In Defense of #Occupy. One of the biggest and most frequent criticisms of the Occupy movement is its supposed lack of message. This criticism, of all of them, is marked as particularly damning because, if true, it signals a rhetorical difficulty for sustaining and maintaining the movement and because even if it isn’t true, movements’ messages vastly depend on the direction taken by media coverage in order to appear credible and consistent. It’s also a criticism that bears more consequence because it doesn’t just come from the mouths of defensive Wall Streeters, campaigning Republicans and television anchors like Erin Burnett and Megyn Kelly. It’s an accusation that comes from a number of liberal and socially progressive places as well.
I disagree with the idea that the Occupy movement doesn’t have a unified message or a demand acting as a political nucleus. “We are the Ninety Nine Percent,” is the centralizing statement. Occupy centers itself in a more radical position, speaking as the voice of a large group of people motivated to action by classism and inequality. The problem that Occupy serves to address are the embedded classist narratives in society that create pervasive and multi-faceted wrongs that need to be righted. The response to this must itself be broad.
The very notion of physically occupying space as representatives of the Ninety Nine Percent is a demand: a demand to be seen and heard and recognized. I think this is the primary demand of the Occupy movement: to have the endemic classism and the experiences of the middle, working and lower classes be recognized for the incredible problem that they are. It is a radical cry for the country to stand up and admit that the system we use grants too much power to the wealthy white men of the world and that is a problem to be solved, not a fact of society to be accepted. It’s a call for deconstruction and renovation of the unjust structures that continue to contain us. Perhaps some think that doesn’t count as a demand because it isn’t “actionable” in the sense that it isn’t attached to some piece of legislation or some request for specific regulations.
Social movements are built around the desire for deep rooted change and a broad approach to rejecting embedded unfairness and corruption. You don’t build big social movements like this around specific requests for government action, you build them around wanting a reawakening, an upheaval and a wide recognition of everything that has gone wrong. If that makes the Occupy movement broadly focused, that’s a function of the deeply embedded, broadly unjust system to which it is a response, not a function of the movement’s failure to be on point or cohesive.
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Read this if you’ve been living under a rock or find yourself “too busy” to understand what the #Occupy movement is about
Out and about
Jenna Marbles - How to get ready for a date
This bih is hilarious !
“This is the most incredible nothing”. Philosophy Junkie.
Fourth of July PSA. Nobody wants a CUI ! Stay safe ya’ll ! hehehe
Spending my day planning out what I have left to apply for PA school. Technically once I’m done with classes this summer I’ll have all the pre-requisite courses completed but I want to make sure I have a fighting chance when applying to such a competitive program.
ALMOST THERE !
So much to blog about but life is totally intervening ! I swear I will have some really cool interesting blogs that will make you think, very soon. :)
I hate to sound like a dork but the list of books I want to read next semester (my “off” semester) keeps growing and growing ! I feel like I’ve opened Pandora’s box. I’m so intrigued and curious about so many things. I just want to know it ALL! Which isn’t possible but it can’t hurt to try hehe! I am a firm believer that learning doesn’t end in the classroom. If anyone has any suggestions let me know :)
So tonight is pretty much the last night I got to hang out with my roommate. Normally nbd. But this girl has been more than a roommate, she is one of my best friends, and closest thing I’ve had to a sister. I’m not sad though. I know I’ll see her again. It’s more like a “see ya later” but it’s just weird knowing this is the last time we’ll be in this same exact place. No more running to her room for late night advice or drunken adventures in this odd town we call Tallahassee. On the bright side, we will be moving on to bigger and better things. New adventures will be in the Big Apple. But still I can’t help but to feel prematurely nostalgic about this. She won’t ever be across the hall from me or helping me out with her great advice. This sucks. So many things are going to change in the next few months. I have this scared/exciting feeling about it. I’ve become so attached to my apt, my beautiful university, and even this raggedy old town. Who knows what the future will bring!
In Defense of #Occupy. One of the biggest and most frequent criticisms of the Occupy movement is...
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Game Day @ FSU
