's never been the point.
What really rubs me the wrong way isn't disagreement on principles, but just the blatant mis-characterization of what's happening. Like these 53% bozos who hold up signs saying that they've worked three jobs at minimum wage to get by like that's something that should be happening. Or like the people that tell us to get a job flipping burgers like that's going to fix our money issues.
You know what I say to someone telling me to get a McJob like that's the solution to my problems? Fuck you. Because all my life I've heard, "If you don't do well, you'll end up saying 'do you want fries with that?', so you'd better go to college and study hard." So I did, and I'm seeing this line and thinking, "You know what, fine. We'll all go down to the fucking McDonalds and apply. I guess it was this easy all along! Hey McDonalds, do you have room for all the unemployed in America? Well, do you?"
But fuck it. Because it's a simple answer to a complex problem, ain't it? And I guess every time you see a commenter on the news talking about how not enough new jobs are being made to even keep up with the birthrate, that must be the unemployed's fault, too. But hey, all that tells me is that there are a bunch of smarmy people who think that we should just switch to a McEconomy.
There's a growing economic disparity. We're seeing quality of employment drop while payouts for the top tiers become geometrically larger. The average income, when accounting for inflation has declined. I don't know why anyone but the top tier would ever fight for this, but I'm not exactly seeing people who stand against OWS speak to it.
Jobs are difficult to get. The quality of jobs that are available has declined. Fewer jobs are stable, and the economic situation for many people has become precarious. Saying 'get a job, protesters' is missing the point. We want jobs. I'm not sure why wanting a good job with fair compensation has suddenly become something to be mocked for.
And rage aside, I keep hearing, "Live at or below your means, and you wouldn't be in this situation." The point is that a few years ago, people in stable jobs suddenly had their means drop drastically. Two stable jobs became one tenuous job, or no jobs at all. Values on property plummeted. People were left holding debts they struggled to pay off. It's not a few people - it was scores of them. Hundreds of thousands. People that shouldn't have probably bought homes. People that had their homes for years and suddenly found themselves unemployed. Regular Americans, trying to live a dream we've been told we should live.
"Get a job at McDonalds." How do you feed a family like that? Or pay for even a small home? Moreover, even when it's possible, why is this the highest we aspire to in America? In the richest, most prosperous country in the world? Is this what we've become?
It's embarrassing. And we're not even broke as a nation. We can make it work. We're trying to work in the system. For accountability and transparency. And I don't know why you'd fight against that.
The Occupy movement has never been about free money. First of all, that doesn't make any real sense, except that we know that we've seen huge financial establishments fuck up big time and get a free pass. I know that if someone offered to forgive me my student loans, I wouldn't say no, but that's never been the point.
What really rubs me the wrong way isn't disagreement on principles, but just the blatant mis-characterization of what's happening. Like these 53% bozos who hold up signs saying that they've worked three jobs at minimum wage to get by like that's something that should be happening. Or like the people that tell us to get a job flipping burgers like that's going to fix our money issues.
You know what I say to someone telling me to get a McJob like that's the solution to my problems? Fuck you. Because all my life I've heard, "If you don't do well, you'll end up saying 'do you want fries with that?', so you'd better go to college and study hard." So I did, and I'm seeing this line and thinking, "You know what, fine. We'll all go down to the fucking McDonalds and apply. I guess it was this easy all along! Hey McDonalds, do you have room for all the unemployed in America? Well, do you?"
But fuck it. Because it's a simple answer to a complex problem, ain't it? And I guess every time you see a commenter on the news talking about how not enough new jobs are being made to even keep up with the birthrate, that must be the unemployed's fault, too. But hey, all that tells me is that there are a bunch of smarmy people who think that we should just switch to a McEconomy.
There's a growing economic disparity. We're seeing quality of employment drop while payouts for the top tiers become geometrically larger. The average income, when accounting for inflation has declined. I don't know why anyone but the top tier would ever fight for this, but I'm not exactly seeing people who stand against OWS speak to it.
Jobs are difficult to get. The quality of jobs that are available has declined. Fewer jobs are stable, and the economic situation for many people has become precarious. Saying 'get a job, protesters' is missing the point. We want jobs. I'm not sure why wanting a good job with fair compensation has suddenly become something to be mocked for.
And rage aside, I keep hearing, "Live at or below your means, and you wouldn't be in this situation." The point is that a few years ago, people in stable jobs suddenly had their means drop drastically. Two stable jobs became one tenuous job, or no jobs at all. Values on property plummeted. People were left holding debts they struggled to pay off. It's not a few people - it was scores of them. Hundreds of thousands. People that shouldn't have probably bought homes. People that had their homes for years and suddenly found themselves unemployed. Regular Americans, trying to live a dream we've been told we should live.
"Get a job at McDonalds." How do you feed a family like that? Or pay for even a small home? Moreover, even when it's possible, why is this the highest we aspire to in America? In the richest, most prosperous country in the world? Is this what we've become?
It's embarrassing. And we're not even broke as a nation. We can make it work. We're trying to work in the system. For accountability and transparency. And I don't know why you'd fight against that.
