The Occupy Wall Street protesters are a mindless rabble of envious deadbeats. When they aren’t doing drugs and breaking laws, they’re busy defecating on police cars and marching on the private homes of businessmen, who dedicate their lives to hard work, entrepreneurship and lawful citizenship. They exude hatred for and jealousy of the most honest and responsible members of our society. They wish to punish those who have done nothing but obey the law and plunder the wealth of those who have done nothing but skillfully utilize their talents.
These rabble-rousers hate the businessman, the man who wakes up at 5 a.m. every morning and works until 9 p.m. six days a week, and only gets to see his lonely wife and precious son and daughter before sunrise as they sleep in bed. The man who risks his very livelihood and the livelihood of his family — his private savings and property, — putting it on the line every day to explore new business ventures. The man who is personally responsible for the success of a firm more complex and efficient than a government agency.
This man’s heart aches over how to ensure that the actions of his company always honor his town, his country, his planet and his God. He provides jobs to thousands of men and women — employees who work half the time, face no personal economic risk, have no responsibility over other men, face no moral dilemmas in their economic decisions and get to come home at 5 p.m. to a smiling family.
He is proud of the wealth of his firm because he knows that his employees, his shareholders and the consumers of his ideas and products have all shared richly in his wealth. Indeed, he is certain that, by the sweat of his brow, he’s brought far more wealth to the world than what he receives in the measly bonus check sitting on his desk at home.
He doesn’t think about that check much, other than what philanthropies, private schools, homeless shelters and local parishes he can give it away to, lest he dishonor his accomplishments by selfishly keeping it all to himself. And what he does have left he spends on his family, the education of his children and the health care of his elderly parents — the immigrant father who worked three menial jobs just to send him to college and the caring mother who taught him to always love God and love his neighbor as himself.
When he comes home, his mind swirling over how to cut costs to avoid laying off more employees — one of whom he knows has cancer and can barely pay his home mortgage — he sees a mob of dirty, drugged-out youths climbing over the fence of his home, frightening his family and threatening to destroy his property.
He notices that one of the kids is a college student at Harvard University and a beneficiary of a private scholarship that he funded through his firm’s unexpectedly high profits last year. He thought he saw potential in that kid. He was polite, went to church, obeyed his parents and wanted to start a business right out of college. Now reeking of alcohol and looking like a vagrant, the kid acts like a common criminal, demanding even more money for less work. What the businessman doesn’t know is that the kid’s professor is giving the kid extra credit for his participation in the protests.
These wastrels stand against everything we treasure as Americans. They seek to destroy the very society that puts clothes on their back and food in their stomachs. They wield the very freedoms that their government protects in order to demand that the government rob the honest, hardworking man of his freedom. They seek to legalize theft in order to subsidize their loathsome behavior.
They are counterrevolutionaries against the principles of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and they must be discredited as such. The Occupy Wall Street crowd, and all the media and academic elites that support them, ought to be shunned by all decent Americans so that they may suffer the shame and stigmatization that their destructive ideology deserves. We must never allow their vision of an America divided by envious hatred to become a reality.
Steven Begakis is a fourth-year political science major and president of UCSB’s College Republicans club.
Can I get an actual source of the of mentioned student and Harvard proffessor giving extra credit and relationship to the honest buisinessman who gave money to Harvards scholarship who atteneded the same church. Thanks. Protesting what is wrong with our government institutions is as American as baseball and apple pie. Whereas, the ‘conservatives’ call protest anti-American reduces the arguement to be…”don’t even think of protesting or criticising this poor wall street banker”. I don’t think the protestors have problems with banks as a whole, but, instead, they aren’t accepting the common practice of corporations sending jobs overseas, not paying… Read more »
A couple points about the OWS. First, and most the obvious: what is the objective of OWS? I have never seen a more disorganized and disillusioned set of individuals before. The list of demands that were released were ideological at best. OWS fails to realize how our government is structured and what is under State and Federal control. Even if their demands were partially met, which they won’t be, it would topple our economic system and we all would be way worse off then we are now. Second point: What is the point of occupying Wall Street and blaming corporations… Read more »
To Steven and “Common Sense,” The article above is, in all due respect, disgusting and sounds more like what you would expect to hear from the propaganda arm of an authoritarian government, than an opinion piece dedicated to opening discussion in a democratic environment. You have some gross misconceptions about what the Occupy Wall Street protests are about. While we can argue over ideological differences, what you wrote above adds absolutely nothing to the discussion and makes you look incredibly ignorant and foolish. The above piece is the clearest example of the straw man fallacy I’ve ever seen, while lacking… Read more »
To the COWARD who doesn’t have the balls to stand by his words: Lets debunk point number 1: http://occupywallst.org/forum/first-official-release-from-occupy-wall-street/ OWS put up a coherent Declaration of Grievances 2 weeks ago! READ UP you ingrate! They have also posted up a list of Demands to Congress: http://occupywallst.org/forum/proposed-list-of-demands-please-help-editadd-so-th/ How would REINSTATING GLASS-STEAGALL ACT “Topple” our economic system? How would FULLY investigating and Prosecuting Wall Street CRIMINALS “topple” our economic system? How would REVERSING CITIZENS UNITED “topple” our economic system? WHY would ENACTING the BUFFETT RULE, CLOSING TAX LOOPHOLES and PROHIBITING OFFSHORE ACCOUNTS to EVADE TAXES “topple” our economic system? How would Revamping… Read more »
To your second point:
Wall Street Brought you the Recession. Wall Street got the Bailouts!
Wall Street bought our politicians, deregulated itself and caused the 2008 crisis.
YOU need to READ UP, ECONOMICS happens in a VACUUM, this is the REAL WORLD, and we are under CRONY CAPITALISM.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crony_capitalism)
The Talking points you keep getting from your national news giant, FAVORS the current system. They dont want JUSTICE, they dont want ACCOUNTABILITY, they dont want TRANSPARENCY. THEY WANT TO MAKE MONEY, MORALLY OR AMORALLY, they DONT CARE!!!!
GOVERNMENT SETS THE RULES, AND THEY’VE BEEN BOUGHT!!!
To your third point: You are ignorant or delusional. 1st, its great that you want to make this a partisan issue. But by trying to make this about democrats v republicans, you FAIL to see the POINT of OWS. They are protesting the SYSTEM, the ENTIRE thing. WE understand that the entire system is failing. MOST of Obama’s policies, where taken from Republican’s own textbook. Obama’s Health Plan, MIRRORS Mitt Romney’s plan. He ESCALATED the WARS, in a move to appear more CONSERVATIVE, something which ANGERED his BASE. His stimulus plan was just a big TAX CUT. He EXTENDED the… Read more »
A few notes on Obama… 1. Healthcare reform in this country was pretty moderate compared to most countries, yes. It wasn’t a “Republican” plan, however, and it didn’t originally mirror Romney’s until it got watered down by months of debate and controversy. It’s not that the Affordable Care Act was a conservative move because it was similar to Romney’s bill; it’s that Romney’s bill was already a liberal move on his part. 2. Obama escalated one war, Afghanistan, after years of national consensus that this country’s national security priorities laid in that country (removing a government that supports al Qaeda),… Read more »
No comment regarding offering up Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare to the cutting board, or refusing to support public sector worker? 5. How has he expanded executive power? I don’t get this. I hear it all the time. I still don’t get it. — Assassinating US citizens who have not been charged or convicted of any crimes. This has of course been done previously, but never openly. A clear violation of the US Constitution. — Not going back to Congress to get continued approval for waging war against Libya, as required by the War Powers Act. 6. Obama has not… Read more »
I believe the killing of Al-alawaqi is entirely justified, the President of the United States need to protect from enemies foreign AND DOMESTIC! Hiding outside of any known jurisdiction and treasonously calling for terrorist acts on US soil deserves two bullets between the eye (a bin laden).
But he stripped an american of the due process of the LAW.
So you are saying you would rather he be able to plant weapons of mass destruction on the next airplane you board. This is concrete. Tell that the families of the fallen brave fort hood shootings next time you think of the law. I’m sure they would rather have their family members.
“He who sacrifices freedom for security deserves neither.” – Benjamin Franklin
There is also no evidence that Al-alawaqi was actually engaged in terror plots. He was their external operator, meaning he was in charge of internet operations to try and recruit new members into the terrorist organization.
This was an assassination! This was an execution, where Obama was trial, jury and executioner. you might feel comfortable giving that unconstitutional power to Obama, but would you feel comfortable giving it to Sarah Palin, Michelle Bachman? Rick Perry?
Imagine Rush Limbaugh with that power? Dont you see the consequences of that action? its ramifications?
1. Remember that Obama did his own backroom negotiations with Big Pharma,. No negotiation on drug prices and even an extension on drug patents, going from 5-7 years during the Bush era, to 12 years under Obama’s reform package. Dont forget how “campaign” obama promised a public option, and president obama gave it the cold shoulder during the year long struggle to pass the health care reform bill. Overall, I think it is very fair to say that president Obama wsa simply concerned with passing a health bill, rather than passing real substantive reform. Rather than passing a game changing… Read more »
I would also add that Obama has had a terrible record for transparency, limiting executive power or civil liberties for Americans.
I stand by my comment, Obama is Crazy Conservative Light
U.S. deportations reach historic levels
By Jim Barnett, CNN
updated 4:22 PM EST, Tue October 18, 2011
Washington (CNN) — Nearly 400,000 people were deported from the United States in the past fiscal year, the largest number in the history of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, the government announced Tuesday
Also, for future reference, can we please avoid using “Common Sense” as a user nickname when posting? It isn’t conducive to rational argument.
Steven Begakis, why are you posting under the tag “Common Sense?”
haahahahhahahhahahaha
He provides jobs to thousands of men and women — employees who work half the time, face no personal economic risk, have no responsibility over other men, face no moral dilemmas in their economic decisions and get to come home at 5 p.m. to a smiling family.
Steve,
That’s a lovely dream world you’ve concocted for yourself.
May you never awaken from your slumbers.
I can’t wait ’til this guy graduates and can’t find a job.
CAN’T FUCKING WAIT.
Steven, I believe, quite simply, that OWS is the symptom of a disease. That disease can be called “the undue influence of money in politics”. Stick with me for a second: Do politicians regularly grant lunch audiences to constituents who do not donate sizable amounts of something valuable (time / money, for instance) to their campaigns? Why not? How often does the “normal” constituent have the chance to sit down with their elected representative and, in a personal and one-on-one setting, tell that person what they think is wrong with x or y? Why are these interactions so rare? OWS… Read more »
This child is an idiot and its sad that he is a 4th year student Can you imagine whom he gets his values from and thats the problem we have in our country today. He will probably end up working for Christopher Cox…….
Before I say anything, let me say that my feelings on the OWS protests will be expressed in next week’s “Left Said” column. They are by no means 100% positive…although they do contrast with this article’s viewpoint quite a bit. Steven, this is one of the best (and by that I mean worst) examples of the strawman argument I’ve ever seen in my life. Nearly 70% of this article–do a simple word count to confirm–is dedicated to rhetoric extolling the life of a typical American Dream hero, perfect in every way. First off, that’s a shitload of space to allocate… Read more »
“Pissing people off isn’t any good unless you’re in the right.” Careful there Geoffrey, don’t give Steven that cop-out; obviously he believes that he is in fact “in the right” ideologically. But writing just for the sake of pissing people off (while it may be in line with his personal ambitions to be a conservative blogger or the next Karl Rove) is counterproductive overall to his cause as a conservative. Polls show over 50% of Americans support the Occupy Wall Street movement. If anybody was swayed by this foolish piece of propaganda (Last time I heard “counterrevolutionaries” was from the… Read more »
Ig’nant fuck.
A number of points have been made here, and I will endeavor to repeat none of them. Others, good people all, have explained that you are making a straw man of the arguments of a vast number of disenfranchised people, and a lot of heated words have flown out about how you’re living a dream. Not my place to say more about it, mister Begakis. But if I may, Mr. Begakis, I’d like to talk to you a little bit about your methods of argumentation. You see, what you’ve done is taken a large number of people angry about a… Read more »
Thank you, I hope you send this in to the Nexus to be published. We can’t let his accusations go unanswered
Steven Begakis, I’m sure you’ve stopped reading these comments because no one likes to be publicly chastised, but in the glimmering hope that you will come across these words, I want you to know that you exemplify everything wrong with the prevalent journalistic practice of news organizations today. Consequently, it is falsified, self-proclaimed “journalists” such as yourself, that have made the public distrust of journalism sadly widespread. (And even more sadly deserved) Common Sense: Steven, you will fail in this profession. Give up before you find yourself the Jayson Blair of your generation. In that vein, I think the Times’… Read more »
-Sir, Though you do raise a fair point that many corporate officers are honest and hardworking people, you can not deny the legitimate claims of the OWS protesters. There can be no argument as to whether real wages for the middle class have dropped over the last thirty years. Furthermore, corporate profits are as strong if not stronger than they have ever been. All the while, middle class Americans are increasing seeing their jobs being automated and shipped overseas. When you consider the amount of tax-payer money pumped into the private sector as of late and the lack of respect… Read more »
This is the biggest joke I’ve ever read. No wonder the College Republicans are such a pathetic club.
not a joke, he is the real deal. in fact, he is the president of the college republicans. he is a complete embarrassment, I know. but he is fo reals
I really hope this a joke…
not a joke, hes the real deal
I’m not sure if this satire is intentional or not. Well done, sir, on demonstrating the ignorance of yourself and those that think similarly. I don’t mean that as an insult, because you seem intelligent and write coherently. Intelligent but misinformed. But like others have said, your appeal to emotion and lack of a well-reasoned argument really detracts from your persuasiveness. It hurts your cause. Stop watching Fox News and do some research. Start with gini coefficients, Citizens United vs FEC, the Glass-Steagall Act, regulatory capture, and the relationship between productivity and income in the last, oh, sixty years. And… Read more »
it is not, Steve Begakis has been writing for this paper for 3+ years now.
He was a right said columnist, then he was an opinion editor, now he is doing god knows what else inside the nexus.
He was a good campus republican, brought us David Horowitz last year. now he is campus republican’s new president. we have quite a celebrity writing this shit.
He is a good butt boy for the right wing crazies. he likes regurgitating right wing lunacy.
Mr. Begakis is no longer employed by the Daily Nexus. This article was submitted as an independent column to our opinion section. Also if you are going to criticize someone for being radical and having potentially offensive views, calling them a “butt boy” isn’t the best way to go about it.
oh, did my little comment sting? I stand by my comment. Even if Begakis has left the nexus, it is still clear that he still has ties to the Nexus, and that he calls on those ties as a way to gain a platform from which to speak and voice his opinion. He is clearly partisan and biased. And unlike other “independent” columns, his has a clear conservative/republican agenda. All the more obvious by the fact that he is the president of college republicans, and a former writer of the right said column. This is the kind of writing I… Read more »
I agree with everything you’ve said except this: “Even if Begakis has left the nexus, it is still clear that he still has ties to the Nexus, and that he calls on those ties as a way to gain a platform from which to speak and voice his opinion.” I’m not perfectly sure that’s true. To be honest, although I am not an editor, I don’t get the feeling that he’s competing against a lot of other submissions on any given day. Because the Nexus is a daily publication with a relatively small circulation rate (compared to most dailies), I… Read more »
When you work at an institution and leave. You still have an advantage over others, because you know how the institution operates. I have to wonder if his letter would have been accepted had he used a different alias.
So that means you think that this piece gives Steven an … advantage? You think he manipulated the editorial staff into printing this, which they agreed to in order to further the aims of … Steven? Joshua, sir: Please check yourself before you wreck yourself.
Also, I believe the Nexus’ complex “institutional operations” consist of receiving emails that contain opinion submissions. These submissions are encouraged in one line of text that explains the email submission process and graces the top of each day’s opinion page. Yep, that institutional knowledge really boosted him to the top with this one.
you seem to misunderstand the way institutions work. there might be an explicit set of rules, but there are also implicit rules. for example, a submission that is 250 words might not be taken as seriously as a submission that is 750 words. Some submissions might be picked, simply because they fit the theme the editor wants, or because there is extra space available for say a 500 word piece rather than a 750 word piece. some pieces might be rejected on an editors own view of what good writing is or isnt. or on their subjective taste for topics,… Read more »
Please check yourself before you wreck yourself.
If you are not going to bother reading my comments carefully, then Im not going to bother responding to your comments.
Quote me, and show me how I apparently accused Steve of manipulating the editorial staff.
Letters to the editor are way different than weekly columns. They’re often intended to stir up conversation, both by the writer (which is pretty obvious in this case) and the editors. Clearly this article is ridiculous, but look at the intelligent discussion that has come out of it. Probably the most comments I’ve seen on a single post here in I don’t know how long. Stuff like this prompts way more thought and discussion than some news article outlining the occupy protests. Just because Steven worked for the Nexus doesn’t mean that they’re more likely to be swayed by his… Read more »
This is ridiculous! I cant believe how many seem so keen on defending this opinion piece. Discussing the “collateral merits” of it. L, you are very naive if you really think that the article is “clearly ridiculous”. You are even more naive if you think that any of the comments on this page, have had the same amount of circulation that the article with his ridiculous opinion did. The only other article Ive seen on OWS, has been weaksauce. And no where near as radical. All of you grieving over my accusation that the Nexus doesnt handle submissions fairly. Id… Read more »
Hahahaha dude Steven must be thrilled about how much time and attention you’ve wasted on his article. Keep fighting the good fight Joshua maybe you will be inducted into the Nexus commenter hall of fame as a reward.
Seriously, I’m gonna have to second Masada on that one. Every time I see your name on these message boards it’s the regurgitated intelligence of someone else in a previous comment. If you’re going to call other people naive for having less hateful and more optimistic views on things, then maybe it’s time to “check yourself.” Trolling the message boards to criticize every single thing possible (including any article that opposes Begakis’s, which, by the way, couldn’t possibly be as radical because NORMAL thought in itself is not radical) isn’t exactly a mature, intellectual way to state your point. On… Read more »
Thank you, L, for providing some logic. Joshua, I’ll leave it at this: you have no idea how the Nexus works. There was extensive debate regarding whether or not to print Mr. Begakis’ piece; the editorial staff eventually decided to run it because they felt it would spark intelligent debate on a relevant issue (which it did). I’m intrigued by the process that you feel will prove your “point” as it has no basis in reason that I can discern. If you were more involved in the situation, you would understand quite clearly why your claim that the Nexus editorial… Read more »
Here’s a good idea! Lets ask businesses to STOP hiring, as a way to protest Obama’s failed policies! YEAH! THATS THE TICKET! LETS STOP HIRING as a PROTEST agasing Obamas “WAR against business and my country”.
This is the kind of partisan lunacy, Steve Begakis belongs to!
I don’t even know politics but this is terrible writing. No support to the argument, just pointing fingers and babbling.
Cash is made out of cellulose fibers, mostly cotton and flax. Who wants to go grow some cotton and flax?
<3
max
For the sake of journalistic integrity, I hope the Nexus selects a few of the more effective comments and reprints them in the paper. It’s rare that an article gets so much attention and feedback; students on campus should know that everyone agrees with them about how crazy this article is.
yeah, about that. It seems they decided to put up some weak sauce bs article. fucking WEAK
Mr. Steven Begakis,
Seeing as an overwhelming majority of the comments on this piece confront you on factual and logical grounds, do you anticipate responding to any of these critiques of your opinion?
I certainly hope you do as the dialogue would be both enjoyable and informative. Please reference to facts, rather than “facts”, when writing your response to ensure that it is not skewered like your original piece.
Thanks,
Dean
UPVOTE!
agreed, upvote
To Baxter: Wow, it is amazing to me that the ramblings of a mere troll have been elevated to the level of Nexus editorial staff. To think that one of them would have to succumb and condescend to the level of a troll like me and actually have to respond and defend the Nexus from the baseless accusations of a troll. To the Nexus: Shame on you! Shame on you for printing this article. 1. Your first obligation as a student newspaper, is to the student body at large. That means, looking out for the interests of the student body… Read more »
I lack an understanding of freedom of speech. Rabble Rabble Rabble…
For clarification purposes, please see the following excerpt from the Daily Nexus Editorial Code: “Realizing the need for diverse viewpoints, we open our editorial pages to all opinions. We are not a representative of the university or of the students, but are editorially free and independent under the rights granted to us by the First and Fourteenth amendments to the United States Constitution — a freedom we will defend with unceasing vigor. We will defend the rights of any member of the university communities if those rights are abridged, and present all sides of the case. We feel that it… Read more »
Thats no excuse. Your own staff admits there is almost no submissions from students. On top of that, you have a website that could provide endless amount of space for those opinions.
In my view, if you are funded by the students, you at least owe them that much. Whether it be because of topics you as an editorial staff deem hot or not hot, relevant or not, educated or not, some voices are not being heard.
Dude, Joshua, you need to chill out man. If you are so concerned about transparency at the Nexus, I would encourage you to go down to the Nexus office and talk with Jenna and Janna about your concerns(they are the opinion editors and I can assure you they are in no kind of collusion with Steven). I personally would be interested in reading about why you think the Nexus shouldn’t have printed this article, as ridiculous as it was. I think you may have some basis for your argument based off of Baxter’s own comment that the editors tend to… Read more »
This is the problem with the choices that the editors make. By actually printing his article, they have given him credibility! undue credibility! Someone like me, that can only respond in this forum, can easily be dismissed, regardless of how good a point I bring up. I have not been given credibility by the editors as Steve Begakis has. I know friends and community members that have contributed pieces to the Nexus, and many a times, their pieces have been rejected for god knows what. Some of them spent a great deal of effort researching their topic, others poured their… Read more »
ei the police blotter, the sex column, the debauchery column. idk, just think of the most prolific columns in the nexus, and I guess thats what the nexus prefers to write about weekly.
Joshua, we would be happy to consider running anything you submit to us. It’s upsetting to know that you find our editorial standards to be so low, because I, as well as Jenna, would never disregard a piece solely because we disagree with its perspective. If your friends and acquaintances have been rejected in the past, it is likely that it had nothing to do with the quality of their writing or the validity of their statement. Our schedule for Opinion is chaotic, and we aren’t able to run pieces that we wish we could. The amount of space we… Read more »
The Nexus is an important part of our community here at UCSB, in fact it has been and should always be the nexus of public forum for any and all campus issues. If you as employees of the Nexus wont advocate for yourselves, then who do you expect will? You’ve given me a set of problems, problems which many newspapers are facing today. I suspect ad revenue is hard to come by, I suspect that doing the entire operation, every day, is already extremely demanding and taxing. But, what is the point of doing all of that, if in the… Read more »
Editors at the Nexus, I implore you! Think about how the decisions you make every day, carry weight! Whenever a group, a position, an idea is attacked by a writer in the paper, many, i repeat MANY students, do not bother responding to the attack, because they already see the Nexus as an institution that is part of the problem. The barriers the Nexus has, whether they are by choice or by design, discourage student submissions. And every submission you DONT publish, is an opportunity lost. How many students whose submissions where not accepted, felt ignored and immediately discouraged from… Read more »
The killing of Al-alawaqi seems just right. But killing is never an answer towards peace.