Someone posted this picture on facebook -- thought it was an interesting twist on the "We are the 99%" movement. I'm not sure how people will feel about this, but I appreciate the irony of his presentation.
http://a1.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/305698_10150398256515379_543825378_10431724_309607540_n.jpg
-- Jillian
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Hey Jillian!
I saw this a few days ago and it evoked strong emotions in me for several reasons.
For one, this perspective assumes that inequality is NOT endemic to the system, i.e. that it's just a matter of working hard, playing the "game", and solidifying your spot in the rat race... equating 'having debt' with bad decision-making. Many people are enslaved to creditors just trying to afford basic necessities like food, a home, taking care of kids, etc- certain segments of the population (race, gender, ethnicity) are systematically victimized by 'Big Money' and the Military-Industrial complex.
These protests aren't just about school loans, and the debt traps of individuals. This is about widespread corruption (inhumanity) in a system that strongly dictates the way we, the people, all live. It's about financial interests (the desire for money and power to fill the void of a fragmented existence whereby people have forgotten their interconnectedness) getting mixed up with government/social systems set up to make life more beautiful for EVERYONE, not just some. Many young folks did make the choice to attend private schools and take out loans - because we were promised by the people we trusted that it would be okay. We were instructed to attend the best school, invest in our education, follow the leader, get a job in our field, play the "game".
This was my initial (a little angry) response to one posting on FB:
having debt does not equal 'bad decisions'. the individual case parallels that of 'third world countries'- both are victims of an exploitative system that requires the conversion of relationships into $ (forests, local economies, time, leisure, community) and interdependency into DEPENDENCY to perpetuate growth. one example of someone surviving the system by playing the 'game' doesn't change the fact that 2/5 of the world lives on $2/day and that we have to sell our lives working in a glass and metal cage for 9 hours a day so we can buy TVs to watch Gossip Girl and Monday Night Football and get wasted to fill the void and pain of our disconnected lives. why don't we create a more beautiful world with more pleasure and less work; more expression of our gifts and less squandering them; more unity and less fragmentation... rather than work even harder to endure a pathetic rat race and a vacuous culture created out of the bones of a dying planet?
peace,
sam
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