The self portraits of 99%s with notes describing themselves affected me somewhat. Some are easy to dismiss as whiny but many are obviously feeling the same pain I see in family and friends around me. It literally puts a face, many faces actually, on our problems. I'm very glad folks like you are out there recording these times. I mean that because I see in you someone without a particular agenda other then improvement. I have never seen you as someone that ignores or tries to cover up obvious discrepancies in what politicians say and what they do. I find your support of Ron Paul refreshing. While I disagree with many of his policies the thing I most admire about him is his consistency. There are few things our President has done I approve of but killing terrorists is at the top of the list. Ron is wrong on this.
Now, with the ass kissing portion of my post out of the way, let's get to the Occupy(pickyourplace) kerfuffle. I made the observation in a post on G+ that this may be one of those times when you see Tea Partiers marching next to Code Pinkers. Nobody likes corp. welfare and high unemployment except for the lobbyists and politicians that engineer it. Even they don't like it when they get caught. On the one hand I'm glad folks are "doing something" but on the other I'm concerned with what seems to be unions trying to highjack the movement for their own selfish ends. They are some of the biggest causes of our current crisis. Just read s story how GM has thousands of Volts sitting around not getting sold. This is what happens when government builds your cars or your solar panels. Somebody else always makes them better AND cheaper. My concern is most of those 'protesting' don't see things quite the same way I do. Far too many are on the Class Warfare path and this disturbs me. I have no beef with the rich. In fact, I appreciate that they pay the most and give the most. I hate favoritism and that is what government control and the punish/reward aspect of taxation is all about. I hate it. It's why I like Herman Cain's 'plan' of 9-9-9 better then anything else anybody has come up with. Getting rid of ALL the loopholes for the very wealthy would be awesome. It's galling to find out some of the most ardent celebrity liberal supporters have much of their wealth sheltered from taxes. Smart but hugely hypocritical. That said the rich aren't the problem, our screwy tax laws and a political class bent on pork and back scratching and huge, mind numbing waste are. I agree we need to clean house in Washington but I fear most of those in the streets would disagree with me who the major culprits are.
As usual, Rigs makes the most sense of all the comments here. While I'm not a supporter of the status quo exactly I do have a substantial amount of my retirement in the market and T-bills. The required destruction of our current system to come up with something more to Archy's taste I'm scared to death of. That's what crazy people like George Soros want. That's not for me. A more vigilant FTC and massive simplification of the tax code I would welcome.
Thems my thoughts but I'm keeping an open mind.
On Mon, Oct 3, 2011 at 12:42 PM, gabbydott <gabbydott@gmail.com> wrote:
Ok, let's settle for rule #10! :)On Mon, Oct 3, 2011 at 7:23 PM, Chris Jenkins <digitalprecipice@gmail.com> wrote:
Fantastic link, Gabby! I especially like number 10. :DNo, by normalcy, I meant that the media focus to date has been on the counterculture types mostly, while ignoring those in business casual attire. It makes it easy for the audience at large to be separate from them. I want to show the world how many of their PEERS are there, coworkers, colleagues, classmates...I want them to see that this isn't just some angry washed out hippies, but an actual populist uprising comprised of their friends and neighbors.
On Mon, Oct 3, 2011 at 12:57 PM, gabbydott <gabbydott@gmail.com> wrote:Ah, Chris, let me make clear that we understand that the "normal" American media is employing this technique of "creating a sense of connection" which worries us here across the pond. We therefore welcome independent views in the U.S. What you'd call "left" is still very much "right" for our senses. What you call normalcy is what we often perceive as extremely ignorant.Let me give you an example of how we believe you need to take photos that deserve the label "independent":http://www.lomography.com/about/the-ten-golden-rules
On Mon, Oct 3, 2011 at 6:21 PM, Chris Jenkins <digitalprecipice@gmail.com> wrote:Danke, Gabby! There's a general sense of marginalization about the group, and I'm hoping to capture the normalcy of the protesters...create a sense of connection.
On Oct 3, 2011 11:50 AM, "gabbydott" <gabbydott@gmail.com> wrote:
> Cheers, Chris! Documenting and sharing what you see as happening is a good
> thing, I find.
>
> It is very much of THE thing to do today, to gather with people who share
> one's own view to demonstrate one's enlarged physical mass. I don't think
> that it is smarter than finding new ways of fair communication beforehand,
> though.
>
> But hey, we've had our share of "we are the people" pictures 22 years ago
> and we won. Go ahead and do it the American (occupying) Style! Learn to take
> scalps if you must but leave the heads on!
>
> On Sun, Oct 2, 2011 at 2:57 AM, Chris Jenkins <digitalprecipice@gmail.com>wrote:
>
>> So what do you all think of the various regional Occupy groups springing up
>> around the US, emulating OccupyWallStreet? I'm going out to OccupyTampa on
>> Thursday to do some independent media photography, but am curious about the
>> perception of the country and world at large.
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