"He didn't want to have to bother with the messy part of being in a democracy," Mark Read, the activist who claims to have initially proposed The Illuminator idea, tells DNAInfo.com.

"He's a 1 percenter," Read, 46, adds to the website, "telling the 99 percent, 'I'm your boss.'"

STFU, you entitled coonts.

And this is why OWS keeps stumbling. Because they can't stay on the broad appeal message of the income gap and the erosion of the middle class, instead it becomes a mob shooting the political message du jour.

I'd actually agree with Cohen, I don't really carry about Assange or Pussy Riot and if I was donating money for activism regarding the consolidation of wealth I'd be pissed to see it used for a Free Assange movement.

biting the hand that fed them.

shocking that a bunch of whiney brats would do that.

OWS activists acting like immature douchebags? What a surprise.

But the world is black and white! I'm a good guy 'cause I haven't had much financial success! He's a bad guy because he has!"

One of the reasons the Iraq War protests never got the traction the Vietnam ones did was that the far left (no, the real far left, not the people Republicans like to imagine are far left) would cram all kinds of shiat into the protest. Instead of focusing on JUST the war, there were gay rights, immigration rights, anti-NAFTA, fair trade, transgender, pay equity - you name it - signs and people who would take the podium and try to get the crowd fired up over their pet issue instead of focusing on the broadly unpopular war.

I attended two of the protests in 2002 and left each halfway through with a sense of "What the fark was that"?

hovsm: Why do they keep saying they are the 99% when only about 1% of the 99% actually are a part of the demonstrations?

Because "A tiny handful of people with lots of time on their hands who are pissed off about various social and economic issues but don't really have any viable solutions to those issues and who are largely responsible for their own lot in life but would rather blame capitalists as scapegoats" doesn't have the same ring to it?

OWS just went full retard, never go full retard

skullkrusher: ummm... you should check out the Poli tab.

There is no politics tab.



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Virgil_Lee_Nobody: wow, wow, WHOA. What is with all the HATE on OWS? What the hell has happened to FARK?

I'm not hating OWS in general, I am hating the jackasses from TFA who were given a vehicle to use for OWS-related matters and decided to stamp their little feet and demand that they be able to use it for pet projects. That's not how the contract works.

I wouldn't necessarily call it a failure. It did draw attention to the real problem we have.

Now, the solution?.

WarszawaScream: Waahhhh we can't have things exactly the way we want it so we're going to biatch and cry and make a stink.

Sort of like how our huge student loans that we knew we were borrowing aren't paying themselves and nobody cares that we're saddled with them.

Cry me a farking river, I paid mine off with my at-the-time-barely-20k a year salary. Know why? I didn't borrow outside of my means or bank on grabbing that 60k a year job that everyone always expects to get right out of college and no one ever does.

I can't stand that entitlement bull. I suppose a lot of what OWS is about, but that shiat right there... ugh.
When did "I did it, so can you" become "I did it, and that's the way all of you have to do it?" And, who honestly thinks that the pricing for college tuition is done by any sort of ethical, or even rational, process? What decade did you graduate from college in? Wait, wait, are you good with a jump shot? And, please, quit throwing around "entitlement" like it means anything other than "something somebody else gets instead of ME BUT I DESURVE IT MOAR!!!!!"

So he walked away because the movement still can't decide what they all agree on?

EyeballKid: craig328: EyeballKid: ...who honestly thinks that the pricing for college tuition is done by any sort of ethical, or even rational, process?

Given that we live in a capitalist system it's called supply and demand.

Rework NAFTA and the tax code and start getting serious about cheap ass Chinese shiat flooding our markets and decent manufacturing jobs that pay a middle class wage will return...and people won't feel like they NEED a 4 year college degree to be able to have a middle class life worth living.

But hey, that shiat is hard. Join OWS and biatch uselessly instead. Either or.

NAFTA, China, and/or manufacturing jobs are to blame, and current tuition rates are simply influenced by supply and demand?! Wow, I didn't know home schools taught econ.

I'm sure you meant that to be insulting but simply lacked the requisite wit and/or intellect to craft a sufficiently impressive riposte. I don't spend much time around the mouthbreathers on Fark much anymore so, yeah, my mistake for assuming someone like you would be possessed of a hint of knowledge. I'll do this Blue's Clues style just for you, sugarpants:

- college applications are up, admission rates are down = greater demand for less spots
- kids pursue college in greater percentages (and raw numbers) these days because of the drastic decline of traditional middle class jobs (read "manufacturing, heavy industry, etc") that don't require a 4 year college degree
- those same kids refuse to abandon the silly notion that they should simply accept a lower standard of living than their parents (aka: "they still want to be middle class and better")
- traditional middle class jobs have been fleeing this country for the past 20-30 years due to taxation pressures on the employers/providers of those once domestic jobs, the elimination of international protectionist trade structures (that'd be the NAFTA part) and the rise of Chinese (and other 2nd and 3rd world countries') economies whose records for consumer safety, respect for the environment and outright governmental manipulation designed to reduce American competitiveness in the global marketplace is abysmal and in violation of many existing trade treaties which we fail to do much more than complain about (things like MNF status for China despite manipulation of the yuan, flagrant ignorance of international patent and copyright agreements and illegal dumping of various products designed to destroy foreign marketplace competition)

In short, if there were a way for graduating high school students to make a decent living without a college degree (like what used to be the case not all that many years ago), the demand for such would drop and, due to that, colleges wouldn't be able to charge the exorbitant tuitions they currently demand for their product.

There. Clearer now? If not, rather than try even harder to craft an even less effective smartass ignorant response, go find an adult or even a reasonably competent child to explain it to you.

EyeballKid: ...who honestly thinks that the pricing for college tuition is done by any sort of ethical, or even rational, process?

Given that we live in a capitalist system it's called supply and demand.

Rework NAFTA and the tax code and start getting serious about cheap ass Chinese shiat flooding our markets and decent manufacturing jobs that pay a middle class wage will return...and people won't feel like they NEED a 4 year college degree to be able to have a middle class life worth living.

But hey, that shiat is hard. Join OWS and biatch uselessly instead. Either or.

lordargent: skullkrushe: "He's a 1 percenter," Read, 46, adds to the website, "telling the 99 percent, 'I'm your boss.'"

He also started his company from scratch. Actually, the first time around, they started with $12,000 and closed shop a couple of months later.

I mean, isn't that the dream, to start a company from practically nothing and grow it into a multi million dollar company?

hovsm: Why do they keep saying they are the 99% when only about 1% of the 99% actually are a part of the demonstrations?

As a former member of the 80% who is now a part of the 15% I ask, WTF are those dudes problems?

Correction, he didn't build that.

/wink!

"After we put in all those hours and put ourselves at risk as activists, we had [Cohen], who had not been in the van, come in and critique us," Read says. "To a person, I think we all feel kind of betrayed and disappointed."

yeah - put yourself at risk in every way except financial. the man was paying for it, there's no betrayal there - he did what he said he would do. YOU guys changed the plan after the fact. If i was giving money for AIDS research in Africa and found out they were funneling money into another cause (even a worthwhile one) i'd be a little pissy too and reserve the right to stop donating. how is this different?

but let this be a lesson to you - when someone else is paying for you, they tend to feel entitled to tell you how to use their money. i wonder if there's some sort of lesson that could be taken from that hard-learned fact.

Idiot for thinking his ice cream hippie-corp would be above the reproach of these clowns.

zedster: here's a clue there never was a simpler time and sending a few bankers to prison is not a solution. Great Depression, S&L, Dot-Com Bubble, 2008 crash, we just keep repeating the same damn thing.

OK, I give. How many bankers responsible for the Great Depression, the S&L scandal, the dot-com bubble, and/or the 2008 crash were imprisoned?


Well, then, how can we say it wouldn't work? It did in Iceland.

This is actually a problem with our limited number of political "parties" here in the US -- that each party has a collection of values and it is unlikely you agree with the whole bundle.

For example, a union guy may be against gay marriage, or an anti-immigration person might be for socialized medicine, etc.

So you end up with no political party that can really represent you. This then creates the effect that the moral issues usually become the defining issues -- i.e. you'll vote based on your stance on abortion or gay marriage no matter how adverse you are to the rest of the platform.

I really think the ideal solution would be that we should actually vote for the head of each Department. In other words, vote for the head of the Department of Health based on your views on health issues, vote for the head of the Department of Homeland Security based on your views on security issues, and so forth. Of course that would be a fundamentally different system so I'm just dreaming ...

But within the current system, we really need more political parties so we can better dial in our votes. If you care about environment you could vote based on that, care about taxes you could vote based on that, etc.

Anyway, this is relevant to the article because it is entirely unfair of the OWS to assume that someone that supports one of their issues (wealth gap) would have to support the remainder.

CygnusDarius: (and a metal chord to support the blade).

May I suggest drop D?

skullkrusher: EyeballKid: Seriously? Look at the return on Investment of a typical state college degree, considering the typical amount made by graduates throughout their careers, with the few lotto winners and pro ball players taken out of the equation; it's not the students doing the thieving.

the average annual state school tuition is $8,244. If you can't make $32,000 (about $710 a year assuming a 45 year post grad career) more over the course of a lifetime with a college degree than with a HS diploma you probably should have forgone college and taken an arc welding class

And, what's the interest on that? OK, and if one bad year happens, where you miss some payments, you're spent paying off the added interest over an even longer period of time, and good luck finding that 45 year post-graduation career.

_{*Of course, none of this applies if you can run 40 yards quickly and/or have a fantastic jump shot.}

Tat'dGreaser: skullkrusher: beyond the Entertainment Tab, thar be dragons

Exactly, I can deal with crazy celebrity crap but that politics page is uncharted territory of villainy and dipsh*ttery

We should all remember the wisdom from the Devil's Dictionary:

Politics: A strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. The conduct of public affairs for private advantage.

You will join OWS eventually.

WarszawaScream: And uh... if you're trying to say that borrowing money and then not paying is back is A-OK... well. It's not that *I* did it and that's what everyone has to do. It's that NOT doing so is, well, stealing.

Trying to justify stealing with "I didn't know what I was doing at the time" or "I thought I'd be able to pay this back but I can't so you should just absolve me of it"... I don't need to explain it.

Seriously? Look at the return on Investment of a typical state college degree, considering the typical amount made by graduates throughout their careers, with the few lotto winners and pro ball players taken out of the equation; it's not the students doing the thieving.

Tat'dGreaser: skullkrusher: beyond the Entertainment Tab, thar be dragons

Exactly, I can deal with crazy celebrity crap but that politics page is uncharted territory of villainy and dipsh*ttery

And the Video tab is a wasteland where there's nothing but irradiated Water, super mutants, and Black Mountain Radio.

Tat'dGreaser: skullkrusher: ummm... you should check out the Poli tab.

Oh hell no, I'll never go there

beyond the Entertainment Tab, thar be dragons

skullkrushe: "He's a 1 percenter," Read, 46, adds to the website, "telling the 99 percent, 'I'm your boss.'"

He also started his company from scratch. Actually, the first time around, they started with $12,000 and closed shop a couple of months later.

I mean, isn't that the dream, to start a company from practically nothing and grow it into a multi million dollar company?

hovsm: Why do they keep saying they are the 99% when only about 1% of the 99% actually are a part of the demonstrations?

As a former member of the 80% who is now a part of the 15% I ask, WTF are those dudes problems?

"He didn't want to have to bother with the messy part of being in a democracy," Mark Read, the activist who claims to have initially proposed The Illuminator idea, tells DNAInfo.com.
"He's a 1 percenter," Read, 46, adds to the website, "telling the 99 percent, 'I'm your boss.'"
"After we put in all those hours and put ourselves at risk as activists, we had [Cohen], who had not been in the van, come in and critique us," Read says. "To a person, I think we all feel kind of betrayed and disappointed."
----------------------------------------

Smh. He put $65,000 of HIS money up and the very reputation of his company on the line to help your broke ass and this is the thanks he gets? YOU should be the boss because you sat in the street when you didn't have a job to go to anyway? Man, I was ALL for the 99% movement and I know one entitled little bastard isn't representative of the entire movement but damn, this is terrible.

zedster: Tat'dGreaser: Once you let Anarchists in your protest, your protest has lost all meaning. All those dipsh*ts want to do is break windows.

I'm not convinced those black block types really exist outside Seattle and G8 protests, it really seems like a lot of false flags

I think you are more likely to get the guys who talk an anarchist game all day while sitting on their ass in the tent city. They're all talk, but they're repulsive enough to drive off the more moderate folk.

you = fail

Hagenhatesyouall: Science_Guy_3.14159: OWS just went full retard, never go full retard


Just?

They've been full retard since day 1.

It was going good at first, and then it ended up basically becoming a treehouse club instead of an all-welcome group. Then came the drums and the unclear messages and bleh.

Science_Guy_3.14159: OWS just went full retard, never go full retard


Just?

They've been full retard since day 1.

crab66: One thing to keep in mind is that OWS never really had the kind of corporate, political or media outlet backing that the Tea Party has.

Yes there are few wealthy people here and there but it does not have systemic support.

So its someone else fault it failed? Convenient. They were all over the media for weeks, didn't you see the interviews? But everytime one persone was interviewes and said what they were all about, the next guy came along said that the last guy was wrong and then went to explain his version of what they were all about. There was no coherent message. But you keep blaming, something will stick sooner or later

hovsm: Why do they keep saying they are the 99% when only about 1% of the 99% actually are a part of the demonstrations?

Because "we are the 47 percent" doesn't have the same ring to it.

Science_Guy_3.14159: OWS just went full retard, never go full retard

It's time for them to merge with their tea party brethren and form a loudmouthed Voltron of stupidity.

that's pretty farking immature by them. You know what, all american's really suck.

Why do they keep saying they are the 99% when only about 1% of the 99% actually are a part of the demonstrations?

One thing to keep in mind is that OWS never really had the kind of corporate, political or media outlet backing that the Tea Party has.

Yes there are few wealthy people here and there but it does not have systemic support.