My name is Tyler, and I am a student here at Auburn University.
I appreciate your bravery and willingness to write an Op-Ed for the Plainsman, and exercising your freedom of speech and expression of opinion through a media source such as the Plainsman. However, I am deeply offended by your article "Occupy demands echo Obama's politics."
See, I am an active member of Auburn's very own "Occupy" movement. Did you know we have one? You should come out and hear our concerns. Maybe interview a few of us concerning what the Occupy movement is really about, as opposed to speculating based on mainstream media opinion.
Because I have taken the time to read your article, I hope you take the equal consideration to read my arguments here about what Occupy is really about.
First of all, the term 99% must be correctly understood. You wrote about the 99% as if they are a separate entity than you yourself (you referred to "us" as they throughout your article).
The ironic thing about this is that you yourself are a member of the 99%. The top 1% that is inherently opposed to the 99% is comprised of big-wigs on Wall Street, Big Bank CEOs, and corporate giants that have way too much influence in our political system today.
As an Auburn student and a respectable writer for the Plainsman, I truly doubt that you are a member of this 1%. There are only two parties being discussed here: the 99% and the 1%. There is no other group with which to exclude yourself.
Secondly, the reason the 99% (or really the small percent of the 99% that are willing to actually understand what's going on) is protesting is not only because of the greed of the opposing 1%, but also because of their unjust influence in our government.
May I ask you what democratic powers you have as a citizen? Sure, you can certainly express your freedom of speech/press/assembly, but you are just talking to the wind if that freedom can't be used to implement tangible changes.
You might then argue that your vote is a democratic power that you hold as a citizen, but did you know that the Electoral College (in Presidential elections) and Corporate contributions all drown out and virtually silence your voice as a voter?
Additionally, most change in our government comes about not from citizens who call their congressmen, but rather from lobbyists that are paid for by big-paying corporations. That's to say, the 1% (those who control those corporations) are virtually buying our politicians. And since I assume that you yourself cannot afford a lobbyist in Washington (as I myself cannot), then that means you indeed are part of the 99%....just like the rest of us.
Thirdly, please do not generalize that we, the 99%, "are protesting social and economic inequality - capitalism" (in your own words). This statement reveals the ignorance most Americans possess of the real meaning of capitalism.
Although I do not owe anyone a history lesson (we Americans should know this) Adam Smith, the father of capitalism, advocated a government that was active in sectors other than the economy, namely education, infrastructure, military (though not the amount we have today), and (to some extent) healthcare.
He defined capitalism in The Wealth of Nations as a system that allows the government to take care of those basic needs of society, while allowing the free market to control the rest of the economy. The American system we have today, ever since the turn of the 20th century (and arguably earlier) has warped the term capitalism to mean large corporations, monopolies, and social inequality.
Adam Smith would gag at this generalization and perversion of his economic philosophy. He advocated a fair and competitive market, which today is plagued by mergers, monopolies, and too-big-to-fail banks.
To make it worse, our government, instead of using our tax dollars to pay for our education, health, and infrastructure as Smith had intended, pays those corporations "bailouts", which they use to make themselves richer. This virtually means that your and my tax dollars (because I personally do actually pay taxes) go to a bailout package that is handed to Bank of America or other corporations, and that money ends up landing in the pockets of people who make hundreds-times more than any of our incomes combined.
Please, if nothing else, understand this about the Occupy movement. We are not just randomly protesting in front of Wall Street.
Lastly, your association of Obama with the Occupy movement, in my opinion, is unwarranted. Obama was elected with the help of big corporate contributions, although he personally detested them (somewhat hypocritically).
I cannot speak for the Occupy movement as there are many opinions throughout the entire movement, but personally I would claim that while Obama called for "change" throughout his campaign, he is playing along with the corporate-scheming system just as ever past president has over the past 50+ years.
This is all to say, nothing ever changes in Washington. That is why the Occupy movement has begun. And that is why it will continue (through the winter and the coming seasons and years). This is not some hippie movement. This is not some hobo movement. These are not a bunch of jobless complainers. In fact, most people who are in the Occupy movement balance their job with protests.
Follow this logic: if the Occupy protesters claim to be the 99%, and others disclaim these protesters as jobless complainers, then who, may I ask, is sustaining our economy? Surely not the 1%. That is not mathematically possible.
Additionally, the 1% of Americans that possesses that unreasonable percent of the wealth in this country doesn't make it through "hard work." Those in Wall Street don't produce anything substantial for society. They don't manufacture goods. They simply click numbers and trade shares of different corporations to make themselves or their clients richer.
All this happens while the middle-class American, who actually does tangible work for our society, gets foreclosed on his house.
I will not go on and on about this. There is some need for personal initiative to be knowledgeable about our society, our government, and the happenings going on in it. I will leave that for you and other contributors to The Plainsman.
But may I ask, before you or the Plainsman publishes another article or Op-Ed about the Occupy movement, please educate yourselves about the real situation at hand, and don't speculate or generalize. This will only misinform the already overly-unaware citizenry that we Americans are as a whole.
We would rather the Plainsman continue publishing cover-page stories about Playboy (something truly important to our society), than to do such a great injustice to the 99%.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Sincerely,
Tyler Look
Auburn student and proud member of the 99%
sophomore, pre-business
Do you like this story? The Plainsman doesn't accept money from tuition or student fees, and we don't charge a subscription fee. But you can donate to support The Plainsman.
