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Occupy Virginia Tech, the local offshoot of the Occupy Wall Street movement, is rallying today at 4:30 p.m. to show solidarity with the Wall Street protesters.
Since this editorial is being written prior to the protest, the actual goals of all the protesters can only be speculated. However, there are questions as to the design of the event.
The most glaring flaw is the timing of the rally. At 4:30 p.m. on a Thursday, many students will be missing classes to protest what they see as unfair student loans practices. It is ironic that those skipping class to protest student loans will be throwing away money from their own tuition bill.
Furthermore, the protesters could pick a more fitting setting than the War Memorial Pylons. The Student Services building, where the financial aid office is located, would provide a better backdrop than the Drillfield, which, for all its beauty, lacks a true symbolic connection to the protesters’ efforts.
If Occupy Virginia Tech — and the Occupy movement as a whole — want to be taken seriously, they must demonstrate they have a specific plan. But they must also demonstrate practical understanding if they expect to be taken seriously by political leaders and the general public.
The editorial board is comprised of Sean Simons and Scott Masselli
A version of this article appeared in the Oct 13 issue of the Collegiate Times.
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The main themes I see with OWS are 1.) the 1% sucks 2.) student loans suck 3.) the Federal Reserve sucks. But you guys are right there is not really a coherent movement by any means.
This is the best speech/rant to come out of OWS so far though http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQow0Fhua1A
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Sounds like Occupy VT is right in step with Occupy WS; neither bother to think anything through.
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The role of a protest group is to refocus society's values and vision.
Creating policy to help society realize that vision is the role of politicians and academics.
Obviously, a person can wear both hats. However, it's unfair try and silence an angry populace that has grievances without solutions.
That said, my policy suggestions:
1. Limit corporate influence of politics by revoking the Citizens United decision and through real lobbying reform. If real people want to influence campaigns, they can do that through transparent and personal contributions.
2. Create a superfund for cleaning up financial polluters with a tax on every financial transaction -- .1% is probably all it would take.
3. Eliminate loop holes that the super wealthy can use to declare their income as preferred capital gains and whatever other nonsense.
4. Allow anyone to buy into Medicare.
5. Next time Wall Street screws up, punish the people that ruined everything. Seize their assets. Throw them in jail. No more socialized risk and privatized rewards.
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Please encourage students to vote in every election, including this falls election. This is the easiest way to create lasting change!
It seems like the only people that vote are grumpy old white guys.
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Is the editorial board supposed to be completely subjective? First you state the goals are unknown, then state the goal is to protest student loans practices. Also, there is no irony there. Beside the fact that only a fraction of the thousands of students will have class at this time, if the protesters are truly protesting unjust loan practices, your arbitrary allocation of monetary value per hour of class could be proved well spent if they were to spark actual change. I'm not sure what's up with these protests either but there sure is a lot we could all protest about. Most Americans are so apathetic when it comes to politics and the future of the country, I'm just happy to see young people getting engaged. This could have been a much more valuable editorial post. Opportunity failed.
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Has anyone else noticed that the lines at Starbucks have been really long since Occupy Wall Street kicked off?
I wish those dirty hippies would stop banging their bongos and go make my double mocha espresso.
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Why not help make a plan? http://www.facebook.com/OccupyVirginiaTech
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