Max Udargo wrote this fantastic Open Letter to that 53% Guy (seen here) and I think that everyone should read it. If, for whatever reason, you don’t feel like reading the whole thing, I’ve cribbed a chunk of it here. (thx to Steph for flagging this up!) I wanted to respond to you as a liberal.  Because, although I think you’ve made yourself clear and I think I understand you, you don’t seem to understand me at all.  I hope you will read this and understand me better, and maybe understand the Occupy Wall Street movement better. […] I understand your pride in what you’ve accomplished, but I want to ask you something. Do you really want the bar set this high?  Do you really want to live in a society where just getting by requires a person to hold down two jobs and work 60 to 70 hours a week?  Is that your idea of the American Dream? Do you really want to spend the rest of your life working two jobs and 60 to 70 hours a week?  Do you think you can?  Because, let me tell you, kid, that’s not going to be as easy when you’re 50 as it was when you were 20. […] Look, you’re a tough kid.  And you have a right to be proud of that.  But not everybody is as tough as you, or as strong, or as young.  Does pride in what you’ve accomplish mean that you have contempt for anybody who can’t keep up with you?  Does it mean that the single mother who can’t work on her feet longer than 50 hours a week doesn’t deserve a good life?  Does it mean the older man who struggles with modern technology and can’t seem to keep up with the pace set by younger workers should just go throw himself off a cliff? […] And is this really your idea of what life should be like in the greatest country on Earth? […] I’m a liberal, so I probably dream bigger than you.  For instance, I want everybody to have healthcare.  I want lazy people to have healthcare.  I want stupid people to have healthcare.  I want drug addicts to have healthcare.  I want bums who refuse to work even when given the opportunity to have healthcare. I’m willing to pay for that with my taxes, because I want to live in a society where it doesn’t matter how much of a loser you are, if you need medical care you can get it.  And not just by crowding up an emergency room that should be dedicated exclusively to helping people in emergencies. […]  Look kid, I don’t want you to “get by” working two jobs and 60 to 70 hours a week.  If you’re willing to put in that kind of effort, I want you to get rich.  I want you to have a comprehensive healthcare plan.  I want you vacationing in the Bahamas every couple of years, with your beautiful wife and healthy, happy kids.  I want you rewarded for your hard work, and I want your exceptional effort to reap exceptional rewards.  I want you to accumulate wealth and invest it in Wall Street.  And I want you to make more money from those investments. […]  All the “99%” wants is for you to remember the role that Wall Street played in creating this mess, and for you to join us in demanding that Wall Street share the pain.  They don’t want to share the pain, and they’re spending a lot of money and twisting a lot of arms to foist their share of the pain on the rest of us instead.  And they’ve been given unprecedented powers to spend and twist, and they’re not even trying to hide what they’re doing.
Pop-upView Separately

Max Udargo wrote this fantastic Open Letter to that 53% Guy (seen here) and I think that everyone should read it. If, for whatever reason, you don’t feel like reading the whole thing, I’ve cribbed a chunk of it here. (thx to Steph for flagging this up!)

I wanted to respond to you as a liberal.  Because, although I think you’ve made yourself clear and I think I understand you, you don’t seem to understand me at all.  I hope you will read this and understand me better, and maybe understand the Occupy Wall Street movement better.

[…]

I understand your pride in what you’ve accomplished, but I want to ask you something.

Do you really want the bar set this high?  Do you really want to live in a society where just getting by requires a person to hold down two jobs and work 60 to 70 hours a week?  Is that your idea of the American Dream?

Do you really want to spend the rest of your life working two jobs and 60 to 70 hours a week?  Do you think you can?  Because, let me tell you, kid, that’s not going to be as easy when you’re 50 as it was when you were 20.

[…]

Look, you’re a tough kid.  And you have a right to be proud of that.  But not everybody is as tough as you, or as strong, or as young.  Does pride in what you’ve accomplish mean that you have contempt for anybody who can’t keep up with you?  Does it mean that the single mother who can’t work on her feet longer than 50 hours a week doesn’t deserve a good life?  Does it mean the older man who struggles with modern technology and can’t seem to keep up with the pace set by younger workers should just go throw himself off a cliff?

[…]

And is this really your idea of what life should be like in the greatest country on Earth?

[…]

I’m a liberal, so I probably dream bigger than you.  For instance, I want everybody to have healthcare.  I want lazy people to have healthcare.  I want stupid people to have healthcare.  I want drug addicts to have healthcare.  I want bums who refuse to work even when given the opportunity to have healthcare. I’m willing to pay for that with my taxes, because I want to live in a society where it doesn’t matter how much of a loser you are, if you need medical care you can get it.  And not just by crowding up an emergency room that should be dedicated exclusively to helping people in emergencies.

[…]

 Look kid, I don’t want you to “get by” working two jobs and 60 to 70 hours a week.  If you’re willing to put in that kind of effort, I want you to get rich.  I want you to have a comprehensive healthcare plan.  I want you vacationing in the Bahamas every couple of years, with your beautiful wife and healthy, happy kids.  I want you rewarded for your hard work, and I want your exceptional effort to reap exceptional rewards.  I want you to accumulate wealth and invest it in Wall Street.  And I want you to make more money from those investments.

[…]

 All the “99%” wants is for you to remember the role that Wall Street played in creating this mess, and for you to join us in demanding that Wall Street share the pain.  They don’t want to share the pain, and they’re spending a lot of money and twisting a lot of arms to foist their share of the pain on the rest of us instead.  And they’ve been given unprecedented powers to spend and twist, and they’re not even trying to hide what they’re doing.

dceiver: jayrosen: A CNN Business reporter, Alison Kosik, summarizes what she thinks the purpose of Occupy Wall Street is. Here is her Twitter post. UPDATE: Kosik deleted her tweet.  That’s the kind of confidence she had in her observation, I guess. The New York City police are fairly visible at Occupy Wall Street. They are also strict about smoking weed in public. So I wonder if Kosik’s observation has any factual basis at all.   MORE: Alison and another CNN-er yuck it up about those whining protestors at Occupy Wall Street. This one hasn’t been deleted yet. BONUS: And to further unfold the attitude at CNN, do watch this clip of Erin Burnett reporting on Occupy Wall Street. (“What are they protesting? No one seems to know.”) “No one seems to know.” I mean, if only we had some sort of institutionalized means of gathering facts and information on the state of the economy and how it’s impacting actual human beings. You could maybe have a group of people who are assigned to seek out this information. They could talk to ordinary human Americans, and perhaps underpin it with data about income inequity. And then…you know, I’m just blue skying here — we could use some sort of electronic means of beaming this information into people’s homes, using the television or something. You could do this twenty-four hours a day, for as long as it takes for Erin Burnett to understand what’s happening. Then she could be part of the 1%. The 1% of the media that’s worth more than a hot sack of fuck all. How’s all that personal branding working out for you, KMS?
Pop-upView Separately

dceiver:

jayrosen:

A CNN Business reporter, Alison Kosik, summarizes what she thinks the purpose of Occupy Wall Street is.

Here is her Twitter post.

UPDATE: Kosik deleted her tweet.  That’s the kind of confidence she had in her observation, I guess. The New York City police are fairly visible at Occupy Wall Street. They are also strict about smoking weed in public. So I wonder if Kosik’s observation has any factual basis at all.  

MORE: Alison and another CNN-er yuck it up about those whining protestors at Occupy Wall Street. This one hasn’t been deleted yet.

BONUS: And to further unfold the attitude at CNN, do watch this clip of Erin Burnett reporting on Occupy Wall Street. (“What are they protesting? No one seems to know.”)

“No one seems to know.” I mean, if only we had some sort of institutionalized means of gathering facts and information on the state of the economy and how it’s impacting actual human beings. You could maybe have a group of people who are assigned to seek out this information. They could talk to ordinary human Americans, and perhaps underpin it with data about income inequity. And then…you know, I’m just blue skying here — we could use some sort of electronic means of beaming this information into people’s homes, using the television or something. You could do this twenty-four hours a day, for as long as it takes for Erin Burnett to understand what’s happening. Then she could be part of the 1%. The 1% of the media that’s worth more than a hot sack of fuck all.

How’s all that personal branding working out for you, KMS?

Source: jayrosen