News Genius - A Conversation on the Future lyrics

Walter Crunkite OK, so I'll begin where we left off in messaging. SR_thePangloss, you've discussed your significant disappointment with Occupy. “Disillusionment” is a word you've used. Does this mean that you found promise in the movement, only to be convinced otherwise? If that's the case, at which point did your confidence in the movement falter? Or were you bearish from the start? I remain confident that Occupy points a way forward. It is precisely the leaderless direction that excites me and forms the basis for a 21st century paradigm, in my view. It was Democracy 3.0. It was both intensely localized and necessarily international, inextricably linked to what Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri call a “cycle of struggles” of 2011 (Tahrir, Syntagma, Puerta del Sol, etc.). Walter Crunkite Let me address the diversity issue, which you rightly point out as being a problem. Yes, Occupy was very, very white and disproportionately middle-cla**. I do not mean to defend the lack of racial and socio-economic diversity, but a few things I would add: - Occupy did inspire Occupy the Hood, which sprouted up in a number of major cities. - The movement drew the attention and presence of a number of black figures: Russell Simmons, Kanye, Jay Z, Lupe Fiasco, Cornel West, Talib Kweli, and others. - The nature of the General Assembly process allowed for white guy bullsh** to be checked and changed. Ugh, I hate that that sounds like a defense. That's not my intention. I just wanted to supply those points. It was, you're right, far too privileged a population. There was, however, a novel degree of diversity of aims. Unlike most (or nearly all) movements of the past, Occupy was not monolithic in its aims. There was a contemporary (some might say ‘postmodern') character to its multitudinous makeup. This made it slow-moving and confusing to outside observers, but it was an absolute necessity in the 21st century.