Finally!

OMG i agree, so much. we have a bunch of them in Tucson.

Seriously... there are occupy people in the town I live in... where no one in the town is part of the 1%... what they hell are they protesting against there?

I tell you what, the coffeeshop I use to connect to the internet is cool. But its also an occupy HQ. Being a conservative libertarian, (dont hate, believe what you want, wont stop you.) I quietly sit in my corner and do my best to ignore it all. Not only that, I am in the US Coast Guard. That is an active branch of the US Armed Forces. Meaning I cant protest, get involved in politics, or any of that stuff. Luckily, I get to use that as a viable reason to keep them away and not get involved in a bloody sociopolitical debate.

Anyway, love the comic and great art as always. TAZE THE DRAMA LLAMA!!

I support the idea of the occupy movement, but they don't have a list of demands. They don't have a "this is what we want", they have "this is what we don't want".

But I will support people actually going out and trying to change things rather then just whining on the internet or in coffee shops. I'm not going to go stand out in the park shouting "I don't like...stuff..." but I won't say they're stupid or misguided either. Well, at least not ALL of them.

These are young people extremely unhappy with how the system works and they're stepping outside of mom and dad's basement to prove it. They don't know how to fix it, or even what will come next, but the biggest thing they ARE doing is bringing attention to something that DOES NEED to change.

The civil rights movement started when a few people decided to sit in a restaurant where they weren't welcome (or legally allowed to be) and through that attention started something that changed the face of the nation. While the occupy movement may not have any fixed goals or "road to recovery" gameplan, if enough people stand up and say "We're unhappy and things need to change", something will get done.

Or maybe some of my friends are right and the issues run so deep that nothing short of armed rebellion will fix it. I for one would rather camp out in a park first.

I realise that but at the same time, there are right ways and wrong ways to protest, we have a bill of rights that gives us permission to protest, and gives us clear cut guidelines that tell us how. These people have followed none of this and the people they're aiming for are laughing at them. While i do understand why, how they're doing it.... leaves much to be desired. The sit-in and squatters were obtrusive, rosa parks made a stand. Its hard to do that when you're fighting a dragon yes, but there are better ways, more thought out courses of action. Its just a disorganized mess. I have nothing against protesting against the failings of our country but when you do it don't make a mockery of your movement. I think thats what irks me most, these people haven't got a clue.

to be honest while im on it theres a section in the bill of rights that states that if the people feel the government is not being run in the best interests of the people the people have the god given right to rise up against and reform it as well. Funny how that hasn't yet reached the Hivemind. I suppose that would require them reading.

Um.... what?

Businesses spend billions to advertise to you from the day you are born to want and "need" things you don't need, to borrow money to pay for them, and spend more money doing it all; psychology proves it works. OWS isn't protesting businesses selling them things, it's protesting that businesses are using their money to control the government to put them into a position to make more money at the expense of the system, it's exactly this that caused the worldwide economic crisis that is going on today. Unemployment is sitting about 9% and I'd suspect at least 3x that many are looking for a job, being willing to work for it isn't the issue. I don't remember the protests being about "give me more money!" or "I want a new car!". The system is rigged, right now a lot of people are well off enough to not worry, but if we let the system continue getting worse that wont matter if it causes the economy to collapse, people only complain when the situation affects them and they haven't become too complacent to ignore it. If you're referring to that we're better off than a third world country then sure, we get a lot more, but if you consider that we were once the world power and that we're behind many countries in every standard (education, healthcare, etc) and that every few years our rights (no, not luxuries, no idea where you got that from, read the first amendment) are disappearing, then yes we still do need to complain, because everything is relative. At the same time a tiny fraction of those with the power are making record amounts of profit and want to keep it that way.

Actually the "official" unemployment is always U3, on your chart being 8.6%. The number of people collecting unemployment checks from the government unless I'm mistaken. The rest are gross estimates using surveys and include things like underemployment. I am interested in why you say people have given up looking for jobs, from my view of friends and family, official unemployment has been dropping because jobs haven't improved and jobless people living off of unemployment have run out of time and been dropped by the system. I don't even want to think how many didn't qualify to begin with because they haven't had a job yet, were fired, left to go to school and couldn't return, got too sick to work or had a dispute through their union because all of these disqualify you from getting unemployment to begin with.

I'm pretty sure rising up and taking over the government by force (and getting at least thousands of people killed in the process) is exactly what they do not want to do.

If a million people protest it only takes 10 to do something stupid to let the controlled media to make a mockery of them, that you referred to OWS as hippies proves you've already heard it. If 10,000 people followed every "law" of peaceful protest you would never ever hear about it in the media, because there is nothing to "report". I don't recall the bill of rights giving anyone the right to protest, it's just people exercising their right to assembly and free speech. I agree that OWS is disorganized, but it seems more of a group of people trying to get through to the rest of the US that people are pissed off with the direction things are going and hoping the majority agree so changes can be made. OWS and the Tea Party are both working to the same ends, through different systems, so hopefully one or the other gets something done (at least Ron Paul is getting popular).

The irony of this is that Im totally backing Ron Paul. I realize that rising up is a worst case scenario. But lets face it something needs to be done and occupy while raising eyebrows and getting people talking, isn't doing much beyond that. What it needs is something to firmly get behind to get others to stand behind it. Right now the 99% is being represented by the 3% of the country that never bothered to pick up a book it seems (granted when i say that i mean the people they've interviewed, not the entire occupy movement itself) Its the crux of all major organization in this day and age that the best possible people are shuffled into the corner and the worst of all possible people are being shuffled into the spotlight, it happens with christianity, it happens with islam, and it happens with any major group. The Sane individuals are never brought out to explain the situation, but the absolute dumbasses who cant even form a coherant sentence without barking into a rage.

I wouldnt say the media is controlled perse, I do beleive it is very often influenced but even in social media where people are shoving up thier journals and posting in thier blogs with thier pro-occupy posts I STILL see that disorganization, several people i watch seem to have left thier brains at the door on this OWS and its horrifying to me.

i would have alot more respect for the movement if it wasn't so disorganized. However the fact it was even brought to the public eye is a brazen move on the media's part. If it was really controlled as much as people beleive I doubt the govt would even want this brought to light. Even if you interview the stupidest people to represent it, eventually there will come a time when others decide to do it the right way and make occupy a force to be reconed with.

I dont have issues against protest, but i do have issues with hive mind and people joining a cause blindly just because they're unhappy but have no clear cut goals. It would be easy to get those out with social media being what it is today, censorship while being attempted is far less able to happen with the 'net in place.

It doesn't take a smart person to realize they're being shafted, but it does take one to figure out to change the hellishly complicated legal system to fix it. I've never been a part of OWS; I like that they're doing something even if I don't agree with a lot of what they do, but following online news sites has shown a much larger picture of what is going on than you'll ever get out of something like Fox and MSNBC (it's a joke to even call Fox a news station it's become so obviously biased, MSNBC isn't far behind). Watching the actual intelligent people try to talk to reporters and get shunned only for the same reporters to track down some guy that's had too much fun and try to get a story out of him drives the point home, you can look around the internet and probably find the same recordings I've seen if you're interested. The news stations are calling them anarchists, hippies, commies and every other ambiguous negatively connotated label and it's working wonders for making OWS seem like a joke to the underinformed public, ask your parents or anyone else that isn't internet savvy (hell, even you called them hippies, why? I'm genuinely curious) and I bet almost all of them will say they're one of those things the news called them without hearing a single word about how police paraded them onto a bridge, cut them off and arrested them for obstructing traffic; maced them for sitting in, covered their badges so they couldn't be named and arrested bystanders for recording them and even hit people head on with dangerous devices like gas canisters and flashbang grenades. But how much of that has ever made it onto the news? I agree that some groups have gotten unruly and caused trouble but it is nothing compared to the protests going on in every other country this year. I just want both sides to be shown on the news so people can make their own informed decision on what's going on, there's no way business would let that happen though.

I've tried looking up "Occupy Cleveland", my home town, and I can't find a damn thing on their page or anything about WHAT THEIR GOAL IS. Between this, and Occupy Denver citing a dog as their leader, the satellite movements of the Occupy "hivemind" don't inspire me to get behind them.

And for the record, I'm only 30. I wasn't around for other protests of any force in the past. I agree things are kind of screwed up. But these Occupy movements aren't . . . they aren't being effective for anything other than being seen and wasting people's time. Those folks could be using their time to study up on the process they need to go through as opposed to simply picketing with signs. The battle they are . . .

. . . look, all I have heard about the Occupy goals is from people who AREN'T part of the movement. All I've heard from THEM is "You know why we're doing this, and if not you're part of the 1%". VERBATIM. So I can't even be sure they ARE fighting for anything, it could be like flashmobs, doing it for doing it. Or Anonymous. "Lulz, watch us pitch tents and screw with people's heads in real life this time".

If the Occupy movement wants something done, they need to do more than just look angry and get loud. But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong.

Technically I didn't call them hippies, I said they made the hippies look like they knew what they were doing by comparison. My unncle was at kent state and was one of them throwing rocks. We know what happened then.

I equate advocating pacifism with being a hippie, and I really don't see it as a dirty word.

I did draw the connection in my show is your sues with hector but again I called him a hippie because he was a pacifist not because he was in an occupy movement. But his movement probably would have been peace anyway.

I wouldn't be so hasty to draw the line between police brutality and govt corruption. The police have a history of using suncolicited force so while I don't find it any less barbaric, I'm not surprised thy would go to such extreams.

And yes their barbaric tactics have made headlines and the departments heavily admonished by the media, at least what I watch.

I think you might mean the Preamble to Declaration of Independence, not the Bill of Rights:

"2.2 That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.
2.3 Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.
2.4 But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security.
2.5 Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former systems of government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these States. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world.....We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends."

But I'm not disagreeing that the occupy movement seems from the outside to be a disorganized group or discontent youth, which is not in sort supply. I'm not going to defend every kid holding a sign, but I WILL support his right to hold a sign.
Being able to protest from 9am to 5pm in a government-approved back alley when it's convenient for the establishment (can't believe I'm using that term) does very little to get a message across.

Again, I'm not trying to say that the occupy movement is some shining beacon of hope or perfect example of everything a protest should be, but at least it's something. It's people caring enough to go out and make themselves heard, even if the message is unclear. The very fact that we are discussing it means that it's had an impact and is making people look. I would like to see them have more of a cause, have a set of goals and guidelines, make it less of a "we're unhappy and we're going to stand here until we stop being unhappy", and more of a "we're going to stand here until we see such-and-such get done". But even as it is, in my opinion they are representing the right of every American to peacefully protest. I'll support that every time.

As well you should. As i explained, what i have against occupy is that its a disorganized mess, if it were organized, and not "boo hoo im unhappy" as you said, id have alot more respect for the movement. Its not the movement itself, its the people in it that are giving it the bad name. I see alot of untapped potential in what they're trying to do and i like that its raising eyebrows and making headlines. But The method could be more refined, and sure we see these things gain more ground, be less disorganized ahd find a solid cause, but I sadly see Occupy heading in too many directions for it to serve the purpose it was meant to. If people want to commit to Occupy work toward making it a force to be reconed with instead of it being something of mockery.

Also thank you for the citations it was late and i couldnt think of the proper source.

Tl;DR if Occupy was more orgainized and less of a mockery i would respect it alot more, seeing as I am an unemployed, discontented youth, it disturbs me greatly that my generation could fall so easily into the hivemind, perhaps i expected better. I would like to see people start a new movement free of occupy's poor orgianization with the same premise and clearer goals.

I'm Anion and I approve this message!

protest .. protest!! i have no idea what is going on :3

Thank you!

We're putting up with this crap (yes... I said it .. CRAP) down in the Bay Area. I've sure had enough of it.

I'm old enough to remember the Hippies of the 60's (being 51) and you hit the nail on the head with that comparison Foxena.

**THUMBS UP!!**

I was just about to post the the same thing. I'm 53 and remember the protests of the 60s also. From almost day one of OWS, it appeared to me as if most of this bunch were just trying to recreate and experience the glorified, legendary, "hippie" protests, but are less educated than the originals(some of them actually had something of an education) and have ended up making it all appear as if it is just a really long party. That the TAX PAYERS are ultimately paying for.

While I'm glad people are becoming more aware that they're getting screwed over. You're totally right. Eventually somebody has to actually do something.

My only complaint about someone occupying FA is this...

HOW MANY FURRIES DO YOU THINK ARE REALLY IN THE 1%?

. . . I think you haven't met the same people in the fandom I have. They're JUST as bigoted, but about different things. Usually against people who AREN't furry, or certain subsections of the fandom.

That's just it. The Furry Fandom is not "about" things like that, strictly speaking, any more than movie actors are "about" charity work. We are talking a broad selection of people from all sorts of backgrounds and upbringings. Tolerance is encouraged, yes. But it is hardly a requirement to take part in the fandom. I am very intolerant of several things, which DO happen in the fandom, but my thing is not getting on a soapbox and going "this is sick and wrong".

On a broader, more central note - I am more intolerant of logical errors when people present arguments. Especially sweeping, broad generalizations.

No, no thank you. That's like telling a pathological liar to his face you know he is lying. Physical violence is USUALLY the only response to such things, and my teeth won't take a hit anymore.

NOT if it can be proven you instigated it, which . . . you did. And you know you did.

Damned right! I had nearly enough of these idiots from the outset, what with their lack of any cohesion, and it didn't help that the protests themselves attracted people who just wanted to protest their own agenda, unrelated to corporate greed (for example, folks from PETA).

And once the protests when on and the camps were there long enough they ended up attracting dopers and addicts. The crime rates in several cities with these Occupy protests actually spiked in the areas surrounding the camps.

Maybe if they wanted to get something done they could protest in Washington? If a company wants something done in your country they have lobbyists in the Washington, that's because all of the decision-making is done in the capital. So what can they hope the achieve if the only people they inconvenience are those local to their own city?

this is my town in a nutshell

Agreed... so much.

I've always asked that same question in what these wanna be's what they are protesting against and I have NEVER had a straight answer.

Question: Is Occupy Bra a containment protest?

Yes it is :p

You know, no one is gonna be able to take protestors seriously after these guys are done. Thanks for that, jerks. >.<

You are my hero on so many levels.

I agree and disagree, I find no reason to protest, because it does seem just, but i totally agree also, the occupy movement is so disorganized no one will really get anywhere, id bet more than 60 percent of people involved cant accurately describe what they think should be done, they just know what they dont want as some previous furs have said. And again this has been said, but its rather futile, in my opinion, it would take complete overthrowing of corporate bigwigs to achieve even an infintesamle change...and who wants that?