Are the Harvard potestors in some way part of the 1%

I personally find it amusing that they are part of this movement. I can see community college kids rallying but although I'm casting a wide net are their parents for the most part well off anyway? I believe it's disengenuous that they are participating in this because do they not want to be the 1% percent deep down inside. The reason most go to such elite schools is because they will be getting a leg up on the average person and not because of grades but because of simply the school that they attended? They already have the advantage even if they accomplish nothing in college. I'm sure there is a small and I mean small percent that care but overall they are already being groomed to be an elitist...any one else think the same?

Originally posted by chrismarco
I personally find it amusing that they are part of this movement. I can see community college kids rallying but although I'm casting a wide net are their parents for the most part well off anyway? I believe it's disengenuous that they are participating in this because do they not want to be the 1% percent deep down inside. The reason most go to such elite schools is because they will be getting a leg up on the average person and not because of grades but because of simply the school that they attended? They already have the advantage even if they accomplish nothing in college. I'm sure there is a small and I mean small percent that care but overall they are already being groomed to be an elitist...any one else think the same?

I do not think it is fair to assume such things. Just because they can afford to get into these places it does not mean they will be planning on becoming one of the elite. I think many do actually care about the grades and more importantly, the better standards of teaching provided. Just because they might be part of the 1% it does not necessarily mean they are evil of do not care about the world and want to do something positive for others.

As far as I know, the term "1%" has a very specific meaning - Do you make more money or have more assets than 99% of the population? A lot of people attending Harvard and similar schools will fit this description, but not all of them. Harvard takes a lot of scholarship kids, remember. And not everyone who goes to Harvard becomes an investment banker...some people become teachers, doctors, or lawyers who work for altrusitic and idealistic causes and don't make so much money, because they are drivien to excellence by an ideal rather than by lust for cash. And even if some of the kids protesting go on to become elites later, its not a bad experience for them to be given a chance through the protests to think about how their acts might effect everyone else.

Those politically ambitious kids need this on their resume.

In 20 years they will pull out pictures and say "I have always been for the people".

Peace

I think it is important to remember that being uber-wealthy isn't the problem. What Occupy has an issue with is behavior.

reply to post by OwenGP185


One percent is a stretch I will agree but they are not going to Harvard thinking they are going to make 75,000.00 a year...I think they are shooting just a bit higher...and I truly don't think the majority of them gives a rats tooshie about the middle or lower class...

Originally posted by chrismarco
I personally find it amusing that they are part of this movement. I can see community college kids rallying but although I'm casting a wide net are their parents for the most part well off anyway? I believe it's disengenuous that they are participating in this because do they not want to be the 1% percent deep down inside. The reason most go to such elite schools is because they will be getting a leg up on the average person and not because of grades but because of simply the school that they attended? They already have the advantage even if they accomplish nothing in college. I'm sure there is a small and I mean small percent that care but overall they are already being groomed to be an elitist...any one else think the same?

Let me tell you this, I have defended occupy non stop. My parents are in the 1%, my dad is an executive, my parents' house has an elevator.

But guess what? All of my best friends come from families who are in the bottom 20%, and I spend my time with those kids so I am not detached from reality. Occupy is about more than the economy. It is about the Plutocracy, the wars, the federal reserve, the military industrial complex, the drug war, the constitution, personal freedoms etc. It is also about taking personal responsibility, because there is ALWAYS someone else to point the finger at.

I am not my parents, I may have benefited from their ways, but at the same time I have seen their own hypocrisy which they are completely blind to. The problem is people like my parents, who are really good people at heart, don't think for themselves. They both came from poor families, and now my dad works hard to give me everything he didn't have when he was a kid because he loves me, but at the same time he doesn't understand how he is a part of the backwards system.

He likes Ron Paul, he bought me the book "End The Fed" but I don't even think he would vote for him unless the media began to endorse him because he thinks he is wasting a vote because the media tells him that Paul can't win and he believes it. I am doing my best to wake them up, it's hard to take personal responsibility for the corrupt system you participate in when you watch baseball and football all the time and only listen to the speakers on the news. I have shown them a lot of stuff about occupy, and while they agree with me most of the time, they tell me "just promise you won't go down there yourself, I don't want you to get arrested" - That is exactly the mentality that is the problem, the acknowledgment that there is a problem, but the submission to the idea that there is nothing that can be done, when in reality the ONLY thing that can be done is on an individual level.

I went to a boarding school with some uber-rich kids, one kid's dad sold his company to proctor and gamble for a few HUNDRED million. I was and still am good friends with that kid, but again, he nor his dad (who seemed like a nice guy) seemed to understand the big picture. And btw, proctor and and gamble is one of the problems, they have gotten in trouble for price fixing conspiracies and that sort of thing. They think it is all just human nature and just watch out for their own friends and family and business, not because they are evil, but because they think that's just human nature and that's the only way things can work. I know they are wrong, that is why I support occupy.

So, don't assume someone from the 1% supporting occupy is fake, they face more judgment than anyone for their support of the movement, because the people that are closest to them are the ones who are the problem.