My Letter to the Irish News about the 'Occupy' protests

[The Iceman]

Nail on head. Hell I got into a personal debt situation years ago and spent years working to pay it off.  I'm the kind of fella who doesn't give money to beggars who I see making no effort to get themselves off the streets.  But that doesn't change the fact that a small number of corrupt people have squandered decades worth of accumulated wealth with some shady practices and suckering people into "get rich quick" schemes. A small number of people have driven the world economy into the ditch and gotten away with it. The biggest hit-and-run accident in history and there are cheerleaders out there who want to blame the poor for it all. Unbelievable.

How will protesting fix all this eamonn?
I'm not championing the rich or blaming the poor. But let's be realistic here.

You can either change yourself (which is possible) or try to change the world (impossible).

[muppet]

What about Madoff and MF Global? Was that 'half' down to the laziness of the poor as well? AIG? Bear Sterns & Lehmans and the 100 odd other banks that have closed in the States in the last 3 years?

How does all this stop anybody getting of their arse and getting a job?

It does exactly the opposite. It has cost millions of jobs worldwide and that number will only rise. There will be a lot more people available to protest over the next couple of years. Think of it as a jobs famine. You wouldn't patronise your starving ancestors by telling them to get off their arises would you?

[eddie d]

What about Madoff and MF Global? Was that 'half' down to the laziness of the poor as well? AIG? Bear Sterns & Lehmans and the 100 odd other banks that have closed in the States in the last 3 years?

How does all this stop anybody getting of their arse and getting a job?

If there were 40 jobs going, and 300 apply for them, are 260 people that dont get a job lazy?

[Eamonnca1]

How will protesting fix all this eamonn?
I'm not championing the rich or blaming the poor. But let's be realistic here.

You can either change yourself (which is possible) or try to change the world (impossible).

These protests have succeeded in changing the terms of the conversation. Before it was all about "wasteful government spending" which was not exactly the source of the problem. It has drawn attention to income inequality in the USA and the fact that the white collar fraudsters who caused this mess have all gotten away scot free. It has prevented it from being swept under the carpet by the brush of right wing propaganda from Fox and friends.

[The Iceman]

What about Madoff and MF Global? Was that 'half' down to the laziness of the poor as well? AIG? Bear Sterns & Lehmans and the 100 odd other banks that have closed in the States in the last 3 years?

How does all this stop anybody getting of their arse and getting a job?

If there were 40 jobs going, and 300 apply for them, are 260 people that dont get a job lazy?

but are there only 40 jobs going? Or only 40 jobs going that you would actually do? Meanwhile there are another 300 jobs that you wouldn't lower yourself to do..... that are being snapped up by other Eastern Europeans and other Internationals prepared to come to Ireland and do whatever it takes....

[Tyrones own]

Ok so let me ask it another way in attempt to ward off the straw man
Which law is it in particular and or differing circumstances that Stew
IM and myself are living under that are not readily available to the
"poor" that are camped out in Zuccotti park or those wreaking havoc
in Oakland 

[eddie d]

What about Madoff and MF Global? Was that 'half' down to the laziness of the poor as well? AIG? Bear Sterns & Lehmans and the 100 odd other banks that have closed in the States in the last 3 years?

How does all this stop anybody getting of their arse and getting a job?

If there were 40 jobs going, and 300 apply for them, are 260 people that dont get a job lazy?

but are there only 40 jobs going? Or only 40 jobs going that you would actually do? Meanwhile there are another 300 jobs that you wouldn't lower yourself to do..... that are being snapped up by other Eastern Europeans and other Internationals prepared to come to Ireland and do whatever it takes....

No its not 40 jobs i would actually do, my point is if 40 jobs were made available tomorrow, you could get 300+ applications. people who dont get the job are lazy? also what about people who have been made redundant and may struggle to get another job because of their age? you can argue the age has nothing to do with it, but we all know a company will hire someone in their 20s before someone in their 50s

[muppet]

Ok so let me ask it another way in attempt to ward off the straw man
Which law is it in particular and or differing circumstances that Stew
IM and myself are living under that are not readily available to the
"poor" that are camped out in Zuccotti park or those wreaking havoc
in Oakland 

If it was a law that was the problem it would be 'Occupy Washington' wouldn't it?

The differing circumstances are that you, for whatever reason, blame the easy target. Compare the military spend and the healthcare spends. Which are you rabidly offended by?

Lord Trevelyan did the same. According to him the famine was entirely the fault of the Irish and God was on his side.

[stew]

Isn't it funny how the lecture about making everyone else pay for their mistakes, always includes the bit about how brilliant and hard working the one giving the lecture is?

Love thy neighbor, unless he is broke, it seems.

Iceman

I work about 60-70 hours a week, God forbid if I was out of work in the morning and couldn't get work doing something similar to what I am doing I would be on a building site or behind a bar pulling pints or manual labour on a farm.

Stew

I also got into serious credit card debt ten years ago, I ended up taking a second job to pay the fcuker off and it took three years, never again, what i did not do was blame someone else, blame Wall Street or anyone else, i blamed myself.

I don't work hard anymore, cushy enough number, I did work hard because I had to work hard based on the fact that I fcuked up and put myself into the position were I had to work hard, you see how that works???

I am not interested in giving lectures, I am interested in carrying my own weight and I am not interested in blaming others for my bad choices.

Muppet, you are trying to paint me as a non caring, selfish bastard, I am none of those things, what I am is someone who made mistakes, owned them and fixed them the hard way.

One last thing, I don't want to pay for the sins of others, I don't want a handout, bailout or shout out, why do you fight so hard to defend the indefensible.

[muppet]

Isn't it funny how the lecture about making everyone else pay for their mistakes, always includes the bit about how brilliant and hard working the one giving the lecture is?

Love thy neighbor, unless he is broke, it seems.

Iceman

I work about 60-70 hours a week, God forbid if I was out of work in the morning and couldn't get work doing something similar to what I am doing I would be on a building site or behind a bar pulling pints or manual labour on a farm.

Stew

I also got into serious credit card debt ten years ago, I ended up taking a second job to pay the fcuker off and it took three years, never again, what i did not do was blame someone else, blame Wall Street or anyone else, i blamed myself.

I don't work hard anymore, cushy enough number, I did work hard because I had to work hard based on the fact that I fcuked up and put myself into the position were I had to work hard, you see how that works???

I am not interested in giving lectures, I am interested in carrying my own weight and I am not interested in blaming others for my bad choices.

Muppet, you are trying to paint me as a non caring, selfish b**tard, I am none of those things, what I am is someone who made mistakes, owned them and fixed them the hard way.

One last thing, I don't want to pay for the sins of others, I don't want a handout, bailout or shout out, why do you fight so hard to defend the indefensible.

12 times in 4 sentences you use the word 'I'.

Think about it.

[stew]

Muppet you obviously have issues with people on the board that you can't set aside for the sake of serious conversation or debate.

Love they neighbour unless he is broke.

What does that even mean?

Am I not showing love because I don't support the protests? Am I not showing love because I'm not part of the protests? Am I not showing love because I take care of my own financial situation?

I don't understand your point.....................

A very small number of incredibly greedy people have placed financial bets that have caused the world financial system to become banupt. These are the people you are defending.

Your defense of these people appears to be that any people who complains is afraid of hard work, but of course people like yourself are great because you work hard.

None of us defend these greedy bastards, we are talking personal responsibility here, if you actually took the time to go to these rallies you would find that all people do is blame big government and corrupt billionaires on their situation, what they do not do is own their mistakes and their situations.

I live in the States, there are jobs to be had here if you want them, that is not the case in some parts of the world, if there is no work to be had I would have sympathy for people in that situation, here I have very little, why? because there is opportunity to work here, to support yourself here.

[pintsofguinness]

What about Madoff and MF Global? Was that 'half' down to the laziness of the poor as well? AIG? Bear Sterns & Lehmans and the 100 odd other banks that have closed in the States in the last 3 years?

How does all this stop anybody getting of their arse and getting a job?

A ridiculous comment and deeply insulting to the many, many people struggling to find work. 

[stew]

Isn't it funny how the lecture about making everyone else pay for their mistakes, always includes the bit about how brilliant and hard working the one giving the lecture is?

Love thy neighbor, unless he is broke, it seems.

Iceman

I work about 60-70 hours a week, God forbid if I was out of work in the morning and couldn't get work doing something similar to what I am doing I would be on a building site or behind a bar pulling pints or manual labour on a farm.

Stew

I also got into serious credit card debt ten years ago, I ended up taking a second job to pay the fcuker off and it took three years, never again, what i did not do was blame someone else, blame Wall Street or anyone else, i blamed myself.

I don't work hard anymore, cushy enough number, I did work hard because I had to work hard based on the fact that I fcuked up and put myself into the position were I had to work hard, you see how that works???

I am not interested in giving lectures, I am interested in carrying my own weight and I am not interested in blaming others for my bad choices.

Muppet, you are trying to paint me as a non caring, selfish b**tard, I am none of those things, what I am is someone who made mistakes, owned them and fixed them the hard way.

One last thing, I don't want to pay for the sins of others, I don't want a handout, bailout or shout out, why do you fight so hard to defend the indefensible.

12 times in 4 sentences you use the word 'I'.

Think about it.

If you are not bright enough to know why I used the letter that many times there is no point continuing this discussion.

[stew]

Then assume a ludicrous notion that every opponent of extreme right wing ideology is broke, or heavily in debt, communists and always out of a job.             

What extreme rightwing ideology would that be muppet,
Is it that damned evil "work hard, thrive, be happy and rely
on no one for free handouts" part that makes you uncomfortable?

It is the pompous assumption that anyone that thinks different to you is lazy, deficient or somehow a lesser human.

That's not what is being said here, you cant be this thick surely.

being a liberal does not give you more humanity, you are  not better than TO because you are a bleeding heart, non accountable wee man who seems to think that everybody should get bailed out. That is the way you are perceived.

[Eamonnca1]

Ok so let me ask it another way in attempt to ward off the straw man
Which law is it in particular and or differing circumstances that Stew
IM and myself are living under that are not readily available to the
"poor" that are camped out in Zuccotti park or those wreaking havoc
in Oakland 

Those wreaking havoc in Oakland all have jobs. They're called policemen.