

Lies, Damn Lies and Photoshop - jedwhite
http://blog.timparkinson.net/2011/09/30/lies-damn-lies-and-photoshop/

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JeremyBanks
_I do however find it supremely ironic that a group who is supposedly
protesting about corruption and lies would produce such a blatant piece of
propaganda. Especially one so readily falsifiable._

The first comment is pointing out that he doesn't actually know if it's from
the organizers. The author concedes that, but it doesn't seem to have stopped
him from associating it with them.

Do we now hold groups responsible for images that 50 of their supporters have
shared on Facebook?

~~~
rick888
well, the organizers didn't come out and say it was false, now did they.

~~~
rick888
It's a valid thought. it's popular enough so you know they've seen it, yet
they haven't denied it or stopped spreading the propaganda.

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sunchild
I live a few blocks away. I just walked past the park where the protesters are
camped out. There are (and have been over the past few days) a small group of
activists there. A lot of them seem to be playing "reporter" in front of their
friends' very expensive video setups. I've seen more cops than protesters over
the past week, to be honest. Maybe I'm just a grumpy old man, but this
movement just turns me off. I wish it were otherwise, but the impotence of
that crowd is depressing. Also, they were packed into the local McDonalds,
presumably for the WiFi and corporate cow meat. Ugh.

~~~
gerggerg
Impotence? What do you want? _Thousands_ of people to occupy wall street for
weeks? Violence? Business like advertising?

It's a real bummer that you can be so demoralized by what people 'seem' to be
doing.

I'm glad you can vent on the internet though.

~~~
sunchild
Well, since you asked: I want fewer people sleeping in parks and playing in
drum circles and pretending to be reporters, and more people working inside
the system to right its course.

~~~
jeffreymcmanus
there are plenty of people "working inside the system". that has proven
ineffective.

~~~
sunchild
At one time we had a government that set limits on bank consolidation, cared
about capitalization, kept investment banking apart from retail, etc.

All of that broke down when the banks/insurance companies preemptively broke
Glass-Steagall.

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olefoo
At the least, the people out there trying to #occupywallstreet are doing
something to try to limit the power of the unelected, unaccountable, unchecked
financial elites whose wealth puts them above the law and whose infinite
appetite ensures they will never be satisfied until they have sold the last
bit of land, eaten the last wild animal and hold the rest of humanity on a
short leash of material necessity.

To make things, products and services that people want and choose to buy of
their own free will is an honorable path. The people out there on the street
are not against those who choose that path; they are against those who want to
set up one set of laws for the rich and powerful and another far harsher one
for the rest of us.

Whether this picture is a product of regrettable enthusiasm, or is a
deliberate fraud aimed to discredit is beside the point. The fact that the
space has been opened to have a conversation about the nature of power in our
society at this time is the important fact worthy of note.

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jedwhite
Website is getting overloaded from look of it. Here is the google cache link:

[http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:fIfQpD6...](http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:fIfQpD62vz8J:blog.timparkinson.net/2011/09/30/lies-
damn-lies-and-photoshop/+timparkinson.net&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us)

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benwerd
Huh. A cynical protester, or a cynical person wanting to undermine the
credibility of the protesters? Either way, sad that someone put so much effort
into a fabrication.

Edit: I guess Hacker News says "no".

~~~
fungi
reminds me of the BS chain emails my mum and her friends are constantly
forwarding each other.

i would personally put it down to a primitive form of karma whoring.

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jedwhite
Seems odd that this story would get flagged or moderated off the homepage so
quickly. The technology issues it raises about manipulation of social media
are more interesting than the politics of OWS itself.

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abalone
That pic may be ridiculous but so is the claim that there are only 100
protesters. The police have _arrested_ eight times that alone.

And since when is some guy's blog "The Media"?

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coryl
Was walking by there this weekend, only a couple hundred protesters occupying
the area? A lot of tourists taking pictures, checking it out. Also a lot of
police standing by.

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gasull
According to some sources, NYPD estimated the protestors in around 5,000:

[http://blog.alexanderhiggins.com/2011/09/30/huge-
crowd-5000-...](http://blog.alexanderhiggins.com/2011/09/30/huge-
crowd-5000-occupywallstreet-protests-wave-union-support-arrives-73461/)

~~~
irrumator
Do you not see the irony of linking to some blog with the same Photoshopped
image that this post is talking about?

~~~
gasull
Does the irony invalidate the estimate of 5.000 protesters?

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cpeterso
Does the original photo from Google Maps show the actual protesting crowd?
Google Maps says the photo is copyright 2011.

How often does Google Maps refresh its satellite photos? Someday they will be
live, which is both cool and scary..

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datums
BLOOMBERG: The protesters are protesting against people who make $40-50,000 a
year and are struggling to make ends meet. really? There's more than one
bubble.

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Hisoka
I work in Wall Street, and funny thing is I haven't seen a sign of 1
protestor. Maybe I'm in a very small radius, but still, it's very
overwhelming. They need someone like Lady Gaga if they want more traction.
They should probably consult with one of the guys from Mint.com for marketing
ideas

~~~
philwelch
I bet if Rage Against The Machine turned up for an impromptu show the protest
would explode in size.

~~~
cpeterso
Rage Against The Machine (and Michael Moore) stormed the NYSE to film a music
video on Wall Street in 2000:

[http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1433553/rage-shoots-
video-w...](http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1433553/rage-shoots-video-with-
moore.jhtml)

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paul9290
Usually a protest is an organized group of people opposing something for the
purpose of a resolution.

These people have not outlined nor have a resolution. They are just against
capitalism (?). Though as noted in a comment above, they all pack into their
local McDonalds for free wifi and pay to eat there, yet in doing so they are
further fueling what they oppose. Seems odd to me!

Can anyone here make sense of this movement?

~~~
jeffreymcmanus
ah, the "let them eat cake" argument.

throughout history, there have been far less purposeful protests whose outcome
has been far less "silly".

