1. What is changed by the Occupy movement?
– The level of awareness has been changed by the Occupy movement. Sure, people always knew that there were rich people. They knew that there was a large gap between them (the middle class) and all of those CEOs, magnates, corporate big shots. But the Occupy movement gave rise to action; the people wanted change when they saw that with the tough economy that we have been in in recent years, the rich are only getting richer, and likewise, the poor are getting poorer.
2. How is the Occupy movement practicing the use of horizontal power? how does this frustrate the status quo power structures? Is the “People’s Mic” broadcast or network (i.e. new) media?
– Horizontal power is power that does not follow a chain of command or authority. It’s using the people’s voice to motivate and instigate action in the collective people itself. These higher power structures are frustrated because they are supposed to be there as the voice of the people. These higher ups are the rich ones. How can they stay rich AND represent the people like they are supposed to, when the people are acting and speaking out against their wealth? The “People’s Mic” is a network media. Millions of people are talking to each other, communicating via chatrooms, social media networks, email, anything you can think of, in order to try to change something that is obviously going wrong with our political system.
I don’t really know how I feel about the Occupy movements. I agree with the message they’re trying to convey, I just don’t know if their doing it in the most efficient way, or if it’s even having any effect. I’m certainly in the 99%, but at the same time, my family hasn’t had any financial problems that you hear about. I also haven’t seen any effects from the Occupy movement. The wealthy are still wealthy, the middle-class don’t have any more money than they did before the movements. I think there would be even more publicity if they did it correctly. I’m not saying I have any idea how they should do it, but it doesn’t look like it’s really doing anything right now, except clarifying what we already knew – that rich people are really rich.
It really is amazing, though, how something can escalate so quickly from such a small presence. The occupy movement began less than a year ago, and it has become a world-wide movement involving police, college, students, those in power, the news, and the government. It is clear that there is a problem with the way the world’s currency is distributed, and it’s nice to see someone stood up and started the movement; I just wish that it were a bit more effective, because recently I haven’t heard much from it, aside from the occasional protest or controversy about a particular individual’s behavior.
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