# \#OccupyWallStreet **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 19, 2011, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/occupywallstreet/596851 "2011-09-19T18:27:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 75
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2011, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/occupywallstreet/596851/1481 "2011-10-30T14:39:55Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > I just reread the first page of this thread. > > It’s rather hilarious in hindsight. Well, as the OP, I can readily admit that my dismissive tone reflected a view of the duration and attention that this activity would garner, and that prediction was as wrong as wrong could be. In fact, I already offered up this admission some time back, saying I still thought the goals of the protest were unfocused and to the extent that they were focused, I disagreed with them… but the idea that the protest was going to be short-lived and impotent was very wrong. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2011, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/occupywallstreet/596851/1482 "2011-10-30T14:46:45Z")
I have my own, and it still puzzles me. Where are the punk-ass anarchists? Attention mongering shit-disturbers like that always flock to such gatherings, yet their absence here is stark. Why? ---
**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:** [October 30, 2011, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/occupywallstreet/596851/1483 "2011-10-30T15:00:42Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > I have my own, and it still puzzles me. Where are the punk-ass anarchists? Attention mongering shit-disturbers like that always flock to such gatherings, yet their absence here is stark. Why? OWS is too organized for them? ---
**Author:** ![Scylla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@Scylla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scylla)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2011, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/occupywallstreet/596851/1484 "2011-10-30T15:07:19Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > The phrase clearly presents us with the notion that its all a matter of perspective, really. That whether or not Glen Beck is a hate-mongering pustule depends on ones political stance, no? Did you mean to say something else? Well, then, why didn’t you? > > If you can’t explain what you say, who can? > > You seem to suffer from odd lapses in cognitive capacity when challenged on your bullshit. You might want to see somebody about that. Do you shave? Use a mirror? Ah, well, there’s the moment. …He said in response to a request for clarity. How about I say that MM is worse than GB? Does that address whatever it is you are going on and complaining about? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tao_s_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2011, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/occupywallstreet/596851/1485 "2011-10-30T16:04:17Z")
[Big Banks Shell Out to Members of Congress Who Could Kill CFPB](http://www.thenation.com/blog/160486/big-banks-shell-out-members-congress-who-could-kill-cfpb) > [@](#): > > Campaign finance reform organization Public Campaign points out the extent to which it pays to be a member of the House Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit: > > “Members of the House Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit have received $12.8 million from the political action committees (PACs) and employees of the banking and finance industries throughout their career.” > > What’s more, this is an equal opportunity benefit. Together, Democrats and Republicans received a total of $3 million from the banking and finance industries in the last cycle. Of that $3 million, Democrats received $1.4 million, and Republicans received $1.6 million. Indeed, the current chairman of the subcommittee, Representative Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), took $114,100 in campaign contributions from big banks and investment firms during the 2010 elections. > > With that in mind, it doesn’t come as a surprise to learn that the subcommittee recently took steps to weaken the new consumer protection regulations in Dodd-Frank. [Volcker Rule, Once Simple, Now Boggles](http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/22/business/volcker-rule-grows-from-simple-to-complex.html?pagewanted=all) > [@](#): > > “Here’s the key word in the rules: ‘exemption,’ ” former Senator Ted Kaufman, Democrat of Delaware, told me. “Let me tell you, as soon as you see that, it’s pronounced ‘loophole.’ That’s what it means in English.” Mr. Kaufman, now teaching at Duke University School of Law, earlier proposed a tougher version of the Volcker Rule, which was voted down in the Senate. “We’ve been through this before,” he said. “I know these folks, these Wall Street guys. I went to school with them. They’re smart as hell. You give them the smallest little hole, and they’ll run through it.” > > “I support the concept of the Volcker Rule,” Representative Peter Welch, Democrat of Vermont, said, “but these rules aren’t going to be effective. We’ve taken something simple and made it complex. The fact that it’s 300 pages shows the banks pushing back and having it both ways.” **Scylla** , your employers are just trying to make a profit, right? Do they just not care how much suffering their incompetence caused? ---
**Author:** ![FuriousGeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecae2f/32.png) [@FuriousGeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FuriousGeorge)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2011, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/occupywallstreet/596851/1486 "2011-10-30T16:07:41Z")
> [@PhiloVance](#): > > Furious, go back to being curious. You’re coming off as a fuckin’ loon. 😉 Loons aren’t welcome? If loons’ weren’t welcome, the hamsters on this site would die of boredom and lack of exercise. This site is populated by nothing but loons. I embrace my loon-acy and hold it as a badge of honor ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2011, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/occupywallstreet/596851/1487 "2011-10-30T17:10:52Z")
The cry of the loon, on a still night on a Minnesota lake is an expression of sublime goofiness. Hints at the joyful good nature of a loving Godess. Not God, if it were God, the loon would have fangs. ---
**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:** [October 30, 2011, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/occupywallstreet/596851/1488 "2011-10-30T17:16:20Z")
I don’t kno about OWS, but this thread has definitely jumped the shark. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2011, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/occupywallstreet/596851/1489 "2011-10-30T17:26:22Z")
Well, golly, **John** , didn’t mean to drag you in here. Tell me how I did it, and I’ll try not to do it again. ---
**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:** [October 30, 2011, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/occupywallstreet/596851/1490 "2011-10-30T17:27:07Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Well, golly, **John** , didn’t mean to drag you in here. Tell me how I did it, and I’ll try not to do it again. You did it by posting. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2011, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/occupywallstreet/596851/1491 "2011-10-30T17:41:40Z")
Intense personal magnetism. It can be a curse. ---
**Author:** ![Scylla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@Scylla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scylla)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2011, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/occupywallstreet/596851/1492 "2011-10-30T17:42:53Z")
> [@The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](#): > > [Big Banks Shell Out to Members of Congress Who Could Kill CFPB](http://www.thenation.com/blog/160486/big-banks-shell-out-members-congress-who-could-kill-cfpb) > > [Volcker Rule, Once Simple, Now Boggles](http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/22/business/volcker-rule-grows-from-simple-to-complex.html?pagewanted=all) > > **Scylla** , your employers are just trying to make a profit, right? > > Do they just not care how much suffering their incompetence caused? What is your thesis ? ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2011, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/occupywallstreet/596851/1493 "2011-10-30T17:57:02Z")
I think \*\*Bricker’\*\*s error of assessment speaks to a larger point, something that makes the event very interesting. No one seems to have anticipated that it would go as it has. Like I said, I figured the punks would make a hash of it right quickly, they would provoke conflict regardless of the good intentions of the OWS people. Its not simply that **Bricker** was wrong, I think we pretty much all were. Just about the last thing I expected was an outpouring of popular support and sympathy. I was at Berkeley in '68, and I was at OWS in Mpls. Not the same country? Not sure its the same _planet!_ There’s something happening here, what it is ain’t exactly clear. There’s a man with a gun over there, telling me I’ve got nothing to worry about. If anybody totally understands all this, they’re one up on me, that’s for sure. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2011, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/occupywallstreet/596851/1494 "2011-10-30T18:12:20Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > I have my own, and it still puzzles me. Where are the punk-ass anarchists? Attention mongering shit-disturbers like that always flock to such gatherings, yet their absence here is stark. Why? I don’t know why they are not present (or at least not acting up), but I expect that the extended duration of the occupations would not have taken place if they had been up to their usual desctruction, for once the anarchists start smashing the state (or at least the the window of the local bookseller), the PTB have little option other than to clear out the protesters. It then becomes an anarchist vs. jackboot battle, rather than a protest of any particular issue. The Occupiers have done wll to recognize and try to avoid this, and by doing so, have made themselves heard over an extended period. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2011, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/occupywallstreet/596851/1495 "2011-10-30T18:21:16Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Funny, that actually happened to me. When I was but a wee lad, my grandparents finally saved up enough money for a TV. There was a kids show, can’t remember the name, but the idea was they would broadcast a pattern, and you would use a special screen of plastic and some “special” crayons to fill in the missing parts of the pattern. Which I didn’t have. [Winky Dink and You](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winky_Dink_and_You). A bit before _my_ time, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Zeriel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/58956e/32.png) [@Zeriel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeriel)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2011, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/occupywallstreet/596851/1496 "2011-10-30T19:01:03Z")
> [@Muffin](#): > > I don’t know why they are not present (or at least not acting up), but I expect that the extended duration of the occupations would not have taken place if they had been up to their usual desctruction, for once the anarchists start smashing the state (or at least the the window of the local bookseller), the PTB have little option other than to clear out the protesters. It then becomes an anarchist vs. jackboot battle, rather than a protest of any particular issue. The Occupiers have done wll to recognize and try to avoid this, and by doing so, have made themselves heard over an extended period. Honestly, the fact that anarchists are NOT out in force (as they seem to be for every other major economic protest) indicates to me that the OWS types have been committed to the long haul since day one, since I cannot see those types staying out unless actively kept out. ---
**Author:** ![Moe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moe/32/2972_2.png) [@Moe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moe)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2011, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/occupywallstreet/596851/1497 "2011-10-30T19:37:06Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > I think \*\*Bricker’\*\*s error of assessment speaks to a larger point, something that makes the event very interesting. No one seems to have anticipated that it would go as it has. Like I said, I figured the punks would make a hash of it right quickly, they would provoke conflict regardless of the good intentions of the OWS people. Its not simply that **Bricker** was wrong, I think we pretty much all were. Just about the last thing I expected was an outpouring of popular support and sympathy. I was at Berkeley in '68, and I was at OWS in Mpls. Not the same country? Not sure its the same _planet!_ > > There’s something happening here, what it is ain’t exactly clear. There’s a man with a gun over there, telling me I’ve got nothing to worry about. If anybody totally understands all this, they’re one up on me, that’s for sure. I’m disillusioned by the whole thing as well. For me the disconnect comes from the disparity between: (a) dismissive (and even mocking) coverage by the mainstream media (as best as I can follow it from Berlin) and not just Fox. It seems like no one in the media understands it at all. (b) My tiny little ca. 300-person Facebook circle, who apart from maybe 3 people are posting these ridiculous (parodying the 99%ers) photos of handwritten testimonials describing the pulling up bootstraps and working 100-hour weeks in 6 jobs raising 40 kids and taking pride in living in a country where hard work is rewarded. AND (a) the polls I’ve seen all far more for than against the protests (b) the videos I’m seeing showing mostly reasonable, cogent comments (e.g. today I saw a video of the NY authorities confiscating 6 generators because of the danger. The person taking the video responded by asking the authorities in a very civilized way how to find out which generators would be OK to use, and then advising all the others not to get angry or frustrated but to focus on acquiring the right ones. ). This is the beginning, and it’s not going away. I don’t know how the weather is going to affect things, and I’d be surprised if a significant number make it through even a few weeks of heavy snow, but they’ll be back when the weather changes even stronger in resolve and having learned lessons of the first wave…OR the same frustrations will take a different shape. BUT the frustration isn’t going away. Acceptance of the situation (which I define mainly as corporate money in politics and lack of accountability from the financial sector) isn’t going to win. I just wonder how long it’s gonna take. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2011, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/occupywallstreet/596851/1498 "2011-10-30T19:41:14Z")
> [@FuriousGeorge](#): > > OK asshole, here is what I was going to post. > > How far back to do we have to go to get your delusions of American government back? This shit isn’t new or unprecedented. You’re a complete moron if you think there is something special about police quelling this protest. People protest. People ignore the autorities. People get hurt. It happens. People don’t just appear suddenly hurt. Somebody has to hurt them. It does not happen. it is done deliberately. The authorities are deliberately hurting people. I thought America was supposed to be better than that. At least there are people who think that it should be. You have apparently made peace with the idea that the police can wade into a bunch of unarmed people and fuck them up. But it does not happen. It is done deliberately. Kind of like middle east countries who hurt their citizens to shut them up. We have no problem doing the same thing. And the police are happy to do it. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2011, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/occupywallstreet/596851/1499 "2011-10-30T20:15:50Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > [Winky Dink and You](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winky_Dink_and_You). > > A bit before _my_ time, anyway. Awsome! Thanks for the link. I’ve referred the currently available kit and DVDs to a friend with pre-school grandkids already. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2011, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/occupywallstreet/596851/1500 "2011-10-30T21:10:59Z")
> [@](#): > > …CBS was also concerned about parents’ complaints about children drawing on the screen… Mmmm. Yes. Indeed. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/occupywallstreet/596851.md?page=74) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/occupywallstreet/596851.md?page=76)