#OccupyWallStreet – Marching Forth in the Face of Ignorance and Corruption
I really didn’t know much about #OccupyWallStreet until Friday 9/16 when our office manager at Blueliner got a notice from the building that some protestors were staging a rally “to take over Wall Street” on Saturday 9/17, and that it could be dangerous. Well, when I showed up for work on Monday, there they were, still protesting (Day 3)…peacefully, with intelligent points and demands, exercising their civil liberties. And there also were hundreds of NYPD cops, with barricades preventing protestors (and the rest of us) from walking on Wall Street or Broad Street freely. While it’s not Tahrir Square or Iran’s Green Revolution quite yet, I think that these protestors are on to something. I’m not totally sure (yet) who is behind them or exactly what their master plan is; but I am pretty sure that they’re scaring the “powers that be” in our entrenched government, media and business circles – the 1% elites that control the rest of Americans (and the world population to a large degree) like puppets.
It is not surprising, but worthy of note, that the mainstream media has refused to cover these protests and is doing their best to marginalize this demonstration as something akin to a harmless college campus protest that will pass in a few days. Maybe it will pass…but I do feel something different here. I’ve never been an activist or protestor type – and maybe this is just hitting home with me because I have to literally walk through Liberty Square to get from the WTC PATH to my office on Wall Street every single day! Being a Wall Street residing CEO, you would think that signs like the one above – “Fire Your Boss” – would scare me and pit me against these “jobless vigilantes”. That is not the case. I agree with almost everything that I’ve seen and heard from them so far, although the movement and manner in which people are participating still seems very raw. There is an intelligence behind it, and a peaceful wave of activism that seems like it belongs in Seattle or San Francisco more than New York. I’m happy to see this energy here, and aimed at what I agree is the biggest fraud in today’s world – Wall Street’s corrupt financial system that I believe perpetrates, enables and feeds off of the pillaging of the world’s human labor and natural resources for the benefit of an elite group of sinister people that obviously do not want to see their house of cards collapse. Well, I have news for the perpetrators – the system that is “too big to fail” has already failed – is in the process of failing before our eyes. Our whole system of governance and financial management, including the Fed, stock exchanges and financial regulation, are about to collapse – mainly because they are not in line with what is natural, viable and sustainable for the betterment of a society. The war-mongering, greed-feeding, anti-humanist platform that has somehow pervaded (or better put, invaded) American society, mainly by taking control of our decision-making power centers, is finally getting exposed. No wonder the mainstream media, which is part of this charade, doesn’t want to cover it – to avoid transparency and save its own ass. Well, if they won’t cover it, eye witnesses and bloggers like myself must! Here is a clip from today. I’ll try to upload more pictures and videos throughout the week, since I walk through there daily.
Whether or not this particular protest sets off a full-scale revolution or not, I really don’t know. Are people here fed up enough yet to take to the streets – almost, maybe, we’ll see! But they certainly need to know what’s going on, and why people are upset. Politicians and our entire political system is out of touch and incapable of serving people and solving the problems at hand – which is in large part, the system itself. It’s broken, and we are all starting to come to grips with that quite scary reality. Scary as it may be, ignorance or defense of it is worse. It’s better to take the pill and be on the side of those that want to do something about it – to revamp the system entirely, because that is what I believe we need. I think that’s what these protests are about. Over the coming days, I will learn more, and report it here. I hope someone out there is listening.
#OccupyWallStreet – spread the word, because mainstream media certainly is failing (intentionally) to do so! I think this goes to the (potential) power of Social Media. All of the things that our Western media is so quick to jump on when it happens on the other side of the world, sending crews to the Middle East and coming up with clever names like “The Arab Spring” – see how we fail to recognize and report on our own dysfunction? The problems in our own country and system are vast, potentially much worse than what is happening elsewhere. Let’s pay attention instead of being diverted by supposed opportunity and entertainment. Stop tuning this out – it’s time to start tuning in!
What else can we do in the face of daunting ignorance, greed, manipulation and corruption…except to fight the good fight, and March Forth!
Related articles
- Live Blog of #OccupyWallStreet: Day Five, 99 Percenters Rise Up (dissenter.firedoglake.com)
- Occupy Wall Street Protestors Arrested! (perezhilton.com)
- There Are Still A Couple Of Hundred Protestors Occupying Wall Street (businessinsider.com)
- Occupy Wall Street: Tahrir Over Here? (fastcompany.com)
- Yahoo blocked emails about ‘Occupy Wall Street’ protest (digitaltrends.com)
- Bringing Music to #OccupyWallStreet (wfmu.org)
- Occupy Wall Street: manifesto by United Thought (unitedthought.wordpress.com)
Mantrapreneur: “Boldness has genius, power and magic in it”
I love and live by this quote. If I find myself not doing so, at any given moment, something is wrong or blocking me – most typically my own blocks.
While I and many others (ie – see the image I’m using in this post as an example) had typically attributed this quote to the famous author Goethe, it is in fact by William Hutchinson Murray from his 1951 book The Scottish Himalayan Expedition. Either way, it is beautiful!
“Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans:
that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too.
All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way.
Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now.”
The City that Never Sleeps…Finally Takes a Nap
August 28, 2011 – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (New York, NY) In an unprecedented occurrence, the Big Apple, known as the city that ‘never sleeps’, finally took a nap on Sunday, August 28, 2011, courtesy of Mother Nature and her emissary – Hurricane Irene. Local residents, tourists, students and patients of local hospitals evacuated major parts of the city between Friday and today, bringing activity and commerce to a standstill for the first time in decades. This rare event comes on the heels of a major Summer heat wave, earthquake after shock and financial markets meltdown. Maybe there is a message in this for New York and New Yorkers – that “it’s time to take a break and regroup.”
“As a lifelong New Yorker, I personally welcome the day off and think that the stress levels that this city emanates are quite high for people; although I wish it didn’t have to come at the expense of our safety and the city’s infrastructure” says Arman Rousta, CEO of Blueliner Marketing, whose headquarters are in the vulnerable Wall Street area.
Interestingly, the vast power outages along the East Coast coincide with what is known in the Islamic (lunar) calendar, as “The Night of Power” (Laylat al-Qadr) whereby the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, first received the revelation of the Holy Qur’an. The Night of Power comes in the final five days of Ramadan, the highly Spiritual month where Muslims fast from dawn to sunset in remembrance of God and in order to take a break from the responsibilities of the mundane world. During this special night, Muslims meditate on the mystical revelations bestowed upon the Prophet and pray for the channels of divine blessings to continue pouring through to reach all of humanity, who are God’s vessels of Love on Earth.
This will henceforth be remembered as the year when the Night of (Spiritual) Power was followed by the Day of limited (man-made) power. The eye of the storm can see things which we cannot, and may have a message for us to heed. Whatever lesson God has for us, as communicated through his Beloved Mother Nature, let us tune into our hearts and absorb it! Be in awe of the fact that anything can be given or taken away from us in an instant. Use this respite to appreciate all that we have been provided, down to the little details that we take for granted – like running water, electrical power and shelter from the elements. Reconsider our place in this world and what Life is all about.
