OWS tends to get under my skin, and maybe it's my fault for letting it.
I really appreciate what we do have in this country. We may not be all wiping our butts with 100$ bills, but we have so many opportunities to make what we want for ourselves. Even "poor" in this country is a misunderstood term. Most people would define poor as "an inability to provide a family with adequate nutritious food, reasonable shelter and clothing". Yet, the typical household considered “poor” by census officials "has a car and air conditioning. For entertainment, the household has cable or satellite TV, two color televisions, a DVD player and a VCR. If children (especially boys) are in the home, they have a video game system such as Xbox or PlayStation. In the kitchen, the household has the ordinary conveniences: refrigerator, oven, stove, microwave. Half the poor now have a personal computer. A third have a widescreen TV (plasma or LCD); a quarter have a digital video recorder such as TiVo." This is because of the mass support our government gives to those living in what we consider "poverty" (those who make under 22,350$ annually). From 2000 - 2010 the government has given more than a trillion dollars to support those living in poverty.
I'm not sure if anyone has been watching the news, but there is a standoff in China between a few thousand Chinese villagers and Chinese authorities because the government has been illegally seizing their land and giving it to businesses to develop on. Many of the protesters are scared for their life, considering one man who was taken into police custody was beaten to death, but they protest anyways.
I don't think OWS protestors or heroes and I don't think they're people to aspire to. I think they're causing an even deeper rift in this country between "right" and "left". They're pointing fingers at the "right" media and the "right" government. Maybe if we stopped classifying ourselves with such black and white colors and were less focused on political warfare, we could do some good for the country. Until then, we might as well just stand idly by and watch the tug-of-war.
Last I checked poor in western countries was having your house foreclosed on by BANK NAME HERE (of which they're happening in record numbers) and being offered a pittance to burn the stuff you can't fit in your car. The disparity between the rich and poor (poor being inclusive of 'middle class' in this instance) is increasing and has been doing so rather quickly since the 80's. If you're living with a car, a comfortable home and can afford luxuries like expensive televisions you're not poor in a sense of poverty, but up until recently most of your country didn't have access to decent health care and some still don't. This also isn't about people being poor, it's about politics dedicated to earning more money for corporate interests rather than ADDRESSING social and economic problems for the good of your country.
The argument that people shouldn't complain because it could be worse, is severely flawed. By that logic, nobody should ever complain ever. There is always the possibility for things to get worse, and I for one would like to see things get better.
Having a fractured skull is not being severely crippled. It's unfortunate and can lead to serious damage but is not in the basis of being "crippled".
Also you're making the assumption that firing tear gas at rioters is illegal/unjust/immoral. If that's that the case I hope you don't ever end up on the receiving end. I guess you're also making the assumption that firing the canister was deliberately aimed at his head. You of course know exactly what was going through that police officers head at the time.
If someone is proving enough of a threat to officers, you get taken down. Regardless of circumstance, officer safety is priority over anything else. Full stop. I couldn't care less if someone was pregnant (one could say why she was engaging in such activities when so vulnerable) if she was being a high risk factor.
It obviously means a lot more justifying in the courts but my safety and my colleagues safety come before an idiots emotion driven act of violence.
But then pigs are all fascists and won't let you smoke your weed.
I thought the Occupy movement would gain enough momentum to make a substantive at one point, but, they fell at the first hurdle and it became us vs them with the police and degenerated to throwing a temper tantrum when they couldn't get their own selfish ways.
Oh well, I hope you truly fight the inequalities of your lower-middle class life's from your IMacs, Starbucks and university degrees whilst still maintaining the fact you are part of the 12% of the population considered rich and making a desireable income against the 88% who barely make $2 a day.
Also ignoring the fact that the US still has one of the highest % of employed people and has the highest GPD and annual inncome.
You guys really have it bad.
...cunts.
Edit: Sorry, just read the fact that you used the fucking Guardian as a reliable news source. How dense can some people be? Going from one extremism of right-wing Fox, (ironically you use it as a reliable source to cite homicide cases) to the ultra left-wing Guardian. Unless of course you're using that as a media source because it supports your own misguided views?
.....and some people call me cynical.
I'd consider hospitalised for a fractured skull severely crippled. You don't have to be permanently paralyzed to be crippled. But I'm not here to argue definitions.
Tear gas is perfectly just, when protestors turn to rioters.
Clearly you can see the imminent danger those police are facing. They could have been killed. As for an assumption of a gas cannister deliberately aimed at the head, not once did I say that, nor does it being an accident make it acceptable when the victim in question was just standing around. If your argument is twisting what I say into assumptions and making arrogant guesses at my life choices then perhaps it's no wonder you work in law enforcement.
As for the argument that your safety comes first, that is not the job of a public servant. You think a firefighter would try that shit? I admire the police in my country, as they're not even allowed to carry guns under regular circumstances. Know why I admire them? Because that's fuckin' courage, doing your part to keep people safe without demands of self preservation.
