Okay, you’ve finally got me. I can’t take it any more. Our society is caught in a feedback loop and just like the feedback at a live concert, the whining is driving me nuts.

Someone says, “One percent of the population controls most of the money while the other ninety-nine percent struggles.” and a media person likes it so they make a sound bite out of it.  People hear the sound bite and like it so they repeat it.  More media people hear it being said so they  make a story out of it and even more people hear about it.  Next thing you know, you can’t read a paper without hearing it, and you can’t throw a rock without hitting one of the alleged ninety-percent who are out protesting about it.

According to this movement, the super rich elites took all the money and used it to buy all the politicians and the only way to change it is by having these massive protests.  These three points are what I like to call, delusional; accidentally right, but not for the reasons they think and wrong because it’s bloody stupid.  Now that I’ve annoyed a bunch of folks, let me explain.

First off, the super rich didn’t “take” all the money.  We gave it to them, and we continue to do so every day.  They aren’t evil.  We are gullible.  Bill Gates never forced anyone to use Microsoft Windows or Office.  People chose to give Microsoft, and by extension, Mr. Gates lots of money.  Likewise, the late Steve Jobs didn’t wait for people in dark alleys, steal their wallets and replace them with iPhones.  No hedgefund manager ever came to anyone’s door begging them to invest in their funds.  Banks didn’t force mortgages onto people who had no hope in hell of ever paying them off.  People did those things to themselves.  Blaming the super rich is a way of deluding ourselves by taking up our cultural battle cry of, “It’s not my fault!”

The other favorite cause of financial hardship is “Corporate Greed”.  Talk about delusional, blaming that is like blaming the Easter Bunny for childhood obesity.  There’s no such thing people!  Corporations aren’t greedy because they aren’t people.  It’s called anthropomorphism.  It’s our habit of trying to understand things by assigning human traits to them.  “Corporate Greed” is another way of pretending that none of this is “our” fault.  Surprise!  It is all our fault.  Those greedy corporations are actually all about HUMAN greed.  Before you start thinking about agreeing with that, you need to read on.

It’s not just the executives that are greedy.  That’s the easy out again.  Here’s the truth.  It’s damned near every single one of us.  That’s the truth.  Yes, the executives are in a position to get a visibly larger share than those elsewhere in the organization.  Let’s stop kidding ourselves though, they aren’t the only greedy ones.  If the CEO suddenly decides to give a percentage of the profits to whatever random charity you like, how long do you think he’ll keep his job?  The shareholders are just a greedy as the CEO.  What about the rank and file employees?  Do you think they’d take a pay cut if they knew the money was going directly to fight world hunger?  Yeah, that’s what I thought.

Stop blaming other people.  Stop blaming some imaginary bogeyman.  Accept responsibility for your choices.  We can’t change other people, only ourselves.  If we don’t like our world, it’s up to us to change it.  But it’s almost like the tagline from season one of the TV series “Heroes”, only in this case it’s, “Change yourself.  Change the world!”  Which brings me to my next point.

Do rich and powerful lobbyists use money to influence politics?  Of course they do!  (See, I told you they’re right about that.)  We need to be clear about why they do it though.  No it’s not because they are corrupt, or politicians are weak, or because the New World Order told them to.  Nope.  The reason once again is closer to home.  All those people who whine that the system is broken so there’s no point in participating,  they give carte blanche to the lobbyists and the politicians to work out any deal they like.  The system isn’t going to change itself, it’s up to the voters to do it.  So if you can organize thousands of protesters all over the country, how come you can’t get them to the polls.  It’s votes that put politicians in office. Organize block voting, and you could have a huge impact on who gets into office and who gets out.  But it’s a hell of a lot easier to sit in a tent in the park and blame the super rich and corporate greed.  Which brings me to my last point.

Protesting may raise awareness.  I doubt it, but it might.  Do you really believe that everyone else is so stupid that they won’t realize there’s a problem if you don’t camp in a park?  I recently lost my job because of greedy people making bad decisions.  Do you think I didn’t know that was a bad thing?  The biggest annoyance out of all this is the massive self-righteous arrogance of the protesters.  The idea that they are more aware or enlightened than the rest.  If everyone else understood what they do, we’d all be out there.  Well, not all of us would.  I know I wouldn’t because I understand something they don’t.  The protests won’t work because shortcuts never do.  If you really want to change things, you have to do the heavy lifting just like everyone else.

They’ll find out that taking the easy route almost never takes you where you want to go.  What they should really be occupying are some political activism workshops.  Maybe someone can host a few in a tent in a park.  Have fun with that.

Cheers, Winston