“Occupying Wall Street” and Society Essay

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The economy and politics in the world are run by the minority of rich and powerful. These are people with the most wealth and control of the country’s or nation’s resources. They own most properties and most luxurious places and businesses. “Occupy Wall Street” was a form of public protest towards the rich and powerful of the world and specifically those in America and the government.

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It was started by a Canadian magazine called “Adbusters”. It offered people to go out to Wall Street and protest the unequal distribution of economic power between people of higher class and middle class. Also, it was because the government and laws, seem to favor those with the most money, so in reality, money is making money. The taxes are not significant enough for the corporations and businesses that run the majority of the economy, not to mention politics. Morally, people were outraged that 1 percent of Americans own the majority of the country and the other 99 percent are left with nothing, trying their hardest to get from day today. The people were mostly younger but later all ages and ethnicities joined in. They also demanded more jobs to be created for the people and a lawful and beneficial to all solution regarding the taxation and financial gains of the population (Schechter, 2012). Economically, the middle class is not able to advance itself, as all the resources and “avenues” towards success are taken and controlled by the wealthy.

Utilitarian ethics state that people must all reach happiness and do this equally. In American society this demands a certain structure of the corporate world. The fact that some people and organizations receive more opportunities and resources than others, created a dissonance between those leading regular lives and having regular jobs and those connected “higher up” and becoming even more successful using their enormous amounts of money (Wolff, 2006). The fact that wealth is distributed based on one aspect—principal, is not equal and fairly distributed among people. According to statistics, the 1 percent’s income grew by 275 percent from the year 1970 to 2007 while the other 99 percent of the population have only gained 18 percent (Schechter, 2012). The government’s structure favors those with wealth, as it also gets some part of it in return. Those who support the majority, are the ones having hard labor jobs, receiving minimal salaries and those who benefit and use all the resources middle and lower class produce, make it with ease and unnoticeable change to their wealth amount. Kantian ethics are somewhat similar to utilitarianism. The common concept is morality and fairness. Kant’s ethics base themselves on the highest moral principles. A person who lives in a society must act according to the set rules and norms. The government and other regulatory bodies set the laws and regulations. But at the same time, every person is expected to behave according to their own moral code. In American society, people value their rights, freedoms and equality more than anything. Kantian ethics describe the highest moral truth that is universal to every human being. It is the feeling of what is right under any circumstances. A person cannot diverge from these criteria, as there is only one truth and the right way to act in a certain situation (Sullivan, 1994). The people of America were greatly outraged that they are disrespected by the changing truth. Their truth is related to hard work, high goals in education in order to amount to a self-respecting and moral person. But when society sees that those with power create their truth and moral code, which is based on money and power, they become outraged. Greed seems to be the truth of modern society and it is obvious to the naked eye. An example of both utilitarian and Kantian ethics about the abusive manner of economic make-up is the judicial system. It is made to make deals with the perpetrator and victims. The faster a deal is made, the faster and cheaper it will be for everyone. Also, it will be more beneficial because instead of a person going to jail and spending the government’s money, they instead pay the government to let them go. Those of middle and lower class do not always have the resources to strike a deal and so, they are forced to serve time, whereas those with money and power deliberately break the law. They are risking being caught but their wealth allows them the risk. If out of ten times of illegal activity they get caught once, the payoff is still very great. The system of society is made to benefit the rich and demoralize and press down those with fewer resources. Virtue ethics delves even deeper into human emotion and true reasons of fairness and just living. There are three concepts within virtue ethics; they are virtue itself, wisdom and eudaimonia. Virtue describes the quality of a person that relates to honesty and inner goodness. A person does not force themselves to be honest or fair. When a situation presents itself, a virtuous person can behave in only one way. The attitude and behavior are based on goodness and kindness. Modern American society, just as the majority of others, has come very far from kindness towards others. There is no denying that there are many people who are truly kind and often the news is heard in the media. When this happens people are shocked that there is still goodness in the world and this simple fact proves how rare it has become. If people responded with: “anyone would have done the same”, the world would be truly a utopian society. But it is not and the politics prove that over again. Wisdom is the smart and educated choice that a person makes in the everyday life. This is based on rationality and best-desired outcome, without forgetting others. The business world of today is indeed very wise. But it is wise negatively and sneakily. It is built on deception and making people believe in the system where there are those above and those below. The concept of eudaimonia relates to true happiness in personal and social life. This understanding is individual to everyone but if a person is happy, they extend their own happiness onto others, thus making the whole community and society happier. Virtue ethics unites all concepts of moral goodness, truth and best outcome for happiness. The world of today has come far from the three defining criteria of virtue ethics. People cannot be truly happy if they base it on money and power. The morality and kindness of a person are the real attributes of a happy life and confident existence (Carr, 2012). In reality, people who focus their whole life on money and power, have little true self-respect. If they use every cheap way to win a coin and every route to steal and deceive, they are not truly happy because their life’s goal is not on developing themselves but on acquiring more things around themselves.

In the present times the government determines the laws by which the majority of people behave. It is true that masses also have a say in the matters. The democracy gives people an opportunity to choose but the choice is limited and people cannot, all of a sudden, start a career in politics if they do not like the people they have to choose from. From the time of the first settlers, people wanted to acquire wealth and it could be seen in the violent ways of property acquisition. They did not care that the land belonged to someone else, that Native people have established a balance and were able to gain most in the mind and soul. The rest came naturally to them. The Europeans did not have time to think about true happiness. They simply took the land and if it was not given to them freely, they took it by force. This stays very representative of Western society and those who hold all the power and authority. The world is divided into those who want to gain more and those who want to better their own little corner and be treated with respect and decency. The protests and demonstrations like “Occupy Wall Street” are an example of people’s moral outbreak. Often, the time comes, when people have had enough and they want to change things. The law states that they must do it peacefully and no one really wants a violent and open conflict but the government and the authorities are forced to put down any acts of freedom or radical thinking because it threatens to destroy the established order, their order where they can gain more wealth and power from those who are helpless in the hands of tyrants. These people are similar to tyrants of the ancient world, only their ways are more democratic and business-like without bloody battles and wars. But even this can be argued, as recent history has shown that even though wars are the last resort, the governments plan on them and sometimes a conflict does break out. Most likely, the movement will disappear. People need to change the whole make-up of society. The reforms have to be made where each community has its say in their matters. The governments are too far away from people and their neighborhoods. It is unable to see the reality of people’s lives and what exactly is needed to better the conditions. Even when there is a conscious and moral leader and a good policy is enacted, by the time it goes through all the bureaucrats and other power-hungry authority figures, the effect of the good policy is lost in the process. People’s outrage is cyclical. They get fed up, they rise against the system, they are put down and for a while, they stay below the view. But sometimes the emotions and rage get so high that people do fight back and revolutions happen.

References

Carr, D (2012). Virtue ethics and moral education. New York, United States: Routledge.

Schechter, D. (2012). Occupy: Dissecting occupy Wall Street. New York, United States: Cosimo.

Sullivan, R. (1994). An introduction to Kant’s ethics. New York, United States: Cambridge University Press.

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Wolff, B. (2006). Utilitarian and environmental ethics. Ann Arbor, United States: ProQuest.

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IvyPanda. 2022. ""Occupying Wall Street" and Society." February 3, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/occupying-wall-street-and-society/.

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