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Amelia Adams's avatar

I spent some time in Zucotti Park with OWS and it was nothing like it was portrayed in the media. It was like you said: people from all walks of life came together over the economic crisis. It wasn’t a bunch of commie hippies. Everyone I knew there was a capitalist who simply wanted guardrails and accountability. (Also it was very clean.) Funding was crowd-sourced. There was no one single leader and I think that’s part of what did them in. When someone with money stepped up and said “I’ll help be your voice” the entire OWS/99% movement disappeared into thin air. The banks didn’t learn their lesson and the economy still serves the 1%.

And I think that’s when Millennials and young GenX learned how powerless we are. That wasn’t our only attempt to make a difference. Maybe it was marching against the Iraq war and being completely ignored. Maybe it was peaceful student protesters, sitting with their arms linked, getting sprayed directly in the eyeballs by cops. We tried. And nothing changed. It’s hard not to succumb to apathy when people are focused on the wrong enemy.

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Meta Ronin's avatar

I'm sending you my comment telepathically

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