Two weeks into Occupy Wall Street protests, movement is at a crossroads

I would like to see people lend without seeking anything in return except appreciation.

It would also be nice to see others not thinking that they are worth so much more than others.

You have the sequence wrong.

1) People interested in the movement asked to see an agenda and set of goals. (Heaven forbid, some of those people may have even been skeptical!)

2) The members of the movement could not respond and their apologists started spouting gibberish like that found in my parody.

3) Members and apologists adopted the childish position you've described and concluded that if people are insisting on seeing an agenda and goals before taking the movement seriously, that's precisely what they would not give them.

4) People who were interested in the movement became critics.

Lewis Carroll would recognize quite a few characters among the OWSters.

The logic you find in Wonderland.

Drawing a comparison between the hashmark and the swaztika that extends beyond the use of existing symbols for new purposes is pretty silly.

Obviously the hashmark symbol has its origins in twitter which fits the whole theme of Revolution vs Social Networking, but symbols have a way of taking on lives of their own and can attract entirely new meanings from large numbers of users who have no idea of the original intent.

It's also silly to assume sinister design here, and unnecessary. It's just the way people use and react to symbols.

I don't know if this hatchmark symbol is going to catch on but I would be surprised if it doesn't.

People (and particularly young people) want to have a very simply way to identify the like-minded in the larger group, and (more importantly I believe) send a simple signal that identifies them as one of the like-minded...or at least someone who wants to be accepted by the like-minded.

For that reason alone, some symbol is bound to emerge as the symbol for OWC.

A secondary (albeit important) reason is marketing. People will stand to make a fair bit of money selling "stuff" that bears the semi-official symbol.
The marketers can't wait forever for the symbol to appear organically and so I'm sure they've already floated a number of trial balloons to see if any will catch on.

The hashmark is a natural. It can be stylized pretty heavily and in many different ways without losing its basic identity. It's aesthetically pleasing in that it is a pattern, and while it has some trace of familiarity, it is quite unique.

From a graphics design standpoint, tilting it on its side is brillant and is probably the way it will stick.

I would rush off to manufacture t-shirts and ball caps using this symbol if I didn't think there is already a large number of would-be competitors, well into it.

You obviously can't wrap your 20th century linear thinking around the new schema.

Iran supports occupy wall street!

There are, but not with that particular symbol. It's reserved for leaders within the movement -- as a way to identify them for now. Members of the General Assembly probably get to put it on their t-shirt sleeves, but people like Lauren and Zonkers (love that name) wouldn't (for now).

Cycloptichorn

She looks good for 60!

Meanwhile, someone punched holes in the Pulse group's drums! I'm wondering if it wasn't a lower-Manhattanite desperate for sleep LOL. #AmericanGumption!

Yeah, she does. Now, what's with this 99% claim? Since I'm not the 1%, they must think I'm a part of their group.

You sound like part of their group! You do not agree with all of what they say nor do any of them, you see problems with our current condition so do they, you may even think that there is to much corruption in our system so do they.

You may be closer to the 99% than you are the 1%!

Ideologically, no way in hell. I pay my debts.

Every group of people have some members that do not pay their debts for one reason or another{ conservative or progressive}!
Many of them pay their debts as well! I pay mine and I also lend money to people like you threw my savings! I am one of the 99%

Banks get bailed out. They're the 1%. They don't pay their debts. They have us pay them.

A
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I think the "99%" refers to the income distribution, not to ideology. Occupy Wall Street is campaigning for policy changes that benefit the bottom 99% of the income distribution even if they harm the top 1%.

Well, in that case, I guess I'm pretty close to the other 1%. Nevertheless, it's still kind of arrogant for them to pretend to be speaking for 99% of the population. They simply are not. They want the rest of us so they can claim a following they don't have.

You need to reread Thomas's post. You dident seem to get his point.

I did. I disagree.

but....

try reading it one more time roger.

maybe with a finger next to your nose...

still nothing?

Great big

I wonder why on earth I would respond without having read it.

Okay, sometimes Thomas does slip something past with his mathematical economic formulas, but this one really was in plain English. I can handle it.