Taken With a Grain of Salt: The Truth About Occupy Wall Street

christophercaplan:

                 

I originally started OccupyAnswers to answer some of my own curiosities about the Occupy Wall Street movement.  I spent my Saturday night interviewing various protesters at Occupy Los Angeles which, as one would expect, yielded mixed results.

The finger pointing has begun with the New York General Assembly’s “Declaration of Occupation.”  And many occupiers around the country (and now around the globe) share their sentiments.

My initial qualm with the movement was their ambiguous demands, but it seems clear to me now that what’s going on here is beyond specific demands.  Through tiring debate I’ve come to the conclusion that the Occupy Movement is valuable because it provides three basic functions:

•  For most people (particularly the inarticulate majority) it creates a sense of solidarity that there is an injustice that must be addressed, and that you are not alone in feeling this way.
• The system is ripe for change; the American social psyche is in a state of vulnerability and by speaking out you can make a difference in the present and;
• most importantly, it is fostering an environment that encourages the facilitation of ideas.

    The facilitation of ideas is the cornerstone of meaningful change.

That’s where you come in.  OccupyAnswers is about taking societal ownership.  It’s okay to feel discouraged or confused, because the solutions to our problem(s) are not self-evident.  But first, if we are to get ANYTHING done, we must encourage the healthy exchange of ideas - as well as the acceptance that we are all to some extent responsible for where we are.  If you’d like to join us and take action, here’s a link to some suggestions.

Occupy Wall Street is in a transitive phase.  Soon, meaningful demands will be established.  And you can contribute.  You just have to let your voice be heard.

(Source: tricksterguru)

AN OPEN PLEA TO ALL SUPPORTERS OF OCCUPY WALL STREET

In order for OccupyAnswers to be effective we need to expand beyond Los Angeles.  Our goal is to document individual accounts of Occupy Protesters in each state in order to get hands-on accounts of what people are actually saying, thinking, feeling and demanding.  

Here’s how it works:

• Create an Occupy Answers tumblr for your state such as this:

                            occupyanswersphoenix.tumblr.com

• Grab yourself a video camera or audio recorder
• Go down to a local protest and start asking people what their demands are as individuals, or at the very least what they are here for.
• Make a soundcloud or youtube (or whatever works, we encourage creativity) and post your recordings.
• Lastly, share your results and spread the word.

Occupyanswers.tumblr.com is currently the facilitator for occupy answers for Los Angeles.

WE NEED YOUR HELP.  FOR QUESTIONS OR HELP MESSAGE US IN THE ASK BOX.

(Source: occupyanswers)