Why Occupy Wall Street Failed, and Why It Needs to Return: Attempting to Bridge the Gaps

This series, Attempting to Bridge the Gaps, is all about bringing together poor white, minority, and the LGBTQ communities together in understanding and acceptance of each other. I cannot do that by myself. So for now, I want to create a place where we can talk to each other over topics that matter to us, so we can find out what the AMERICAN PEOPLE want, rather than a me, me, ME attitude, of which we are all guilty. Comments welcome, but refrain from hatred or assumption of hatred. Let’s talk.

What Was Occupy Wall Street?

Occupy Wall Street was a movement that started on September 11, 2011 in Zuccotti Park. Its goal was simple, at first: rid the government of the undue influence of corporate greed and money and ensure social justice for all. USNews (Greene, 2011) provides a decent timeline of OWS, its influences, and results.

Why OWS Failed:

OWS failed for several reasons. Two of the big ones is no leadership (Pepitone, 2013), and spreading too quickly to other, (in my opinion lesser) points of interest (Levitin, 2015). Because nobody kept this huge, rising and roused group on course to rid America of social and financial inequality, the Occupy movement fell apart. To be fair it fell into smaller, more focused groups on these lesser interests, many which continue working today.

Why OWS Needs to Return:

But, it was that huge number of people coming together that got national and international attention. The protests, sure, but also the original message before it got diluted. And it is that huge number of people, plus more, we need to actually make the change in income inequality: which, as I stated before (Neal, 2016), is what I believe to be the first step to visiting American’s other problems.

That goal requires the masses, regardless of race, sexuality, gender, or any other extraneous label thrust upon Americans, to come together again. To hold hands. Demand what Occupy Wall Street demanded in the beginning:

Take corporate money out of politics, ensure undue social and economic inequality disappears, and get rid of the social injustices too many people suffer on a regular, daily, basis.

Again, no one single group can do this. The liberals are going to have to accept poor whites, poor whites are going to have to put away the racism the rich whites manipulated into them, women and men are going to have to appreciate each other, blacks and whites will have to finally bury the blood-soaked hatchet between them, and everybody will also need our legal Mexican and Asian brothers and sisters to add their voice before there is a chance of the Established Machine changing gears and giving even one, single damn about us. Then we’ll have to continue pushing until this country is truly ours again…possibly for the very first time.

Bibliography

Greene, B. (2011, October 17). How 'Occupy Wall Street' Started and Spread. Retrieved from usnews.com: http://www.usnews.com/news/washington-whispers/articles/2011/10/17/how-occupy-wall-street-started-and-spread

Levitin, M. (2015, June 10). The Triumph of Wall Street. Retrieved from theatlantic.com: http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/06/the-triumph-of-occupy-wall-street/395408/

Neal, J. (2016, November 14). We Need to Re-Brand the Middle Class: Attempting to Bridge the Gaps. Retrieved from americandirtmorales.blogspot.com: http://americandirtmorales.blogspot.com/2016/11/we-need-to-re-brand-middle-class.html

Pepitone, J. (2013, September 17). Why Occupy Wall Street Fizzled. Retrieved from money.cnn.com: http://money.cnn.com/2013/09/17/news/economy/occupy-wall-street-fizzled/

James Neal is a fantasy author, blogger, and freelance writer/artist. Visit his titles listed below and follow him on social media:

Social Media

Facbook

Twitter

G+

Tumblr

Of Blood and Blade:

 

Paints the Invisible Eye:

Divine Right:

 

The Blacksmith’s Reaper:

We Need to Re-Brand the Middle Class: Attempting to Bridge the Gaps

This series, Attempting to Bridge the Gaps, is all about bringing together poor white, minority, and the LGBTQ communities together in understanding and acceptance of each other. I cannot do that by myself. So for now, I want to create a place where we can talk to each other over topics that matter to us, so we can find out what the AMERICAN PEOPLE want, rather than a me, me, ME attitude, of which we are all guilty. Comments welcome, but refrain from hatred or assumption of hatred. Let’s talk.

Today’s Problems Start with Money

The secret is out. An unhealthy total of all America’s wealth belongs to the top one percent. That doesn’t leave a lot of change floating around to be used by the 150 million people not playing the billionaire game. Where does that money go? Not back into the mainstream economy. Lobbying alone accounts for nearly $24 million in spending, attempting to sway our lawmakers to making things easier for the top one percent of earners.

You’ve seen these numbers. This is not news. I don’t think we realize though, just how big a boat we’re in. See, these numbers aren’t just affecting minorities, or poor whites, or the LGBTQ. These numbers affect all of us who aren’t making at least $138,000 per year. The median income is $55,775. How many of us are making anywhere near that? If we all came together and zeroed in on income inequality for all, could we make a difference? I think so, but…

Lines are Drawn Between Us, Purposefully

The media constantly refers to us by invisible lines: black, white, LGBTQ, poor, racist, Muslim, Latino, Mexican, gay, straight, liberal, conservative, Democrat, Republican…I can’t even name all the labels used here. Constantly, we are inundated with these titles. In some cases, it’s a point of pride to use labels, but is that a pride we should hold onto?

Here’s an example a liberal friend of mine recently gave me: you hear on the news that a cop brutalized an African American man. That’s bad, right? But actual racist whites aren’t going to give two shits. Let’s rewrite that: A cop brutalized an American man today. Wait a minute, a cop brutalized one of our own? An AMERICAN? That’s horrible! And you can turn that around, saying a white man was brutalized and actual racists from the minorities won’t care. What if we took out the labels? What if we were all just Americans in the media? Doing so may not make a difference in the short run, but over time, I believe we would stop seeing the “other” as being something separate from ourselves. Why? We’re already the same, especially economically, overall.

Coming Together will Let Us Change the Rules

So here’s all I’m saying. If we can stop pretending we’re all different from each other (yes, whites too), and come together under a banner of better economic equality, we could make each “separate” group far better economically, which would lead us to be able to pursue the even more hefty goals of fighting innate, systemic racism, and acceptance of the LGBTQ, Muslims, and all those other pesky labels. But, we can only do this if we come together as one: as Americans.

Do you think less economic disparity would help make America more accepting? Write your thoughts, invite friends or otherwise to discuss below. Thank you for reading American Dirt.

James Neal is the author of several fantasy stories, feel free to check them out:

Of Blood and Blade: $3.99 (Amazon.com)

Paints the Invisible Eye: $1.75 (Amazon.com)

Divine Right: FREE (Smashwords.com)

The Blacksmith’s Reaper: FREE (Smashwords.com

Trump Supporters are Not Automatically Bad People- Attempting to Bridge the Gap

I’ve kept pretty quiet for the presidential election cycle of 2016. Everybody, on the left and right it seemed, were being dicks to each other. Secretary Clinton called her opponent’s supporters “basket deplorables” and Donald Trump spewed so much vitriol nobody understood how he could even win a nomination, never mind the entire election.

But he did. Trump won the White House. And after seeing the graciousness with which he delivered his acceptance speech, and how Hillary Clinton hid in her room refusing to publicly, graciously, concede, I couldn’t be happier about the turnout.

Here come the “ist” comments. Oh James, you’re a sexist, misogynist, and racist. I’m sure you’ll find a few more to call me. I’m also sure somebody is going to call me stupid, uneducated, and most important, WRONG. You done?

If you’re a liberal and still reading, congratulations. There’s a chance I can still reach you despite being a straight, white male supporting Trump’s presidency. Unfortunately, it’s those who are already rage-typing their comments against me that I need to reach. That a bridge needs to be built with. However, I’m more than happy to start that bridge with you.

If you look, I haven’t posted anything for quite some time. The reason for that is because I allowed “raging” liberals to beat me into the ground. I let their bullying shut me up. It’s what they wanted and I failed to buck up against it. At the time, I wouldn’t have been able to. I was stuck between wanting to be a liberal, and not being allowed to be one; and that made me angry. It made me leave the idea of being a liberal behind. I don’t want to be that kind of person. Ever.

So, what am I now? I don’t know. I can’t even claim being a “pure” Christian. I believe in God yet think the LGBTQ community isn’t horrible and evil; and certainly not deserving of second-class citizenship. But…the LGBTQ community, en masse, DOES want straight white males to be part of that lesser-class citizenship. What am I, politically? I’m nothing. I’m not accepted in the liberal left, and I don’t fit snugly into the right. And both sides are fine with that. Just another of those stupid, poor people. We’re surprised he can type.

Neither party is for the people. The two major parties are for Wall Street. They are for whatever will make money for the Democratic and Republican leaders…and their cronies. And right now, middle-class and poor America just don’t make enough money to be worth saving. The fact that a lot of these people are white means the political machine can turn otherwise decent Americans, whom happen to be minorities, against this large portion of the population…the poor, stupid white people. And vice versa.

America answers to money, which is our god. Whether we want it to be or not, regardless if we worship something else or not, Americans’ lives are spent making money…most of us make most of our money for other people. And no, I’m not talking about welfare checks and Medicaid. I’m talking about people who buy planes for fun. That is my belief. If there is ever a political party (hardy har har) that at least includes middle-class and poor people in their recovery plans, I’m all in. I thought that would be the liberal left, the one party espousing diversity and inclusion. Nope. Straight white people are stupid, lazy, and ever racist, on top of remaining homophobic, steeped in Islamophobia, and simply not worth anybody’s time. Some straight white people are. Most can't be bothered with the "isms," we have our own problems.

But Trump won the Oval Office. Voices have been heard which have been ignored by the rich. The rich, who took jobs overseas and left us with few, if any, real options. Trump won the election not because he said mean things to the liberal left, he won because he says he has a plan to bring those jobs back to America. Because he promised to Make America Great Again by getting us shiftless, useless, stupid white people back to work. If we’re at work, we’ll be too busy making money for the people who buy planes again to bother you.

We’re not evil for supporting Trump’s presidency. We’re trying to survive in the places so many have forgotten: the hills, the grasslands, and the whole middle part of America that nobody has noticed since Detroit lost the automotive industry.

Straight, white people need to work. Most of us can’t afford to move into your big cities. We voted for the one candidate who noticed we still exist, despite his vitriol. Not because of it.

This is only the first post I’m writing in regards to building bridges between minorities and poor whites. Obviously, I haven’t touched on the issues minorities are bound to face in Trump’s America. I’m not ignoring them, I don’t believe your worries are worthless, nor your lives. This is just to start a conversation. I look forward to future discussion.

James Neal is the author of the following fantasy stories:

Of Blood and Blade $3.99 (Amazon.com)

Paints the Invisible Eye $1.75 (Amazon.com)

Divine Right free (Smashwords.com)

The Blacksmith’s Reaper free (Smashwords.com)