“Keeping The Class War Classy”: 45 Posts And Memes From “The Other 98%” Facebook Page With A Whopping 6.7M Followers
The Other 98% is almost all of us. This is the idea behind the activist organization that uses their internet presence to fight for things like increasing minimum wage and opposing favorable tax treatment for large corporations. Originally founded by left-of-center activists John Sellers and Andrew Boyd in 2010, it was a direct response to the conservative Tea Party movement.
Today, the organization targets complex and intertwined issues like economic justice, reproductive justice, climate justice, big pharma, democracy, and racial justice. So no wonder they've gained a cult following. Serving as a massive online storytelling machine, The Other 98% has a whopping 6.7M followers on their Facebook page.
According to The Other 98%, they are now “winning the meme warfare with some of the internet’s most viral original political content.” And this is one hell of a war to win, having in mind the countless amount of content that gets regurgitated online not just every single day, but per millisecond. “Keeping the Class War classy!” shouts their slogan, and those memes, they are priceless.
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The Other 98% uses meme warfare and savvy boots-on-the-ground actions to challenge the corporations and billionaires that have hijacked our democracy, claims the description on their website. “We fight like hell for an America that works for the other 98% of us.”
According to The Other 98%, whoever wins the battle of the story wins the war. So the organization specializes in fighting this battle of the story through meme warfare with some of the internet’s most viral original political content. “Our massive online storytelling machine aims to disentangle complex policy, connect dots between issues like climate justice and reparations, and provide a home for like-minded — and not so like-minded — people to take ownership of these memes, and fight for them accordingly,” they claim.
Those @s$holes asked for it! If they had been real men they would have assisted the ladies.
Their content reaches 7-15 million people every day, making them the most important voice of social, economic, reproductive, racial and other forms of justice out there in the US. “We know that storytelling can change the world, because we've seen it happen again and again,” they claim positively.
Andrew Boyd is the author, activist and in his words “prankster of social change” also known as the co-founder of The other 98% and the man behind the “Billionaires For Bush” campaign. Together with Dave Oswald Mitchell, he edited “Beautiful Trouble. A Toolbox For Revolution,” which serves as a kind of instruction manual for creative activism.
In this interview, Boyd shared his thoughts on his vision of creativity meeting activism: “I am speaking of these sort of moments, whether it is a TAZ or an extraordinary epiphany moment, a carnival moment; whether it is in the streets of Seattle or in Occupy Wall Street, with its utopian longings. Or maybe it can be some of these lovely Critical Mass transitory moments. Bringing utopia into history, to make that happen – even if it´s just for a moment and on a localized place and experiencing it – affects you on a very visceral level.”
*GASP* Someone with an insane and unimaginable amount of money, forced to give a incrementally small percent of their vast fortune away just like people in poverty, with barley enough to eat?! The HORROR! /s
Moreover, Boyd argues that it affects us at the level of our nervous systems, of our whole beings and bodies and souls, “as opposed to just an intellectual argument.” He explained that “if you experience direct democracy, or an intimate community, or just an otherwise impoverished urban space suddenly made beautiful, it alters everything.”
The Other 98% follows this concept of taking a comical approach towards complex subjects, using the voice of the internet, and memes in particular, to spread the message.
Being a woman in a man's world s*cked 500 years ago, it s*cks today
Progress is making the race easier for others to help them catch up......not adding more hurdles and expect them to crawl through barb wires like you were FORCED to.
And a lot of the people who have been able to pay off the debt were able to do it because of good fortune, not just because of hard work. Many people work their butts off with multiple jobs and are still in debt for school because they don't earn enough to pay to bring the principal down. And the government made college debt an exception for bankruptcy and other protections that we're supposed to have when put into an impossible debt situation.
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Progress isn't saying, "I bled, so you bleed!" Progress is saying, "I bled, it sucked, let's not allow people to bleed".
I would feel bad for the people who forwent college because they didn't want to take on debt. The debt sucks, but it doesn't feel great that people made different decisions thinking there would be no way they could handle the debt, only to find out years later that they could have.
Exactly! It's a childish response. Like - it may have been wrong but if I had to suffer, so do you!
Well when you pay off your loans, you get a write off on your taxes. When you have loans forgiven, the US govt will probably see the total amount as earned income and charge you taxes on it. They never let it go.
To solve the problem of people hating the wiping out of student debt, why not just request back what each student actually borrowed?
My daughter graduated last year with a degree in early childhood development. She is a 42 year old single mom of three and in debt over $30,000 for student loans. Do you know what it would mean to her and her kids if that debt were forgiven? She has not been on welfare, she’s a hard worker. But if she hadn’t come to live with me for a few years she would have never been able to do it. Why would anyone begrudge her and her kids a chance at a better life? Spite because they had to pay? I bet they call themselves “good Christian’s” too.
Ditto. I paid off my daughter's debts and gave her $250/month through her Master's and for a year of travel after. I was broke but now she isn't.
Student loan debt forgiveness will result in taxpayers paying those loans off because that debt doesn't disappear. So if it falls on taxpayers how is that fair for low income families living paycheck to paycheck to payoff some else's debt while those people are making 3 or 4 time more money?
This. This is the biggest thing about all related arguments. When something doesent actively make your life worse but people oppose it because they had to got through difficulty and therefore others should suffer too. You worked hard for your money, thats good, but why are you so upset about your children and grandchildren possibly nit being forced to do the same. We should hope for a better future, not one where people will suffer at least as much as we did. This is a basic lack of empathy and compassion. You dont say "i was abused as a child so its only fair children grow up like that" or "i was unable to get mental health help, so everyone should have to go through suffering from depression instead of getting therapy". Idk, if the children of my generation live in bliss and never know hardship, i would only be happy, not complain that they should have gone through trauma like we all did
Amen! And, it's been proven that more intelligent people strengthen an economy, so this could really pay off nationally in the long run.
If they rip up the contract to wipe the debt away, cool. If they force me to pay for someone else's debt through taxes, not cool.
How do you feel about the $20B in annual subsidies to oil companies coming from your taxes? How about the $170B in corporate welfare coming from your taxes? (To compare, only $11B is spent on aid for dependent children.) You're angry with the wrong people, my friend.
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Maybe some of the countless billions spent on the military could be redirected to education. Just a thought.
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Boss: "Hey, I need you to come in today... there are some important meetings that are gonna be hosted." Me: "Going outside will literally boil your innards and melt your skin, I don't think a meeting is worth that." Boss: "DO YOU WANT THAT HOLIDAY BONUS?! DO YOU KNOW HOW REPLACABLE YOU ARE?!" Me: " *Sigh* alright."
Is a stimulus because they somehow spend that money on a offshore bank account that makes money for them and no one else? (:
I have existed under different economic systems. It's not capitalism or communism or socialism that is problem. It's greed. Every system will fail under this obscene greed displayed by our leaders ( both political and corporate). They hold up capitalism as bait to distract you from the real problem. That they are getting rich off our hard work. Stop fighting each other and start holding our leaders accountable for failing us.
I live in India. I work for an American giant. My earning puts me in top 5% of my country. And I still can't afford a 2BHK in my city. Part of the blame also needs to be put on real estate market and factors driving it up.
This is f###ing CRIMINAL!!! If he's paid back $175,000, that's more than TWICE the original loan - and he still owes even more. This is usury, plain and simple. The greedy scum that make loans like this need to be rounded up, stripped of all their ill-gotten wealth, publicly humiliated, and locked up the rest of their worthless lives in a privately-owned prison with rotten food and underpaid guards who have attitudes.
The fact that the minimum wage has not increased in 12 years is damnable. But try to raise it, and a chorus of right-wing knot-heads holler garbage about destroying jobs, $25 hamburgers, and robotized fast-food restaurants.
I quit my government job to take a job as a public school teacher. I'm a good budgeter and to pay for my apartment solo means that my savings is not so slowly deprecating as my salary (to teach children) doesn't cover my expenses to live without roommates
Note: this post originally had 73 images. It’s been shortened to the top 45 images based on user votes.
I just don’t understand the “I had to suffer, so you should to” mentality. Or the “I had to pay these student loans, so you should to” gripes. How about you take that line of thinking/ anger and turn it towards the system that has created the problem in the first place? Get mad at the people who are profiting from these loans. Get mad at the corporations that pay c**p wages, not each other. Ahh yes, the brainwashing from media and our “representatives” in the senate/congress will never let that happen.
The wealthy promulgate this attitude. If we're all bitching about one another, we're not paying attention to the wealthy robbing us blind.
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The "great" USA has a lot more than 99 problems. Many of them stem from corporate greed. The ultra-rich and big corporations have a stranglehold on Congress, and own the hearts and souls of dozens of pundits working for TV and newspapers. Hell, they own a lot of news sources, which parrot their B.S. Conservative editorialists and cartoonists defecate their propaganda to try to bamboozle the public into believing the delusion that we call the "Great American Dream." Here is a must-watch video about private equity, the vilest of the vile: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DaSn0iqzVv4
And once again it seems like the majority of the memes refer to US problems. It isn't all sunny elsewhere, but especially the lacking union and massive medical/- student loan things look like a foreign concept here in Germany
Very true and it just opens us up to a lot of anti-america sentiment. I know we're not a perfect country but our laws are not necessarily our people. We do have a lot of people trying to change things around here but it's hard when the rich can afford their own lobbyists.
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US healthcare should be fixed asap., no way should anyone go bankrupt over a sick child or anyone sick. Thankfully I live in Canada and enjoy free healthcare for life. Also our min. wage in Ont. is about 15 going to 16 soon but should be 20-25 an hour. Costs are out of control and wages need to keep up.
People: You don't have savings??😳😳😬 Me: No. Unfortunately I choose to have a place to live and food with my money...instead of saving it and starving.
*bp pyramid scheme bot voice* I make 7.25 an hour and have no chance to even rent an apartment! Gas prices have rocketed, but I don't worry since I know that the billionaires and millionaires will help me! Life has no point anymore!
I think about this thing a lot: https://www.reddit.com/r/COMPLETEANARCHY/comments/jauuvo/korean_dragons_are_comrades/ the Yeongno is a korean legend (I am so sorry if I’m getting this wrong) that eats rich people. If it eats 100 of them, the yeongno can go to heaven 😊
Yeah entitled to a living wage, healthcare, a home and food and clean water? That's what being entitled means to you These things are human rights that every other first world country has even the capitalist/socialist countries. The only people that benefit from democratic socialism in the US are the wealthy while they brainwash the masses of it's evils have been born into their wealth. They did not earn it. It was generational. You are not a soon to be millionaire dude. That's not how it works in this day and age. No one works up or works hard into being a millionaire, it is handed to you by your relatives. 691 billionaires in the US all of them come from generational wealth. Not one worked hard for it. They own all the wealth all of it.
Load More Replies... Stop bitching about how wealthy people are taking advantage of everyone else. In my business I have met many and many wealthy people, and let me tell you, I've never met a more miserable set of people in my life. Their lives are no better than ordinary people, they just have bigger problems. If you're a miserable f-ck it doesn't matter how much money you have. I'd rather live in my little house and feel that I don't owe anybody anything, maybe have to scratch around sometimes to pay my bills, but I'm happy to work and pay my own way. Everyone who is bitching about how billionaires should be giving money to everyone would probably be as tight fisted as possible
I just don’t understand the “I had to suffer, so you should to” mentality. Or the “I had to pay these student loans, so you should to” gripes. How about you take that line of thinking/ anger and turn it towards the system that has created the problem in the first place? Get mad at the people who are profiting from these loans. Get mad at the corporations that pay c**p wages, not each other. Ahh yes, the brainwashing from media and our “representatives” in the senate/congress will never let that happen.
The wealthy promulgate this attitude. If we're all bitching about one another, we're not paying attention to the wealthy robbing us blind.
Load More Replies... The "great" USA has a lot more than 99 problems. Many of them stem from corporate greed. The ultra-rich and big corporations have a stranglehold on Congress, and own the hearts and souls of dozens of pundits working for TV and newspapers. Hell, they own a lot of news sources, which parrot their B.S. Conservative editorialists and cartoonists defecate their propaganda to try to bamboozle the public into believing the delusion that we call the "Great American Dream." Here is a must-watch video about private equity, the vilest of the vile: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DaSn0iqzVv4
And once again it seems like the majority of the memes refer to US problems. It isn't all sunny elsewhere, but especially the lacking union and massive medical/- student loan things look like a foreign concept here in Germany
Very true and it just opens us up to a lot of anti-america sentiment. I know we're not a perfect country but our laws are not necessarily our people. We do have a lot of people trying to change things around here but it's hard when the rich can afford their own lobbyists.
Load More Replies... US healthcare should be fixed asap., no way should anyone go bankrupt over a sick child or anyone sick. Thankfully I live in Canada and enjoy free healthcare for life. Also our min. wage in Ont. is about 15 going to 16 soon but should be 20-25 an hour. Costs are out of control and wages need to keep up.
People: You don't have savings??😳😳😬 Me: No. Unfortunately I choose to have a place to live and food with my money...instead of saving it and starving.
*bp pyramid scheme bot voice* I make 7.25 an hour and have no chance to even rent an apartment! Gas prices have rocketed, but I don't worry since I know that the billionaires and millionaires will help me! Life has no point anymore!
I think about this thing a lot: https://www.reddit.com/r/COMPLETEANARCHY/comments/jauuvo/korean_dragons_are_comrades/ the Yeongno is a korean legend (I am so sorry if I’m getting this wrong) that eats rich people. If it eats 100 of them, the yeongno can go to heaven 😊
Yeah entitled to a living wage, healthcare, a home and food and clean water? That's what being entitled means to you These things are human rights that every other first world country has even the capitalist/socialist countries. The only people that benefit from democratic socialism in the US are the wealthy while they brainwash the masses of it's evils have been born into their wealth. They did not earn it. It was generational. You are not a soon to be millionaire dude. That's not how it works in this day and age. No one works up or works hard into being a millionaire, it is handed to you by your relatives. 691 billionaires in the US all of them come from generational wealth. Not one worked hard for it. They own all the wealth all of it.
Load More Replies... Stop bitching about how wealthy people are taking advantage of everyone else. In my business I have met many and many wealthy people, and let me tell you, I've never met a more miserable set of people in my life. Their lives are no better than ordinary people, they just have bigger problems. If you're a miserable f-ck it doesn't matter how much money you have. I'd rather live in my little house and feel that I don't owe anybody anything, maybe have to scratch around sometimes to pay my bills, but I'm happy to work and pay my own way. Everyone who is bitching about how billionaires should be giving money to everyone would probably be as tight fisted as possible
