# can someone explain to me what this "occupying xxxx" movement is? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 17, 2011, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-to-me-what-this-occupying-xxxx-movement-is/606500 "2011-12-17T03:52:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2011, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-to-me-what-this-occupying-xxxx-movement-is/606500/21 "2011-12-19T15:36:46Z")
> [@RaftPeople](#): > > Shouldn’t the general population be aware of the issue given that the general population is well within the 99%? Do you think a hundred years ago that men were somehow unaware that women couldn’t vote? It wasn’t just the fact that women couldn’t vote that needed to be brought to their attention. The suffragette movement had to also convey the idea that this was unjust and should be changed. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2011, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-to-me-what-this-occupying-xxxx-movement-is/606500/22 "2011-12-19T15:39:50Z")
This isn’t really much of a GQ question. [This recent thread in GD](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=629515) addressed the identical question. ---
**Author:** ![BlinkingDuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eada6e/32.png) [@BlinkingDuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlinkingDuck)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2011, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-to-me-what-this-occupying-xxxx-movement-is/606500/23 "2011-12-19T15:41:43Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > I’m having a hard time understanding just what good this movement will have. Will class inequality change because of squatters or protesters? More ominiously, it could be the tip of the iceburg of significant social unrest in the future. Protests are easily ignored and marginalized and, most of the time they will go away, … until one happens that won’t. Then there is trouble. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2011, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-to-me-what-this-occupying-xxxx-movement-is/606500/24 "2011-12-19T16:04:08Z")
Another part is the massive amounts of student loan debt. A year ago, there were “Occupy” protests in Britain over student loan debt, and that aspect has certainly remained in the Occupy protests in the USA. The cost of university has gone up. The government will provide you with low-interest loans, but with principals in the myriads of dollars, they are a great burden on young people who in a previous generation would be buying homes and starting families and saving for the next generation. And in the 1990’s, Congress passed a law saying that student loans can’t be forgiven for bankruptcy. Throw in high unemployment–over 20% unemployment for the under-30’s–and you have an inevitable protest. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2011, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-to-me-what-this-occupying-xxxx-movement-is/606500/25 "2011-12-19T16:27:52Z")
primary source: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/j9gfbaGoELs/maxresdefault.jpg "Occupy America / #OccupyAmerica") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9gfbaGoELs) This video is a little biased, being a selection of protestors in their own words. It shows an aspect I was unaware of when I made my last post: the differences between local movements, specifically New York’s protests against Wall Street, Oakland’s port-focused protest, and Cincinnati’s protests about corruption and fossil fuels. ---
**Author:** ![What\_the](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f4b2a3/32.png) [@What\_the](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_the)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2011, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-to-me-what-this-occupying-xxxx-movement-is/606500/26 "2011-12-22T20:24:49Z")
> [@Khendrask](#): > > I’d like to know the actual total number of the “Occupy” stand-arounders… I have a feeling that they would end up being actually somewhere around .1%, leaving the 99.9% of us left out of their elitist organization. Me too. I’d like to see a distinction made between 1) the Occupiers and their antics and 2) the few occasions when the unions have gathered some of their members and a bunch of old people to piggyback onto the “movement”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-to-me-what-this-occupying-xxxx-movement-is/606500.md?page=1)