Occupy This....

I was going to leave this alone because it's really stupid and a waste of time, but these folks decided to "occupy" my work environment a couple weeks ago and well... that's my turf.  Sorry.  I have to say something now.

Frankly, I like protesters.  Why?  Because it keeps life interesting.  The trouble is that most protesters don't take the time to truly educate themselves on what it is they're protesting and they just end up looking like idiots, like these idiots here. 

These folks came in pounding some drums and holding up signs saying we were raping the Earth and we needed to shut down.  Um... okay... I work for a utility company.  We provide power and water to the local community here.  If we shut down then... how do you expect to power that iPhone there, or that iPod, or the computer that your genius friend is using to post that blog about your brilliant plan, or take a shower, or flush your poo poo... wait... last Occupiers in California defecated all over the ground so... guess that's a moot point.

Yeah, I read the dude's blog.  It was awesome.  Something about how if we could just learn to live without power and the comforts of life, like air conditioning, the world would be a better place.  I don't know about you all, and maybe this makes me a really terrible person, but I happen to like running water so I can flush my shit down to somewhere instead of walking outside with a spade and digging a hole to poop in.  And I happen to live in a place where it can be 120+ in the summer and people still die of heat exhaustion even with air conditioning so... I happen to like my electricity too.  Not only that, but the day these folks decided to make an appearance was the same day all of the executives from my company were meeting with other utility companies and other regulatory agencies in the United States to discuss ideas and make proposals toward clean energy and green technology so... really?

All of that aside, I did do a lot of reading on these folks and the entire Occupy movement.  I have to say that the brains writing the rhetoric online are apparently too busy working their day jobs and writing online at night to be out protesting with these ignorant folks that they've gathered together "to spread the word."  I might be more impressed if one of them turned around and said something intelligent, but even as recent as Friday on CNN the best I got was a guy that said he was 30 years old and he hadn't worked since he was 18 because he was "too busy fighting the system."  Awesome.  How's that working out for you?  That genius turned around and said that government should implement 100% income tax.  Amazing...  Isn't that grand?  And his buddy next to him seemed to think that somewhere in the constitution it states that the government is supposed to "give us a million dollars or something..."  (go ahead and put your face in your hands now)

Is anyone taking this seriously?  Would the media please stop giving these people air time?  Please?!  They're like the toddlers that just keep wiping their shit on the walls because they like watching the parents freak out.

I would like to say, if they were to air an intelligent moment, these guys might have a point, but I can't.  The best I can pull from the blogs I've read, is that they're concerned about the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer.  This is a legitimate concern.  And they're concerned about "corporate greed" etc. and so forth, which is also legitimate.  But in terms of what they're trying to do on Wall Street, it might be better if they start "Occupying" the White House, because it was President Obama and the rest of the government dopes that used tax payer dollars to bail out the banks and the corporations, not the CEOs on Wall Street.  And let us not forget that those yin yangs in the White House spent something like 40 million on the President's Inauguration celebrations alone in 2008, which just happened to be in the midst of an economic crisis so... really?  We should have 100% income tax and let the White House determine where the money should go?  (this is the intellect of the guy "fighting the system" ... we should definitely listen to him and let him lead by example... awesome...)

I really can't take it anymore.  I'm a middle class working American.  I've seen hard times.  I've had to pull myself up like everyone else around here.  I've faced unemployment amidst a slew of other hardships, but at the end of the day I would still choose capitalist free market America over anything else.  Want to know why?  Because I don't feel like standing in line for bread like they did in communist Russia, which was what you might call 100% income tax, that's why.  Because I don't feel like riding my bicycle to work, like old school China, only to come home with pennies in my hand and a bowl of rice to eat if I'm lucky.  Because even if I don't have my dream job, I have a job and that allows me to put a decent roof over my head and decent clothes on my daughter's back, and decent food on the table.  And don't even get me started on freedom of speech, because that would go too, don't kid yourself.  Just ask the folks in China now.  They may have bridged some kind of gap between 100% income tax and more money in their personal pocket, but none of them have the right to speak their mind so... if you're going to protest, please educate yourself and do it right.

There is a problem with Capitalism, and that problem is greed, but anyone who has read any sort of history book of any kind knows that there is no such thing as a perfect form of government.  But out of all the forms of government we have seen, ours has at least allowed us to be free individuals with the ability to think outside of the box and make something happen.  The problem is that it takes work, and the other problem is that once people get to the top, they forget where they came from.  I think if you want to talk about "greed" in America, then you need to be real and address all people, including the White House and all the dopes that make up the different branches of government.  I think you need to take a minute and look at the idiots like this dope here: Mr. Money Mayweather who likes to burn 100 dollar bills in public because he can.  How about you go occupy his front lawn, because I'm sure he has several million dollars to give to the poor and the homeless.  Hell... If he weren't such an idiot, I'd even say it was possible for him to take his millions and open a few businesses and create jobs for people, but he won't.  He's too busy purchasing a diamond encrusted Mercedes Benz and... he's not a corporation and he's making way more and wasting way more than any of the CEOs on Wall Street.  So... if you want to talk about American Greed, how about you hit it where it hurts -- these kind of people.  Because the Wall Street guys?  They are making jobs for people.  Guys like this?  They're burning money.

Bottom line: greed is a part of humanity, it always has been it always will be.  And even if we were to have the government step in and regulate everything, guess what?  ALL of the greed would rest with the government.  Why?  Because they're human beings.  They aren't benevolent, they don't truly care about us, they aren't your grandma here to bake you cookies and put you to bed right after reminding you to brush your fuzzy plaque infested teeth.  Government is what I call a NECESSARY EVIL and so... really... You're going to send all of our money there?  Our system was set up to give the power to the people.  We have systematically given more and more power to the government, and quite honestly, this is how we ended up here and yet... we want to give them more.  And if individual people would just stop doing things like worrying about the next flat screen TV or the newest car or the best clothes; if people hadn't been greedy themselves and squandered the equity in their homes on frivolous things; if people actually invested their money in the future instead of what they could have in their hot little hands, we might have more bargaining power but we've cut our own Achilles tendon and now... we have Occupiers making a scene and the government and the media is just swallowing it up and feeding it back to everyone and... this is why I didn't want to talk about it in the first place because... it all amounts to nothing in the end.

I have to go to bed.  I have to go to work tomorrow.