Mr. Alandt, 53, an out-of-work stagehand and one of hundreds participating in Phoenix’s version of Occupy Wall Street, is furious that people are dying in foreign wars. He is angry that medical marijuana was still considered illegal despite Arizona voters’ approval of it. He is livid about his lot in life.
“Bro, I have been lied to so many times that I don’t know who to believe,” Mr. Alandt said. “All the world’s problems run downhill, and I’m at the bottom.”
What is this world coming to when a stagehand can’t find a $75k a year job? This is bullshit. The poor man can’t even get high….
“Peace activists, indigenous rights activists, immigrant activists — they’re all here,” said Liz Hourican, 40, who belongs to the antiwar group Code Pink and was scrawling a message in pink chalk on a sidewalk in downtown Phoenix, calling on American troops to come home. “It may sound different to you, but it’s all the same. We’re all stepping up and saying something’s wrong.”
Also, rustlers, cut throats, murderers, bounty hunters, desperados, mugs, pugs, thugs, nitwits, halfwits, dimwits, vipers, snipers, con men, Indian agents, Mexican bandits, muggers, buggerers, bushwhackers, hornswogglers, horse thieves, bull dykes, train robbers, bank robbers, ass-kickers, shit-kickers and Methodists.
Kay Merryweather, 34, an artist on the Lower East Side, volunteers at Trinity Church, giving out food. She said that during the financial crisis, when banks were receiving bailouts and financial executives were receiving multimillion-dollar bonuses, the church often ran out before the long lines of working poor were fed. “The bankers were getting all of these millions,” Ms. Merryweather said. “And we didn’t have enough food.”
This entire thing makes me reconsider whether an artist is a good occupational choice. Glad I became a soldier, lobbyist and writer instead of going into penis puppetry. There but for the grace of God go I…
But not far away, Benny Zable, 66, a longtime activist, was protesting while wearing a gas mask and a suit that read “Work Consume Be Silent Die.” He said his outrage came from the heedlessness of economic growth. “It’s the greed factor,” Mr. Zable said.
I don’t think “Activist” as as lucrative as you’ve been led to believe by your guidance counselor.
In Boston, a hub of colleges and universities, a higher education theme emerged among protesters. “What did I spend the last four years doing?” asked Becky De Freitas, a recent graduate of Gordon College in Wenham, Mass. “Fluent in Mandarin and French and no one wants to go for that? And it’s like, now what?”
Dude, I don’t know why you haven’t thought of this, but maybe you should go back and get a graduate degree in Sanksrit.
Jean Marie Simpson, an actor and peace activist, objected when her fellow demonstrators at Occupy Tucson surrounded a man who had assailed the movement, shouting at him and thrusting signs in his face. “I left disappointed and disillusioned,” she said of her fellow occupiers.
But you are an actor, can’t you at least fake it for the Childrens sake?
Mr. Zable could write songs for a living. I think his “Work, Consume, Be Silent, Die” has a real ring to it.
Then we moronic capitalists would, at the very least, have a dirge to sing while we merrily go about our way exploiting the planet and the workers.
Wow, just wow, your telling me that the OWS idiots can’t get work? Or is it that they refuse to accept that they actually will HAVE to work to ever hope to getting close to the $75,000.00/year paycheck that one Window Licker is demanding… I mean God forbid, you have to actually WORK to obtain a decent wage in America! And increasing the Living Wage to $20/hour? That is just downright unsustainable! I mean, did these retards not learn from the labor riots in France three or four years ago? Probably not, my guess is that their Porfessors, the hippies and protestors of the 60’s and 70’s filled their heads so full of the idea that they are entitled to everything that they demand, simply because they demand it. They call themselves the 99%, well they are not the 99%! And what about those of us like Sparky, TSO, Doc, Spork and myself, who ACTUALLY did something with our lives and have ACTUALLY earned the “handouts” as they call them, the VA disability that we are entitled to as Veterans…
BTW, Zero: This post needs to be answered by another Warren Zevon song, “Send Lawyers, Guns and Money…”
Release the hounds….
I had a hard time paying off my grad student loans, so I joined the Army knowing that I would deploy. The Army not only furthered my career and made me a better person, but I also took advantage of the loan repayment program. Problems solved and now I am on the right career track and financially secure. I know I’m not an actor or artist like the OWS people, but instead of complaining and blaming the rich, I went and did something about it on my own. They can learn something from a soldier instead of using them as pawns.
Keep on rolling … I am laughing hard!
I don’t think the light will EVAH go off in their heads..
See, those profs are making more than 75k.
Their tuition for school is expensive.
There IS a connection….
They just don’t know what it is
“What did I spend the last four years doing?” asked Becky De Freitas, a recent graduate of Gordon College
Not planning for your future if I had to guess.
“What did I spend the last four years doing?” asked Becky De Freitas, a recent graduate of Gordon College
Learning how to not dress for an interview?
Lucky…you forgot thejester…….
Becky is figuring out the rules of the big girl world. People make decisions (like going to that nice expensive private college, borrowing to pay the bills, and majoring in something interesting with little to no demand). These decisions have consequences. She isn’t in the world where the soccer teams don’t keep score anymore and everyone gets a game ball at least once and a trophy at the end of the year. We’ll call your time at college education for education’s sake and your inability to get a job that will pay your now huge student loans a life lesson. Welcome to the real world.
When I was in college, the degree that was all the rage was a Psych degree. People would say it with an air of arrogance, when you asked their major, “Psychology” and their nose would be a little higher in the air as they said it. Those are the same people who today are bitching about job prospects. That’s why my daughters are going for degrees that will always be in demand in the healthcare field, because I told them to get theirs in a field that will mean something when they get done. Technical disciplines are, also, a good way to go (my education track).
When you get a grad degree in ancient romantic languages, it kinda limits your job prospects, no matter what your GPA is. When you’re done with school and have to venture out into the real world, you find it’s not all Skittle farting Unicorns. The only path you find yourself on is the path to OWS, because it’s Wall Street’s fault that your degree sucks; right?
Sorry Jester!!!! That was unintended!!
The thing that bothers me is the twit that learned Mandarin. Friend of mine pays for his college tuition by acting as an interpreter in Korean and Mandarin for businesses and makes enough that he can go months at a time coasting to focus on school. It’s not a matter of can’t so much as won’t. He went out of his way to find the job.
As someone with a degree in Professional Photography (specialty food photography) I’ve dealt with a lot of artist types and what I’ve found is that the people who are creative are usually the most lazy. 1. Because they think they have to be suffering to be a good artist 2. If you aren’t raging against the man then you are just another kid in $100,000 debt working at the apple store. Opportunity has to knock them over the head and hand them a check or they sit there and cry about how hard it is to make it.
“What did I spend the last four years doing?” asked Becky De Freitas, a recent graduate of Gordon College in Wenham, . I think we may have an idea, Becky. Oh, you mean aside from women’s studies, braiding your hair and going through fatties like there won’t be any dope tomorrow? French? You admit to being fluent in French? Go back, see your faculty advisor, that guy named Jean-Luc, and demand your money back. Then go see Don Chu, and get your money back from him too. Then invest it in accounting courses, math, English, and personal responsibility. Then, maybe you can get a job. If you learn how to dress for an interview, like Jason said, maybe you’ll be in the running for a job. No guarantees, cuz that’s just the way it works.
If anyone wants to waste the time, go to Gordon.edu and look for the pic of Rebecca aka Becky. She was a “Dance Ministry Team Leader” at Gordon College. One of her more memorable quotes on the job market? “This class really brings out the true meaning of dance, which is a form of personal expression through the body’s movements.”
And, if you look further, her “double major” was international affairs and poli-sci. Why am I not totally surprised?
And, she attend the Harvard National Model United Nations, as a “delegate”. Must be Barack isn’t aware of her specialness, maybe ObumblerGirl can give him head, er, a headsup?
#17 UpNorth
I hate to admit to it, but I’m in political sciences, I was told it was the best major for someone wishing to get into the intel field or international business. That said, I’ve got an electrician’s certificate in case it doesn’t work and further options on top of it. This idiot can’t find work because she’s not looking.
From the Gordon.edu website – Rebecca de Freitas ’11, an international affairs and political science double major from Wayne, Illinois.
If she had studied something like, oh, I don’t know, Pashtu, she might have a job. Instead, she had visions of champagne in Beijing and Paris.
Dead Man, no sweat, I actually looked at poli-sci back when, but gave that up for accounting, and then 3 years in the Army.
I think that Becky had, like Bobo said, visions of champagne in Paris and Beijing, and maybe dancing with the Bolshoi. And, I think her ideas on the “international affairs” curriculum was all wrong.
Deadman- Ditto what UpNorth said. I was a polisci major specializing in Sub Saharan African Politics. I got out and worked as a bouncer in Georgetown (a bar called Hennessey) and did an unpaid internship. Moved on to a paid internship, then a real job, then a real good job, and now the best job imagineable. As long as you have no problem doing bullshit knowing that it is dues paying, you can go places.
“I was a polisci major specializing in Sub Saharan African Politics”
That’s ‘splains it………….I’m just sayin
Hey guys you don’t know what her situation is like it isn’t fair to judge her by her words, actions, and stuff…you know she isn’t like everyone else who made good choices in life and worked hard and earned a good career. She is supposed to have one handed to her…sheesh guys. Her major is obviously is high demand because her professors told her duh they would know they teach the stuff. Stupid employers’ want to do drug screenings and make her move for her career…could you imagine not living in NYC? No she is going to hope for a fair socialist revolution…cause we all know how history has shown that to work out.
Lucky…..thanks for the late mention………I major in life and hard knocks. Doing ok for myself. Hard work……..that’s the key. That’s what these punks haven’t learned.
To steal from the GREAT Ted Nugent: “I didn’t go to college, I was busy learning stuff.” Worked pretty well for me.
I’ve done my share of crap jobs and fully expect to keep doing them, just my sort of luck. I also do my research and skipped out on my initial major in animation before it even started because of how many people have flooded that market. Even with talent you’d have to have a contact somewhere to get any attention.
With that in mind, I mostly just wanted it known that not all of us in the field are deluded and holding our hands out. Admittedly, I’m surprised my teacher hasn’t kicked me out of his class for all the potshots I take at his politics in my essays. Might be an exception to the rule sort of thing…
No problemo Jester, as one of the unemployed recent college grads, I identify with these mouth breathers only demographically, where we differ, is that, every freaking hour I am on either LinkedIn, USAjobs, or any number of other sites and physical locations running down leads and actively looking for employment, and when I am not, I volunteer, just to give myself something to do. Because protesting and whining like spoiled little hand fed bitches is incredibly unproductive!!!
@18. Political Science is a fine field of study and is the traditional springboard major into law and other graduate studies. Done properly (i.e., with attention to elective cousre choices), the poly sci major provides a solid liberal arts background. And given the paucity of well-read folks who can actually write in complete sentences, I’m all for a good liberal arts education.
Becky actually went to China. Why can’t she work there, teaching English or something?
http://beckydefreitas.blogspot.com/2010_01_01_archive.html
… all I can say, having lived 20-plus years in a Chinese-speaking society, is I hear a lot of folks claiming “fluency” in Mandarin and precious few of them can really talk the talk. That is not something you can learn at school … I always tell people who say to me “dude, you’re fluent” that “fluent” is a very strong word that I would never apply to my own Chinese speaking ability (no matter how good it may be). “Fluent” just never seemed like a word I’d apply to my own ability. Cheers all …
@The Dead Man: Right on brother … Anyone who has a working ability in Mandarin AND is a native speaker of English will have NO trouble finding translation/interpretation work that pays quite nicely, thank you. I’ve been doing it for years.
Uh, guys you realize that would require her to move out of NYC right? What would she do living in the backwoods of China?
If I had half the brains it took to be fluent in Mandarin and French, I’d make Donald Trump look he flipped hamburgers for a living…and Ms. Educated Idiot can’t find a job???
@Belinda Gomez … because the local and expats alike there concluded she was clueless (a conclusion I reached after reading the blog posts you linked to). Fer crying out loud, this woman could not even figure out that Kowloon is not an island, even when she was staying there …
Why is it these people weren’t protesting in Phoenix and Tucson in, say, July and August?
Opportunity has to knock them over the head and hand them a check or they sit there and cry about how hard it is to make it.
Well said. And even when we’ve supposedly “made it”, it’s amazing the amount of work it can take to stay there. That’s not something these clowns want to contemplate.
OK, reading just the first page of her, like, yah know, blog, I fully understand what,like, her problem is.
This “woman” just finished a 4 year course of instruction in Political Science and International Affairs, and she talks like, yah know, a 14 year old, on a blog, where prospective employers can read the drivel she posts, and she wonders why she’s unemployed?
It’s interesting how the consensus on this thread (and throughout this blog) is for the OWS protestors to “get a job” and that the reason they don’t have a job is because of the major they chose in college….
What advice should be offered to the 20% of 18-24 year old veterans that don’t have a job? Are they unemployed because of the MOS they chose? Are they unemployed because they’re lazy and not trying hard enough to find a job? Of course not–jobs don’t magically create themselves because someone wants one.
These protesters are out there because they want jobs and are fed up with the highest levels of income inequality since the 1920s. Is that unreasonable?
Where do you think any of us started, Anon2? Do you think we were born engineers, IT, medical, administrative fields? I started as a Nurse’s Aide for minimum wage, at 18 years old. I got a grant and went to school, and worked nights while I was there. That’s how I started and I kept going. If I could do it, anyone waving at sign at those protests can do it, too.
A lot of employers/HR departments haven’t the foggiest fucking clue what goes on behind the green curtain. They see 11B and don’t realize what kind of management and organizational skills (not to mention communication ability) are necessary to effectively function even on a squad level.
That’s where VSO’s and fellow vets can be a boon for separating vets.
PintoNag – That’s an admirable path you took. Unfortunately, you’re missing the point when it comes the unemployed’s ability to get a job. As an individual, yes, one can get a job. But collectively, not everyone can get a job. Not only is it impossible, but it would be a nightmare if everyone had a job, haha.
So, what’s your point, anon2? Or, are you just demonstrating the towering intellect that presents itself in the Flea Bag centers of protest?
UpNorth – Look at your posts–all you do is poke fun at the protestors. Personal attacks are juvenile. Does it really make you feel better about yourself when you make fun of 22 year old girls on TAH? Seriously–grow up. Perhaps you should invest less time complaining about the “hippies” and more time reading what people write. Then you won’t have to ask what their point is.
Anon2
Here’s the thing. The first guy? He chose a field that not everyone can get a job in. The second one took a career where it’s commonly accepted that your product only really sells after your death. The third one’s an idiot. The fourth one is a lazy idiot, especially living in New York. Either she’s nowhere near competent in the languages, she’s not actually looking for a job or as stated above she presents herself as a festering idiot. Probably somewhere between all three.
In this situation? The reason most of them don’t have jobs rests solely on their shoulders. At least in these presented cases.
MOST jobs even if they’re not in the career field, your MOS was, will look at a description of the duties (like what an Army 11B Sgt, has charge over 4 individuals, and has to maintain training etc. . .) it’s all in how you write it, which they’ll TEACH you when you ACAP.
I’m working at a fucking Walmart which is FAR beneath my skill qualification. I SHOULD be a paramedic, working on an ambulance, but. . . well long story (plus Army Qualifications aren’t really accepted by civvies. Big essay there). The point is I HAVE A JOB. I AM WORKING to pay off what debt I have (sadly too much) and working hard.
So yeah I’d say to them to get a fucking job.
Does it really make you feel better about yourself when you make fun of 22 year old girls on TAH?
Considering that for every one of her there are (thankfully!) more people her age who DIDN’T major in navel gazing and are actually taking responsibility for their actions and lives?
So making fun of them? Yeah, I kinda DO enjoy it. Stupidity should be painful, after all.
Edit to add: By “them” I mean those who can’t/won’t take responsibility for their actions, rather than those who are trying and making the best of a bad situation instead of sitting in a park with a hundred other unwashed crying the poorass.
Annon2: have you ever heard us talk to each other? Good Lord, you should hear some of the shit the Marines say to the Navy Army says to the Marines and EVERYONE says about the Air Force. Honestly making fun of Jobless Hippies, is just too easy.
We have a pretty thick skin. Goes with the territory. Maybe these OWS people should grow a thicker skin. Actually I think a lot of our problems could be solved with a thicker skin.
But collectively, not everyone can get a job. Not only is it impossible, but it would be a nightmare if everyone had a job, haha.
You’re right, not everyone can get a job. Some have mental and physical issues that prevent employment, but that percentage is very low. Otherwise, everyone can get a job. It’s not going to be a $75K/year job, it might be a minimum wage job cleaning toilets, but it’s a job. The problem isn’t a lack of jobs (we still have illegal aliens streaming into this country who manage to find work every day) but a lack of willingness to work at something that these folks consider beneath them. There was a time when the country’s economics guaranteed that college graduates would have “white collar” jobs. The situation isn’t the case now, so I’m afraid that recent graduates will have to take jobs that they thought four years ago would be beneath them.
“The problem isn’t a lack of jobs (we still have illegal aliens streaming into this country who manage to find work every day) but a lack of willingness to work at something that these folks consider beneath them.”
Lack of jobs is precisely the problem. There are 14 million job seekers and 3.2 million job openings, which means for every job, there are about 4.5 people who want it. Historically, that ratio has been closer to 1.5. So, if by magic those 3.2 million jobs were to be filled tomorrow, there would still be 11 million people (who want a job) without a job. And taking a job that is “beneath” a person isn’t as easy as it might seem. Would it be prudent for a company to hire someone with a PhD as an administrative assistant? No, because every employee is looked at as an investment, and the employer knows that overqualified workers will jump ship when the economy begins to rebound.
I’m not saying that the individuals in the article couldn’t have put themselves in situations where they’d be more competitive (relative to other job applicants) in the workforce, but the problem isn’t their majors in college as much as it is the lack of jobs. I think they’re anger is justified (although somewhat misdirected) and that the government really isn’t doing enough to rectify the unemployment problem.
There are 14 million job seekers and 3.2 million job openings
And 12-20 million illegals. Problem solved.