In the story Bartleby The Scrivener, Bartleby peacefully protests doing simple tasks, then peacefully protests doing anything at all, even leaving. The result is that he is constantly on his boss's mind. A rather unrealistic idea, seeing as any boss in this modern day would simply fire an insubordinate worker, peaceful or no, and call the police if he refused to leave. I find the comparision of Bartleby the Scrivener to the movement that has become known as "Occupy Wall Street" to be way off base. Bartleby did everything peacefully, with no violence and a kind of apathy.
Occupy Wall Street is just a gathering of unorganized and unemployed losers, with violent and often disgusting tendencies. In my brief one hour spectating of these protesters, I saw three ambulances come and leave from fighting, amongst the people proudly sporting their "We are the 99%" signs. Is that really what the majority of the 99% is like? No. For the most part, the majority of us do not fling our feces at passing escalades. My view of the protesters is that they are the less then 1% of the 99% that are useless and like to complain about it instead of going out like civilized humans and finding jobs.
I agree that in the world now, Bartleby just would have been fired. I don't understand why he wasn't. There were lazy workers at my job back home and they were fired on the spot. Employees are replaceable. If a person just wants to be lazy they should be fired and let someone else (in that 99%) have the job.
ReplyDeleteI also agree that those protesters should put their energy into into something to better themselves like finding a job rather than complaining about not having a job.
I agree with both of your statements. I think that Bartleby was just lazy but, I also feel like he didn't do much about it becuase he was just in his monday through friday same old routine and just became use to what his job was, he became callus to it. But, I also strongly feel that if someone is unhappy with their job then, yes, let someone else take your place becuase their are plenty of people in this world that would do your job better and enjoy it. I see that everyday now just walking into a grocery store, resturant, ect.
ReplyDeleteI don't really agree. The protesters aren't known for being violent at all. They do very little and are responded against with excessive force. These students are just sitting on the ground, not doing anything at all then the police officer decides it's time to water his flowers http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AdDLhPwpp4 . The people protesting are people who have looked for jobs and can't get one, unemployment has been hovering between 8 and 9%. Yes they aren't very organized, but that just shows how diverse they are and how they all have their own opinions - unlike a movement like the Tea Party movement that is just a machine for the far right. I'm sure if you watch a Republican news outlet like Fox News it would certainly seem like they are violent though. Like this new anchor says, "Pepper spray - it's a food product essentially" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qrx6DDgTH_w&feature=related
ReplyDeleteI don't really know anything about the Occupy Wallstreet movement at all and nor do I care because these protesters are obviously not trying hard enough to get a job, but instead they are wasting their time telling people to change things instead of changing it themselves. People with no money at all go to college and get the top ranking because they try their hardest and they want to make money (what everything is about-making money). The AVERAGE person is AVERAGE because they want to be AVERAGE. It's as simple as that. Bartleby obviously had some issues I don't think it had anything to do with protesting.
ReplyDeleteI think these protests are very important, but are not carried out the right way. It's important for the government to realize that we are not happy with the distribution of wealth in this country. These protests were good at first, but like every pro longed protests you get the people that want to turn it into a riot. I think a lot if us should pay more attention to this movement cause it involves pretty much everyone. It's not fair that a single mom has to work two jobs to support her family but still gets 20% of her check taken away.
ReplyDeleteI think the protestors have a right to be protesting but could have carried it out in a more effective way. By being violent and disruptive, they will only be looked down upon. If they were to carry out a more peaceful protest like Bartleby, they might receive the attention they are seeking. At the same time I agree with the post stating how they really should be out looking for jobs instead of protesting if they want to fix the problem.
ReplyDeleteI think that bartleby should have been fired on the spot it is very unrealistic for an employer to just let their workers do nothing and not give them the boot. As for the protestors I think that in the beginning they were doing a good job of getting their message across but obviously the government isn't going to change and instead of wasting their time trying to get them to change they should be out there looking for jobs.
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