My conversation with a Nashville OWS protestor

Originally posted by Afterthought
reply to post by buster2010

 

So, how can this be remedied?
One thing that comes to mind is that there should be schools dedicated to sports that only have the most necessary academic courses.
To help clarify this, think about the person who wants to be an electrician, they can go to a tech school and only have to take a few writing and business courses in the event that their career doesn't work out or they end up in management or owning their own business.

edit on 5-11-2011 by Afterthought because: (no reason given)

One way to remedy it is to get rid of the free ride. Why should someone get a free ride just because he's good in sports? He goes for free while one who excels in science goes into debt. Also isn't there a big difference between a tech school and a college? A tech school teaches you just what you need to know whereas in college you have a bloated curriculum?

reply to post by iskander683

They want more for less. Always more for less.

Welcome to America. The home of buy low and sell high.

reply to post by buster2010


Tech schools do it to. I went to a tech school for computer/electronics engineering, basically it taught how to work on motherboards and all the little components. Lots of math to which was fine it was all interesting, then for some reason im put into a programming and a networking class which was a completly different course. Not on my dime. Its ok i got a hill-billy redneck education in surviving and living off the land. I cant wait for the sh!t to hit the fan, its gonna be like a huge camping trip

reply to post by Dilligaf28


Well think about it, the point of the bank is to make money...the point of the college graduate (today) is to get a good job to pay for college, which is generally a requirement if you want to really excel in this world.

College loans are also immune from bankruptcy...if you don't find a job you're still obligated to pay that debt. If you file for bankruptcy your other debts are wiped out but not your student loans.

I don't know when you went to college but today, it costs 37% more than it did a decade ago. On average that's $18,000/year. If you're working $10/hour (which is higher than the minimum wage of $7.25) that's only $19,200/year.

Now, the origins for these particular protestors might be a little misplaced but it's still a valid point. It eventually boils down to perpetual wealth, where only the rich and affluent of society can afford to go to school to get good paying jobs.

reply to post by Dilligaf28


I don’t thing they are greedy for trying to get good qualifications so they can get good jobs. Isn’t this what society expects of them?

These kids are expected to devote themselves to learning skills that good to no one but a corporate machine and now you are expecting them to pay for. It’s not like they are going to learn how to take care of themselves financially and how to make money for themselves.

Even with skills they want they may still spend all their work life in a Just Over Broke (JOB). Like most people who devote their life to being a cog in a corporate machine they are likely to work for 40 years and still end up broke and in need of welfare when they are old.

Given that they are going to devote 40 years of their lives as a cog in a corporate machine in JOB perhaps the corporate machines that need their service should pay for their education.

Originally posted by beezzer
reply to post by Dilligaf28

 

What you'll get in response is, "these kids don't represent OWS, etc. . . "

Typical, is my response. But I'll be honest with you, this is probably going to be one of the last OWS threads I participate in. I keep repeating myself so much that my keyboard has a sore throat.

Myopic. Self-centered. These kids, along with so many participating, just don't have a clue.

Actually, what he'll get is "you've obviously made this up" or "you're lying" or "pics and videos and baby Jesus or it didn't happen" because, obviously, nobody can just go up and ask questions of someone and only have anecdotal evidence for it.

OP: These guys are typical of OWS. I wouldn't expect them to answer differently. Randomly select a YouTube video of interviews with OWS people, and someone just like them appear.

/TOA

reply to post by Dilligaf28


Lol

Poorly contrived post guy.
I believed it might be true til about half way through.
Also, I hope you don't think you sound like the complete voice of reason in your fabricated conversation.
The interest rates on student loans are insane. Also kids should have a RIGHT to education. There definitely aren't enough school to work programs for every student. Students are getting screwed in this country. No matter what you think those are the facts and before you jump to presumptions I was a student and I have no debt. Doesn't change the facts.

reply to post by The Old American


You are exactly right. Want to know why. Because it is super typical and if he wasn't making it up then he would have much more detail. I think it is highly suspect just because you know it would be called into question doesn't make it any less true.

Originally posted by GogoVicMorrow

Also kids should have a RIGHT to education.

Kids do have a right to education. That's why hundreds of billions of our tax dollars, federal, state, and local, are spent on K-12. After that, you choose your own path through adulthood.

/TOA

reply to post by The Old American


You call public grade school a real education? It's laughable. Honestly in the US you have to go through your first two years of college to get on the level with highschool graduates around the globe.

As for the story. The fact that only one person was permitted to talk sure made it an easier job to transcribe. Seems like if they were choosing a person to talk he would have great answers and be the most intelligent/media saavy member, but the answers OP gave as the protester's were weak. I know what argument most will use to explain that, but we all know that is a naive answer. The real answer is obvious.

Originally posted by Dilligaf28
reply to post by Puppet27Master

 

Look at the context of the conversation. The kid told me its wrong for banks to be greedy but not wrong for him to be. Doesn't that seem a little....hypocritical to you?

Hey, tip, from one amateur writer to the next. If you find that you have to explain the plot of your fictional narrative, you need to go back and revise it. Also, "dialogue with a liberal / conservative" sort of stuff like this has been swimming around the net for a few years. Maybe you could try something... different? Dragons are big this year, and poor Beezzer is a lot less likely to believe dragons are real...

Originally posted by GogoVicMorrow
reply to post by The Old American

 

You call public grade school a real education? It's laughable. Honestly in the US you have to go through your first two years of college to get on the level with highschool graduates around the globe.

As for the story. The fact that only one person was permitted to talk sure made it an easier job to transcribe. Seems like if they were choosing a person to talk he would have great answers and be the most intelligent/media saavy member, but the answers OP gave as the protester's were weak. I know what argument most will use to explain that, but we all know that is a naive answer. The real answer is obvious.

edit on 6-11-2011 by GogoVicMorrow because: (no reason given)

I reread what I posted and couldn't find anything about mentioning "a real education". You must've mistaken someone else's post for mine. I said that every kid does have a right to education, America spends money to give it to them. I didn't say they received it. But plenty of money is confiscated from us for it.

Strange how I predicted exactly, precisely what you did. Sweet, sweet irony. Like...honey almost. As I said, absolutely under no circumstances in any reality can anyone ever have a conversation with someone and only have anecdotal evidence. Never. Ever. I believe it's actually impossible, now that I think about it.

/TOA

reply to post by The Old American


I mentioned in an above post that of course people (like me) would call out the story OP gave as questionable. just because you called that someone say that doesn't make it less likely. I didn't say that just because I disagree with how the interview/conversation presents OWS. I said it because there are details of the story which make it suspect. Indicators that would rightfully lead one to be suspicious of it.

So don't savor it too much Nostradamus.

reply to post by The Old American


Let's just say I've seen too many of these "So today i spoke with a __________" (fill in the blank with the forum's local bugaboo) sort of thing all over hte place.

It follows the same pattern, every time. The strawman bugaboo is basically spouting nonsense that wouldn't really be said. meanwhile the poster is the preeminent epicenter of rationality and good sense. At the end he "hits it home" with a heroic five-minute speech about what an idiot the strawman bugaboo is. And always, always the bugaboo gives some one-liner and walks off, leaving our hero standing smug and triumphant

I've seen it used against conservatives, against liberals, against tea partiers, against muslims, against Jews, you name it, i have seen this same exact structure all over the damned place.

It serves two purposes.
1) Reinforce the local image of the bugaboo as a simpleton easily defeated with a few moments' speechifying
2) wins a round of back-slaps and "Yeah man you tell him!" for the poster.

Believe it if you like, some people believe in Scottish plesiosaurs for fun.

Originally posted by The Old American

Originally posted by GogoVicMorrow

Also kids should have a RIGHT to education.

Kids do have a right to education. That's why hundreds of billions of our tax dollars, federal, state, and local, are spent on K-12. After that, you choose your own path through adulthood.

/TOA

Things aren't like they were 30 years ago. Back then you could get out of high school and get a good paying job but today jobs are more on the tech side and current high school levels of education just isn't enough. That's the reason companies are hiring people from overseas and bringing them here. As usual TPTB has seen this and has decided to cash in on it.

Originally posted by Trexter Ziam


Problem is, most places quit hiring here when Obamacare started. Even PhD graduates were on the unemployed list and unable to get jobs flipping burgers.

Even if flipping burgers were available to them,Many Grads feel thats too beneath them.Entitlement mentality at its finest.

At the OWS rally I went to,I am sure EVERY inner city youth would have eagerly jumped at any Job offered.

Hope and Change is a farce.

wow.

The next time I have a conversation/make small talk with a stranger I will be sure to record it; that way in case the conversation turns out to be important I'll have an acutely accurate source for reference.

I did not fabricate this conversation. I also did not post it exactly word for word as since I posted from memory there are inevitable but minor deviations from the exact conversation. I expected to be accused of faking the conversation; when someone cannot process information they often try to discredit the source.

I want to respond to a particular post that referenced conversations such as mine as being "unlikely" (paraphrasing) to occur. I am not an introverted person by any means nor am I in any way incapable of striking up conversations with strangers. I do not know what I can do to offer evidence of what I have said but I am willing to entertain suggestions.

I have a hunch that this conversation didn't even happen.

reply to post by Dilligaf28


There is a huge difference between greed and desiring enough to live comfortably on.

To claim that college isn't a necessity for a decent job is disingenuous at best. Pray tell, what jobs in the service industry pay well enough that you don't need three of them to survive on? IF you could even find one of them, much less three?

What the banks are doing is motivated by greed: the banksters don't need more, they just want more. They are greedy.

Most college students are motivated by survival: they want a chance to live a decent life without worrying about running out of money before next payday. That isn't being greedy.

The top 1% are greedy: they take more than they need or can possibly use: that is greed.

The conditions under which you went to school and found a job no longer apply or exist.

A generation older than you would consider your attending college an effete waste of time: why didn't you go farm, hunt, stake a claim to land and actually build your own house with your own two hands like a real man? College is for decadent, effete parasites who can't survive in the real world or who are afraid of honest work. That was the viewpoint of most of the cowboys I grew up around, they despised high-falutin' easterners with airs of superiority. Couldn't understand why a real man wouldn't be willing to bust sweat doing real work.

You are living in the past, and obviously don't understand the realities faced by everyone who isn't comfortably well-off today.

But hang around, sooner or later the recession will hit you, too.

Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure you'll blame the wrong folks for your troubles when they come.

My thinking. The kid lost the debate....

I have a saying, violence is the last resort of a desperate man, violence can be interchangeable with name calling in this case...

Which is what he did with that little jab he took at you at the end... He realized he lost the debate with you, so he called you a brainwashed slave, because he had nothing to rebutt you with...

I do hope the actions of this idiot, do not turn you off to those involved who truly do have good intentions....