Essay++2

Essay 2

The Analysis of Occupy Wall Street and the bias towards and against it.

On September 17th, 2011, a few hundred protestors marched towards Wall Street, which is in the heart of New York City. These protestors rallied through the New York City, practicing tai chi, painting homemade signs, and discussing their demands. These protestors were part the beginning of what is now known as Occupy Wall Street. Occupy Wall Street is a movement which is working towards fighting the government’s injustice. Although the first major course of action took place on the 17th, there were preplanned events and actions that took course. The very first action that affected Occupy Wall Street was on June 9th, 2011, when a Canadian anti-consumerist magazine called “Adbusters”, registered the name occupywallstreet.org on the internet. The next action that took place was on July 13th, when Adbusters thought of the idea of occupying Wall Street in a peaceful, collected manner. On August 2nd, the “debt-ceiling deadline” soon approaching, two groups with the main motive gathered together in Lower Manhattan, and planned for the September 17th event.

On September 17th, an estimated of 1000 people **can something be "an estimated of" ?**  attended the event. A large amount of people walked up and down Wall Street. As days and days passed, more and more people began to follow and participate in the movement. As participates and followers began to voice their opinion, inevitably, other parties began to voice their discontent in this movement. Many news programs and other media documented the view to inform the public of what the purpose of Occupy Wall Street was, but with almost every explanation, a biased motive is found underneath. The common media view often contrasts with the true purpose of the Occupy Wall Street movement. Many opposing parties, such as the Tea Party, oppose and defame Occupy Wall Street. As Occupy Wall Street continues, more and more people will become aware of the movement, which will eventually lead to the choice of whether to oppose or support the cause. Occupy Wall Street is historical, so having more information about this historical event makes the event feel more easy to understand and possibly mentally relive.

The Media consists of many different sub-units. As there are different channels to the television, there are different types of media stations that report and document Occupy Wall Street. NPR, the National Public Radio, believes that Occupy Wall Street are a bunch of organized protestors that are fighting for the economic crime-like things that high corporate members have done. PBS, a highly regarded source points out many flaws of the movement. They believe that organizers do not have a true purpose, and they do not know what they want to change. CNN, another highly regarded source also states that the purpose of Occupy Wall Street is a little hazy, because the people are not willing to make a statement about what they want. They believe that the majority of Occupy Wall Street seem to have trouble with communicating with other organizers, as the younger generation that is predominately comfortable with technology is clashed with the older generation. ABC, another news network believes that Occupy Wall Street started off without a political affiliation, and that it was just a movement against the government in general. Of course, it is impossible to determine whether the media is completely true of what the purpose of Occupy Wall Street really is, because it is impossible to not have a bias towards a certain event or subject. Knowing this, it is important to know that we should formulate our own beliefs instead of basing our beliefs on others.

As a college student as a very large school that participates in actions close to these, I have witnessed a lot of people who feel personally affected by these Occupy Wall Street. Many of the college students around the area agree with what they believe Occupy Wall Street stands for, adding to the presumption that many college students support Occupy Wall Street. However, there are also many people who do not believe that Occupy Wall Street stands for injustice. Many college students side with other right wing people, who believe that people are just looking for a free ride out of hard work and labor. Many college students believe that hard work and labor will eventually pay off, and that Occupy Wall Street is filled with lazy, effortless people. Of course, this is just one side of the spectrum. Many students are also unaware of what Occupy Wall Street is, and it is up to the “informed” people to try and grab these students to help sway them into their personal beliefs, so they can choose the side the “informed” people are on. This helps add more and more people to participate in the movement, and as one side gets bigger, the other side becomes smaller, and eventually fades out. In a way, this is a sort of competition to see which side becomes so small that they become insignificant.

The Mission Statement that Occupy Wall Street believes in is that big corporations should not have an influence over the government, and that powerful corporations shouldn’t profit at the expense of people and their rights. In their mission statement, Occupy Wall Street compiled a list of complaints on how big corporations affected everyday people. Their slogan, “We are the 99%” refers to the difference in wealth and income grown in the United States between the wealthiest 1% and the rest of the population. Occupy Wall Street is fighting against the injustice that was created from big corporations. Occupy Wall Street believes that these corporations violated human rights, the destruction of the environment, and inequality in the work place. Occupy Wall Street was shown to have a list of complaints that explain what they are fighting against. With this list of complaints, it should be clear what Occupy Wall Street is standing up for. Occupy Wall Street is against what big corporations influencing our politics and the government. They believe that money has become the driving force behind all policy making. An excerpt from their mission statement shows that it is very much like the Declaration of Independence; in the way there Mission Statement was written, as well as the purpose of the statement.

Although Occupy Wall Street is still occurring, it is a historical event that should be recorded and relived through, however, if it is recorded through a certain bias then the purpose and feeling won’t be true. Because everything is extremely biased, it is important to note as many sources as possible in order to show all sides of what people think of the Occupy Wall Street movement. As more and more people give their personal belief on the movement, we will be able to give a better, true, big perspective of the historical event.