Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Cynicism and Politics

Occupy Wallstreet has brought up a lot of emotions from varied, and diverse groups. People are hopeful, frustrated and most of all cynical.
It's amazing to me the amount of times I've read things like "what are they hoping to accomplish?" "This isn't going to amount to anything" "got a job you no good hippies". Well, that would be one of the various things they're hoping to accomplish from this.
The claim that civil disobedience and revolution doesn't accomplish anything isn't new. People used that same argument to convince people to stop the sit-ins at Woolworth lunch counters, to deter women from burning their bras, and to prevent Homosexuals for fighting for equal rights. Every time a movement for equality, civil rights and basic human needs springs up, the same cynical, irrational discourse follows it.
If revolution accomplished nothing we wouldn't have the majority of the rights we grasp onto on a daily basis. We wouldn't have a United States of America.
So many of the things North Americans take for granted on a daily basis came from protests, demonstrations and plain old "anarchy" (although the definition of anarchy used in this context is not at all the definition of anarchy that political scientists acknowledge.) Why shouldn't it work this time?
Yes, when this movement started, the message was vague, but as the movement has developed so has their mission. I've been saying for years that Americans needed to stand up against Lobbyists and Big Business, and fight for their interests to become the focus of Politicians. That's what this movement hopes to accomplish.
The cynicism that's prevalent is just more ignorance, and more rhetoric. They're using this argument to deter people from joining the movement, because they know it CAN accomplish something, and change scares them.
Politics and economics are not meant to be stagnant. Politics is an ever evolving system. As people's needs change, government and politics should be changing to meet them. And if it won't change willingly, it needs to be forced, hence revolution.

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