Jones To The Grindstone

I can’t help it. It’s cliché, but I’m going to say it anyway, “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore.” That infamous line from the 1976 movie, “Network,” says it all.

Well, not really, but it does express a strong sentiment, representing the increasingly noisy American anger about the cruddy economy, the federal government, and the eyebrow raising actions of certain corporations.

One of the strongest voices of late is the “Occupy Wall Street” movement. From reading headlines, I’ve seen the protest movement trek from city to city, including my own, Boston, and even spreading to Europe.

Honestly, I’m not entirely sure what the movement is about and what their goals are, but I admit that I haven’t conducted intense research either. However, Occupy has my attention because I’m tired of government shenanigans and “don’t want to take it anymore” either.

I want to share with you some posts from my Facebook profile’s wall. Reading the comments from a smattering of Americans may give some insight to those peeking into to see what the hubbub is all about.

(To put it in proper context, many of my “Facebook friends” are people I’ve never met in person. Moreover, it’s not a running tally of people who have a close personal connection to me, but rather a random sampling of the American public.)

My original post about Occupy said, “… I have mixed feelings: I believe in capitalism, but hate corporate greed. Also, many large corps [corporations] have regular people like me invested in them, with hopes that I will have a nest egg one day ….”

The ongoing thread of responses has zigged and zagged, somewhat mirroring Occupy’s meandering messages and suggested solutions. Frankly, I was relieved that my Facebook friends provided some definitive answers, or opinions, to explain what Occupy is about. It “keeps it real,” instead of canned sound bytes or quotes that some questionable news outlets supply.

“This movement is against the Fed. The people of the nation — especially the millions who were bamboozled into signing for worthless mortgages, laid off from their jobs, and had their 401k’s cut in half — are fueling this movement,” wrote Vincent Hearne, who has worked in finance as a licensed broker and trader on the NYSE. “The banks are getting trillions of government assistance while the hard working men and women of this nation are being foreclosed on.”

Another fed up New Yorker, Barbara Holtzman, wrote, “This is more a civil rebellion based on class, and hence a social movement … the top two percent have anywhere from 24 to 65 percent of the assets, while the remaining 98 percent have to somehow get by with the remainder. [It’s] A rebellion, not a revolution.”

Currently, Holtzman says she is “self-employed” because she cannot find a job, despite her holding a Ph.D. from an Ivy League university and a few other degrees in tow.

A self-described “redneck” from Texas, Don Warren, wrote, “The big ‘occupy’ movement, as I understand it, is [a response] in frustration to the corporate bailouts. But those companies really WANT to stimulate our economy again and fix things … If we tie the hands of those who hold the money [the top 1 to 2 percent], they can’t get us back to a time of positive economical growth.”

Warren added that he owned a new home construction and land development company for 11 years, “until the market crashed.” He found new employment as an industrial safety inspector.

Another Texan, John Poole, a retirement consultant for nonprofit organizations and institutions, remains critical of the Occupy outcry. “Some of us in the working world, and financial services industry, see these protests as a way to skip philosophy class and hit on hippies with impaired judgment,” Poole wrote. “Currently I am protesting my bills by going to work and not having a weeklong vacation.”

Poole said he was laid off from Merrill Lynch in ’08 and later worked manual labor construction on the Mexican border in Eagle Pass, Texas, for a year. He rejoined the “white collar” world last year.

Brandon Sims, who is self-employed and working with small business information systems and networks, wrote: “The protests are the inevitable result of the declining standard of living and unemployment. It is truly amazing that the protests are not far more violent. In parts of the world, and in recent history, people would be dying every day, buildings and homes would be burning to the ground and entire cities would be paralyzed.”

The Occupy protest doesn’t impress Sims. “Instead, the net effect of protest is the generation of more ‘infotainment’ to pacify the masses,” he added.

A realtor in Houston, Texas, Rob Rule, wrote, “The quick and dirty on this is that it’s too soon for a person to reasonably form an opinion about the Occupy movement … Until they [the protesters] can conceptualize exactly what they stand for, anyone having an opinion on what it is, comprehensively, is like having an opinion on an amoeba.”

A Scandinavian man chimed in with his outsider-looking-in perspective. “It looks like the [Occupy] movement doesn’t know what it wants to achieve with the protests. The only thing that unites them is their anger toward the Wall Street corporations,” wrote the Nordic.

“And part of the U.S.’s problems is a result of the average American’s habit of spending more money than they have by getting loans and credits.”

“And when the [expletive] hit the fan and people lost their houses –,” the Scandinavian wrote, “It must be frustrating to see that the people [creditors], who fooled them to believe that the economical growth was a tree growing to heaven, did not cut off the branch they where sitting on, but [instead] the branches of the other 99 percent.”

Most Americans agree that we do have a problem with our deep economic recession, our tax system, our funding to political campaigns, and perhaps on the top of the list, the Fed’s spending habits.

I’d love to hear solutions, not just a laundry list of American ills. But, I suppose the first step of any rehabilitation program is admitting there is a problem. In that case, we are on the right track to recovery.

BOSTON— Veronica Lium*, 31, of Lincoln, met Jason Lee*, 33, of Brighton, when they attended high school together in Vermont. By August 2008, more than a decade had passed before they met up again on MySpace. Lium felt that reconnecting with Lee was like a homecoming.

“We had the same reference points, the past, like the same high school hallways. It was comfortable,” said Lium.

Lium said Lee resisted joining Facebook, but she talked him into it. While setting up his account and updating hers in December of 2008, they listed themselves as being “In a Relationship” with each other. Their profiles’ digital information billboards were joined together with a royal blue font color, as embedded links. Let no man put asunder.

Lium and Lee are defined as active Facebook users — those who return to the social networking site more than once in 30 days. According to Facebook’s online statistics page, from 2009 until the present, the number of active users jumped from 250 million to over 500 million.

With the climbing participation, there is also an increase in the publishing of intimate information on the social networking site. Along with the user’s religious views and political leanings, Facebook allows for an electronic placard of personal data points to announce their “Relationship Status” to the world at large. More Facebook users are opting to include their romantic situation on their profiles instead of leaving it unanswered.

MA Interactive Group, an Internet marketing agency, disclosed that the number of American Facebook users ages 18 and over who listed a relationship status increased nearly two percent from between March 3, 2010, and April 12, 2010.

Lium stands with an athletic build at six-feet tall and has large, pale, blue eyes that “pop” next to her brunette hair. Playing with her chin-length bob, she reminisced about her relationship with Lee, a tattooed rock musician.

The Facebook couple of Lium and Lee would post on each other’s “walls” on occasion.

“Even though Jeremy was listed as my boyfriend, he accused me of running a ‘Bachelorette Page,’” said Lium, “because I didn’t mention him often enough in my status updates.”

By December of 2009, the couple had called it quits. Lium initiated the split, but worried that Lee wasn’t ready for their conjoined royal blue links to disappear right after the break-up.

 “He wasn’t ready to see the word ‘single,’” said Lium, “It was painful for him.”

The couple’s Facebook friends were not alerted about their changed relationship status until January of 2010. At first, Lium listed herself as single, even though she was in a new relationship.

“Once [the change] was done on Facebook,” said Lium, “the last nail was in the coffin.”

A month later, Lee decided to delete Lium from his friend list. She was accepting of this and saw it as “setting boundaries.”

Shortly after, Lium altered her relationship status to read, “In a Relationship,” but this time it didn’t have a royal blue link to her new boyfriend’s profile. He’s not connected on Facebook.

Not all Facebook users opt to disclose directory assistance about their love life. Of the users that MA Interactive Group studied in April, 36 percent chose to remain undefined in the relationship arena.

Lium found that having her relationship status clear to the masses was useful. “Changing my Facebook relationship status was an easy way to let everyone know about the break-up,” said Lium, “It saved me from making around 400 phone calls.”

After the Facebook press release, she received many condolence phone calls and messages.

Advertising the end of a relationship on Facebook happens in the world of the rich and famous, too. The Associated Press reported on January 26, 2009, that Great Britain’s freckle-faced Prince Harry learned through Facebook that his romance of five years with Chelsy Davy was over, since she was no longer listed as, “In a Relationship.” That confirmed the rumor for the media as well.

Kim Appeltans, 27, of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, finds that the relationship status claim on Facebook is a form of confirmation. Appeltans, a golden blond and a native of Belgium, said that she believes that the social pressure and battle for territorial standing is present in the virtual world.

“If [the relationship] is not on Facebook, it isn’t real,” stated Appeltans, “People regard social networking sites as an absolute source of information.”

With a staggering 500 million plus active users, Facebook is a prominent force in the social networking world. Of those profiles floating out in cyber space, most Facebook members find it important to mention their availability — or lack thereof — for a love-oriented relationship. It adds another dimension to the user’s online persona.

*names changed online by request

My Keyboard, My Precious. Our relationship has become to serious...It isn't you, it is me...I need some time apart.

“Dear God, in Heaven above, I implore you to give me strength and resolve. The agony of being me can be completely overwhelming and ridiculous. Please help me to stop relying on communicating with others via keypads— shying away from live conversation. Please help me, Lord. I need your divine intervention with my e-dependence.”

In your name I pray,

Karen.

* * *

Being new in a city and state may be exacerbating this condition of mine. Before I moved to Boston this past June, I was a casual user—daily hits. Now I am a junkie, an addict. I am a habitual user and abuser of electronic communication. I may need to go to e-hab. Like, now.

The amount of times in a day, no—make that an hour, that I look at my phone’s tiny screen (just have a regular clamshell without internet access) to see if I received a text is shameful. When I’m not looking at my phone for some kind of status check, I am perusing all of my different email (three or more) accounts, giving my neglected Twitter account a glance, or logging into Facebook (FB)—where I have not just one, but two pages: my regular one and my “fan page”.

Check, check, check,…check, and effin check some more. Breathe. Repeat. Pathetic.

All of these activities are accomplishing the same thing—answering the similar types of haunting questions: has anyone thought of me, needed my assistance, tried to get hold of me, or paying me some kind of attention. Me, me, me. Is this the result of my parents ignoring the crap out of me and wishing I weren’t around while I was growing up? An arrested development of some kind?

Many of my friends exhibit like symptoms. I just fear that this flaw—this personality ailment of mine—may be worse than most people’s. However, I’m not sure if there is any consolation in knowing that I am not alone. Besides, I never get the slightest amount of relief in any situation by simply realizing someone may be worse off than me—that isn’t comforting to me. I don’t get happy that way.

You should see the look on my face and feel the sadness in my heart when I have no new texts, emails, FB inbox messages or comments to my status lines. Wind out of my sails. Crestfallen.

* * *

If I were to go to e-hab, what would it be like? At check-in, the staff would have to search my body and bags for electronic keyboard contraband. I can see a nurse yanking my tiny, pink clamshell phone out of my duffle and saying, “You won’t be needing this, Ms. Jones.”

I can only imagine 28 days without my social crutches. I would be lame and on the ground, unable to get up.

My hands would have to turn to a new activity, to keep them busy. I can see a group of e-junkies sitting around at night doing puppet shows to pass the time and keep straight. Another few would be spotted with a flashlight and sporting shadow puppets on the wall. All of trying to get better in this alternate universe.

As my e-hab came to a close, I would have re-learned how to make the effort of having personal, one-to-one communication sans typing whenever possible, even when it wouldn’t be easy or convenient. No longer would I shrink away from that “chore” of having to talk with others without an electronic message system involved.

* * *

“Dear God, May I please make some new friends in this city if I don’t always have my face nestled in my laptop or my thumbs glued to my cell phone? I desperately need some live conversation.”

With love,

Karen