stephan.com; unified

CMO

There is no way to assign liability to a group, whether that group is a corporation, union, church, riot, gang, or occupation.

Perhaps we should punish ALL employees of a corporation, if that corporation does wrong. Down to IT support (hey, they read your email, they know what’s up!). It’s not really the CEO’s fault if some guy three steps down from him fucks up. The factory worker should have maybe told someone the such-and-so was on the fritz. That real estate divorceé knew the house was overvalued, and the friendly college graduate at the bank knew this was a shitty loan, and you knew, deep down, that you sucked at your job.

I’ve read that ‘[some company] is known to rig scientific data.’ ok. WHO is rigging the data? The CEO? No. Some scientist? Maybe. Some grad student working there for weed money? Punish every member of the group, and the group will need to take responsibility for their actions.

I’d like to see the movement focus more on personal responsibility, and less on finding effigies to hang.

One more thought - perhaps companies should start appointing a Chief Morals Officer?

campaign finance reform is not a problem

you don’t have to keep corporations from giving money to politicians to buy TV time with it

YOU HAVE TO STOP BELIEVING WHAT YOU SEE ON TV!!!!

And make up your own fucking mind! “They” can give all the money they want to politicians - and you can too! THAT’S NOT THE PROBLEM. If YOU don’t believe the advertising, if YOU educate yourself with the infinite amount of truly free speech on the internet, if YOU do something other than vote how your tv tells you to, campaign finance reform is… 

moot 

laissez-unfair

part of me wants to see the cops leave the protests alone, just entirely leave it alone. And then wait for some asshole raping a drunk hippie chick and running from an unruly mob to knock over a pot of cooking oil over an unsafe open fire while the cops and firefighters just watch and rats feast on the conveniently cooked corpses.

Burn, motherfucker, burn.

I realize it may seem like an abridgment of your rights. But there is a reason people are not allowed to live in crowded tent cities without proper sanitation.

Yes, I know my burner friends know how to live properly in those conditions. You are rare. Yes, I know the sanitation rules are draconian and unevenly enforced. but, no, it is not your right to live in your own shit. We used to do that, then we discovered cholera. Yes, I know most people don’t behave badly. Just a few people are responsible for the poor sanitation and behavior, maybe 1%.

A-ha. Most people know how to behave, and a few don’t, and fuck it up for the rest. Just like MOST ceo’s are not assholes. A few are. Yes, it’s the 1%, but it’s not the rich 1%, it’s the ASSHOLE 1%, about 1% of whom happen to be rich too.

Fact of the matter is, ungoverned mobs of people are dangerous. Not particularly dangerous to the ruling class, but dangerous to THEMSELVES. 

Quote from Oakland PD: (emphasis mine)

Sanitation conditions worsened with frequent instances of public urination and defecation, as well as improper food storage. The existing rodent problem on the Plaza was exacerbated and vector control was unable to implement measures to control the rat problem due to the presence of overnight campers. The Plaza was physically damaged on a daily basis by graffiti, litter and vandalism. Fire hazards continued unabated, including cooking with open flame, improper storage of grease, inadequate fire extinguishers, density of tents and flammable materials and smoking in tents. There were reports of public drinking and intoxication.

We have an open forum for discussion. Lots of them. We always did. You were just ignoring them. You could get a lot more done sleeping in your house and drinking water from the tap (which the 1% “stole” your money to pay for) than you can shitting in the park. There’s your “sustainable long-term water solution”

Quote from OccupyLA (that’s what got me ranting)

Occupy LA Resources says the Occupation is growing very low on water and are asking for water and sustainable long-term water solutions .

Funny, I live a mile away, and I have plenty of fresh, clean water. I PAY for it, in a low monthly bill that is, I believe, subsidized by taxes. 

I’m gonna get more heat for this. Maybe even lose more FB friends. Folks, I AM on your side. I am interested and supportive. I do like pointing out incongruities and I feel responsible for making people think outside their bubble - whichever bubble they are stuck in.

What would the occupiers say if, instead of the police enforcing the laws preventing these things, they just stay back and let the protesters do what they want? Steal each others cameras, piss in the fountain, serve a bunch of salmonella-tofu burritos, go ahead, but don’t come bitching that the system you reject doesn’t come save your ass.

Yes, things are not perfect. Yes, things could be better, and they will be. But “things” are generally better than they ever were. We had worse robber barons. We crowned them kings, lived in literal slavery under their despotic rule, and slowly but surely, we came up with a better system that allows us to change things, and things have been getting better. 

Everyone in the USA that wants to work can easily afford food and shelter. Not big-screen TV’s and cars and nice new iPads, but food and shelter are pretty cheap. Those than don’t want to work get given money for food and shelter. I’ve met quite a few of them. NONE of them spend that money on food and shelter. They sell their food stamps to buy liquor and lottery tickets. (the ones that actually CANNOT work do spend it wisely, for the most part…  I’m not talking about the handicapped.)

The 1% of CEO’s are not the problem. The 1% of sociopathic assholes are, and that includes the poor those who feel “entitled” to a free three squares a day and full free medical. Perhaps the 1% of the CEO’s who are also in the 1% of assholes are the biggest problem. Perhaps. But money is not the problem.

Apathy and ignorance are the problems.

Wipe your ass, throw out that expired tofu, pack up your tent, go home, and start spending your day writing letters to your congressmen, or running for office, or reading the fine print on the next loan you sign, or getting a fucking job. Or, fine, come back in the day, let them clean up your politically significant turds like Disneyland does, and then you can come back tomorrow and play protest some more.

my UNofficial version of the Occupy Wall Street statement

Here is my version of the Official Statement from Occupy Wall Street. The beginning and end are mostly unchanged, but the main thing is I got rid of all the references to “them.” There is no “them,” there is only US:

As we gather together in solidarity to express a feeling of mass injustice, we must not lose sight of what brought us together. We write so that all people who feel wronged by other groups of people can know that we are your allies.

As one people, united, we acknowledge the reality: that the future of the human race requires the cooperation of its members; that our system must protect our rights, and upon corruption of that system, it is up to the individuals to protect their own rights, and those of their neighbors; that a democratic government derives its just power from the people, but we do not seek consent to extract wealth from the people and the Earth; and that no true democracy is attainable when we are not allowed to use our power, economic and otherwise, to influence opinion.  We come to you at a time when some people, who place profit over other people, self-interest over justice, and oppression over equality, run our governments. We have peaceably assembled here, as is our right, to let these facts be known.

We have lost our houses through failure to pay.

We have lost apparent unrealized wealth through economic calamity, despite the best efforts of the well-paid professionals who have done their best to prevent it.

We have perpetuated inequality and discrimination in the workplace based on age, the color of one’s skin, sex, gender identity and sexual orientation.

We have poisoned our food supply through our own negligence, and undermined our farming system through monopolization.

We have profited off of the torture, confinement, and cruel treatment of countless nonhuman animals, and actively ignore these practices.

We have continuously sought to strip our fellows of the right to negotiate for better pay and safer working conditions, so that we could save money.

We have dug ourselves into financial slavery in pursuit of a formal recognition of effort, while failing to avail ourselves of the responsibility to educate ourselves properly.

We have consistently shirked hard work and refused to lower our demands to suit the market.

We have interpreted our right to peacefully assemble as a right to act as a group with the same status as an individual, without accepting or providing a way for to acknowledge group culpability or responsibility.

We have spent millions of dollars on frivolous lawsuits out of a misplaced sense of entitlement and justice, driving the price of health care to stratospheric levels and making it difficult for doctors to practice.

We have traded our illusion of privacy for safety, security, and publicity.  We exchange our personal details for services we enjoy.

We have used our military and police force to prevent freedom of the press.

We have refused to accept any personal responsibility for danger, choosing instead to blame others and demand reparations for others mistakes.

We ignore and refuse to educate ourselves about economic policy, despite the catastrophic failures our ignorance has produced and continues to produce.

We have donated large sums of money to politicians.

We continue to make unreasonable energy demands on our planet.  We drive when we could walk.

We have demanded medical solutions to social problems, wasting the lives of countless biochemists.  We continue to demand more novel medicines, expecting the untold expense of such research to simply vanish.  We demand our doctors prescribe us the medicines that fund our favorite entertainment.

We have been responsible for oil spills, accidents, faulty bookkeeping, and inactive ingredients in pursuit of profit.

We have purposefully kept ourselves ignorant and fearful through our refusal to seek information outside of our self-selected bubbles.

We have accepted jobs imprisoning and controlling our fellows in order to protect our mutual safety.

We have developed the hubris of believing that our way of life is the best that we can make it and the most fair to the needs of individuals.  We have been guilty of attempting to share our experience and knowledge with the rest of the world.

We have been forced to take drastic actions in parts of the world where our way of life is not popular.

We continue to create weapons of mass destruction in order to ensure our continued freedom and liberty.

To the people of the world,

We, the New York City General Assembly occupying Wall Street in Liberty Square, urge you to assert your power.

Exercise your right to peaceably assemble; occupy public space; create a process to address the problems we face, and generate solutions accessible to everyone.

To all communities that take action and form groups in the spirit of direct democracy, we offer support, documentation, and all of the resources at our disposal.

Join us and make your voices heard!