OasisBU wrote:I think we are all missing a really great opportunity here. Our generation is finally taking a stand and hitting the streets.

The best thing that could happen here is if all of the people sitting on the sidelines with opinions and ideas joined in. I think we can all agree the system isn't working for the majority of the country (or world) and things need to change. In general a system is not a bad thing but when it has become overrun by greed and inequity, things need to change. A little revolution every now and then isn't a bad thing.

I am inspired by what's going on, I have not joined in but I am curious. Part of me has been waiting to see if this group can articulate it's position better. The media certainly aren't doing them many favors by comparing them to the tea party and showing mostly dirty looking hippies. This isn't a love in and it's not some secret left wing agenda response to the tea party. It is the moment for our generation to show the world what we have learned from watching the baby boomers sell out. I just hope we don't waste this chance.

Tomorrow I may go down to Wall Street to check this thing out - I also heard they will be in Park Slope this weekend.

1st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution - Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

OasisBU wrote:Overall its an interesting perspective. It seems like they are putting a little something in there for everyone. Some of it I would want to see more proof on, and not every point is well articulated. There is some vagueness, but its a good start I guess.

The real question is: they made their declaration, now what are they going to do about it? What is the plan of action? Right now they are just assembling the troops basically but what is the battle plan?

My point. In bold.

OasisBU wrote:

martin wrote:

Bippity10 wrote:I can't stand when really rich actors, mucisians and athletes like Bill Maher etc try to pretend that they are not part of the really rich. That they are one of us schleps fighting the power. All Maher does is play to his crowd, whip them in to a frenzy, get them on his side and then waltz on home to count his money. These guys care as much about us and our plight as the politicians do.

because you have been successful you can't empathize or understand or have a voice?

I guess I don't watch Maher, is he pretending to be poor or not part of the really rich?

I don't get all the Maher hate - he doesn't pretend to be poor. He often talks about how the poor are fooled into voting for things that actually hurt them.

I guess a lot of people are turned off by his sense of humor, but in general he tells it like it is. Sometimes he gets a little too preachy about his own view but who on TV doesn't?

I don't like him. He's abrasive, preachy, condescending, does not put his money where his mouth is and I think he is a hypocrite. And this is coming from someone that agrees with him a pretty good amount of times. I can't stand Palin but his treatment of Palin was exactly what he constantly complains that the conservatives do. I think he has a voice, he uses it and laughs all the way to the bank.

I guess after wrestling with news all day long Im not into it after hours. Thats my time. I'll watch some CNN but not intense commentary. Left or right they all start to sound the same. Lots of things wrong and no practical solutions. I have learned to accept the wonderful things we have and understand we have never, nor will ever be able to have the perfection we so desire. If it existed it was a fallacy in textbooks.

Nalod wrote:
I prefer Jon Stewart. He is kind of goofy, keeps it light and lets the actions/words speak for themselves. I turned off Maher years ago. Same for Carlin before he died. Not saying I disagreed with him but the intensity he bought was just getting mean spirited.

I guess after wrestling with news all day long Im not into it after hours. Thats my time. I'll watch some CNN but not intense commentary. Left or right they all start to sound the same. Lots of things wrong and no practical solutions. I have learned to accept the wonderful things we have and understand we have never, nor will ever be able to have the perfection we so desire. If it existed it was a fallacy in textbooks.

Agreed on all points. Conservatives and Liberals both have a great ideas but nobody listens. IF you really listen to these commentaires on the right and left it really begins to sound like children. Defend your point of view at all costs, and when you don't really have support for your opinion just call the other side names. Happens on this site a lot as well.

http://blogs.hbr.org/haque/2011/10/make_the_dangerous_choice_to_dissent.html

Work harder, feel emptier, buy more, grow poorer...work harder. Sound familiar? That's the conventional wisdom of the omnipresent church of more, bigger, faster, cheaper, nastier, now. The problem is that the conventional wisdom isn't just wrong. If we want real human prosperity, the ability to live a live that not merely glitters, but that matters — well, then it was never right.

That's the nightmare whirling noiselessly within the dilapidated American dream. And while the dream's being furiously exported around the globe — and while the world might be seduced, despite lingering suspicion, by it — you and I know, by now, better: the paradigm that was supposed to lead us to the promised land has instead led us to this land of broken promises.

Hence, my suggestion is this: If you want to live a meaningfully better life, you're going to have to make the dangerous choice to dissent. A life lived meaningfully isn't denominated by digital friends, designer logos, or wads of paper notes. It's denominated by what you've lived, what it's worth to you, and what that's worth to humanity. That's the heart of eudaimonia, a new economic paradigm based on fulfilling human potential — not creating and marketing useless stuff. It's so different from our current conception that I had to reach back to Ancient Greece for a name I thought captured its essence. I'm developing it further in an HBR Single — a short, digital essay I'm planning to release in December. But in the meantime, here's how I see the crucial elements of a eudaimonic life:

Impact. Pursuing the paycheck first and last is a great way to spend your life desperately unfulfilled. Insanely great work isn't motivated by glittering jackpots — but by an abiding desire to, as Steve Jobs put it, make a dent in the universe. So take a deep breath and aim squarely at the lofty apex of human accomplishment — while stepping firmly onto the grimy pavement.

People. Life is about people, not product. If you're spending 80% of your time on "product", you're not fully alive. Lasting relationships aren't built by "networking" but by caring. This means investing in people, not just grinning at them. Hence, if you want to "connect," you probably have to do what's more dangerous than merely swapping email addresses or biz cards — you have to relate.

Purpose. What is the fundamental reason you are here? To conquer the next pair of designer trophy jeans? Hardly. Brands are for cattle, strategy is for games, and consumers are for "output." Human life is about lasting outcomes, not just short-term payoffs; hence, I'd say the stuff of razor-sharp purpose begins there. Which human outcomes are you here to transform?

Courage. Compromising too readily with the past never creates the future. It only recreates the past. You can't find fertile new ground by dully plodding along after the herd — you've got to veer off in a different direction. So dream bigger. Be hopelessly naïve. And persevere unflinchingly.

Self-respect. If your society's going haywire, it's up to you to begin fixing it. If your work is sucking at your soul, and you see it doing relentless damage to people and society, quit and do something else. No, it's not easy — but odds are, the axe is going to fall over the next decade anyways. Value your inner life as much as you value your outer stuff. Stop buying into marketing's spin-cycle of self-loathing — "Feeling anxious? Buy this, now!!" — and start investing your time, energy, and imagination in action instead of stuff.

The first challenge is seeing through the empty promise of opulence. But the second, tougher challenge is refuting it. To do that, we're going to have start living heretically. We're going to have not just disbelieve the conventional wisdom — we're going to have to defy it.

jrodmc wrote:

Bippity10 wrote:

Silverfuel wrote:

martin wrote:

Bippity10 wrote:I can't stand when really rich actors, mucisians and athletes like Bill Maher etc try to pretend that they are not part of the really rich. That they are one of us schleps fighting the power. All Maher does is play to his crowd, whip them in to a frenzy, get them on his side and then waltz on home to count his money. These guys care as much about us and our plight as the politicians do.

because you have been successful you can't empathize or understand or have a voice?

I guess I don't watch Maher, is he pretending to be poor or not part of the really rich?

No man, he doesn't act like he is poor at all. This is just a way to discredit what he is saying. If he was a poor person saying it, then people would say he is a socialist asking for a hand out.

Yeah, because that's the way the Bip handles things. Running around calling people socialist. No those types of arguments are for you guys to have.

The jrod be severely hating on people who refer to themselves in third person.

The Bip apologizes

DurzoBlint wrote:

jrodmc wrote:

Bippity10 wrote:

Silverfuel wrote:

martin wrote:

Bippity10 wrote:I can't stand when really rich actors, mucisians and athletes like Bill Maher etc try to pretend that they are not part of the really rich. That they are one of us schleps fighting the power. All Maher does is play to his crowd, whip them in to a frenzy, get them on his side and then waltz on home to count his money. These guys care as much about us and our plight as the politicians do.

because you have been successful you can't empathize or understand or have a voice?

I guess I don't watch Maher, is he pretending to be poor or not part of the really rich?

No man, he doesn't act like he is poor at all. This is just a way to discredit what he is saying. If he was a poor person saying it, then people would say he is a socialist asking for a hand out.

Yeah, because that's the way the Bip handles things. Running around calling people socialist. No those types of arguments are for you guys to have.

The jrod be severely hating on people who refer to themselves in third person.

You need to be fair to Bill Maher. He is the ONLY filthy rich guy I've heard come out and say he should be more heavily taxed. He takes ownership of the unfairness of it all and, he's been known to hang with the hip hop crowd and blaze up too:)

Instead of talking about it, why doesn't he just do it himself? Simply pay more yourself. Be a leader, maybe others will follow. Instead of Spening $2000 a night at the playboy mansion send that money in to uncle sam. Then sit back and pat yourself on the bank as the government sends that money to Solyndra or Halliburton, new weapons to kill people, their own salary increases.

Bippity10 wrote:

DurzoBlint wrote:

jrodmc wrote:

Bippity10 wrote:

Silverfuel wrote:

martin wrote:

Bippity10 wrote:I can't stand when really rich actors, mucisians and athletes like Bill Maher etc try to pretend that they are not part of the really rich. That they are one of us schleps fighting the power. All Maher does is play to his crowd, whip them in to a frenzy, get them on his side and then waltz on home to count his money. These guys care as much about us and our plight as the politicians do.

because you have been successful you can't empathize or understand or have a voice?

I guess I don't watch Maher, is he pretending to be poor or not part of the really rich?

No man, he doesn't act like he is poor at all. This is just a way to discredit what he is saying. If he was a poor person saying it, then people would say he is a socialist asking for a hand out.

Yeah, because that's the way the Bip handles things. Running around calling people socialist. No those types of arguments are for you guys to have.

The jrod be severely hating on people who refer to themselves in third person.

You need to be fair to Bill Maher. He is the ONLY filthy rich guy I've heard come out and say he should be more heavily taxed. He takes ownership of the unfairness of it all and, he's been known to hang with the hip hop crowd and blaze up too:)

Instead of talking about it, why doesn't he just do it himself? Simply pay more yourself. Be a leader, maybe others will follow.

Bonn1997 wrote:

Bippity10 wrote:

DurzoBlint wrote:

jrodmc wrote:

Bippity10 wrote:

Silverfuel wrote:

martin wrote:

Bippity10 wrote:I can't stand when really rich actors, mucisians and athletes like Bill Maher etc try to pretend that they are not part of the really rich. That they are one of us schleps fighting the power. All Maher does is play to his crowd, whip them in to a frenzy, get them on his side and then waltz on home to count his money. These guys care as much about us and our plight as the politicians do.

because you have been successful you can't empathize or understand or have a voice?

I guess I don't watch Maher, is he pretending to be poor or not part of the really rich?

No man, he doesn't act like he is poor at all. This is just a way to discredit what he is saying. If he was a poor person saying it, then people would say he is a socialist asking for a hand out.

Yeah, because that's the way the Bip handles things. Running around calling people socialist. No those types of arguments are for you guys to have.

The jrod be severely hating on people who refer to themselves in third person.

You need to be fair to Bill Maher. He is the ONLY filthy rich guy I've heard come out and say he should be more heavily taxed. He takes ownership of the unfairness of it all and, he's been known to hang with the hip hop crowd and blaze up too:)

Instead of talking about it, why doesn't he just do it himself? Simply pay more yourself. Be a leader, maybe others will follow.

You seen his tax records? How do you know he doesn't do this?

I don't know this anymore then you know if he really gives a rats asse about the poor. All we can do is take a guess based on the evidence. I do know that he spends an awful lot of time at the Playboy mansion. That's about it.

By nature of my job and some family membres I've been in this world. I've been around these people. I've heard the ranting about the plight of the poor as I watch the person order a $1000 bottle of wine that doesn't get finished. It's made me very cynical and I admit that. But I don't think there are a huge amount of people that prove me wrong.

jrodmc wrote:

DurzoBlint wrote:

jrodmc wrote:

Bippity10 wrote:

Silverfuel wrote:

martin wrote:

Bippity10 wrote:I can't stand when really rich actors, mucisians and athletes like Bill Maher etc try to pretend that they are not part of the really rich. That they are one of us schleps fighting the power. All Maher does is play to his crowd, whip them in to a frenzy, get them on his side and then waltz on home to count his money. These guys care as much about us and our plight as the politicians do.

because you have been successful you can't empathize or understand or have a voice?

I guess I don't watch Maher, is he pretending to be poor or not part of the really rich?

No man, he doesn't act like he is poor at all. This is just a way to discredit what he is saying. If he was a poor person saying it, then people would say he is a socialist asking for a hand out.

Yeah, because that's the way the Bip handles things. Running around calling people socialist. No those types of arguments are for you guys to have.

The jrod be severely hating on people who refer to themselves in third person.

You need to be fair to Bill Maher. He is the ONLY filthy rich guy I've heard come out and say he should be more heavily taxed. He takes ownership of the unfairness of it all and, he's been known to hang with the hip hop crowd and blaze up too:)

Yeah and he's got black girlfriends, too. He must be on the level.

The simplicity of this board just boggles the mind sometimes.

I was under the impression that Durzo was joking