Thanks for Error014 for the link to the statistic data.

I have been on a meeting in my town today, in Bielefeld.
There have been about 100-200 people, and those people were quite aware what they are demonstrating for.
This is not much, but I didn't expect more people there for now.

Nonetheless, two way more important protests are next Saturday in Frankfurt and Berlin.

EDIT:
Short commentary on being a freelance artist:
The example that fogman posted is a person who comes from 'within the industry' and IMo that's an important base to start from when you want to make a living as a freelance.
IMO, you have to establish a standing within the industry to call yourself a freelance artist, otherwise you are missing a proof that you are actually can do it... Just my two cents.

...or with playing poker or playing for the national soccer team. Still doesn't qualify as a serious profession - it's not the government that did something wrong when you fail at being a "freelance game designer"/professional poker/soccer player, but YOU.

Who said fail anywhere? I lived off my game design and paid my parents rent as well from 16-21 years old. I only was looking fire something not so time consuming while I went to school. And if that bailout money was given to small businesses they hire more instead of putting all that money into bank exec's bonuses. And the bailouts them selves wouldn't have been needed if the federal reserve hadn't inflated the economy by encouraging sub prime loans for years and years with little reason to believe theyd get returns.

Sehr schön!
The link that ventilator posted is German, but there is mentioned that there have been some well known scholars and Nobel Prize Winners like Judith Butler and Slavoy Zizek, Benjamin Barbar, Richard Sennett, Kalle Lasn, Paul Krugman, Joseph Stiglitz who each in a different way supported Occupy Wallstreet.
I only know some articles and youtube videos of Zizek, he is a very interesting man, and it is fun to hear or read his rants or lectures, although it isn't easy theory.

More a link for the Fun Thread, but the theme is Wallstreet!
Here you go:
http://thejobmouse.com/2011/10/28/we-are-wall-street-wall-street-strikes-back/

Regardless of whether or not you "succeed" at being a freelance game designer (which can mean a multitude of things in and of itself), whether or not society values your ability is something else entirely. No one person, whether he's a government official or a business exec, can change the fact that not many people want your abilities.

EDIT: I guess I have a few more things to say.


Didn't end up reading this until now, but nevertheless...

I see that both you and LC totally missed my point, because I do agree with this. When I brought up the US voting restrictions, I wasn't suggesting that we bring them back exactly as they were, but I did suggest that we bring back the principles that drove them, that being that the educated upper class should be separated from the lower class in terms of political power and opportunity.


Sure thing. At the time they were uneducated lower class people. It was, at the time, next to impossible for them to succeed on their own.

The restrictions were never a racism/sexism thing, although some people make them out to be. They existed because of the social circumstances at the time, as Pappenheimer said, and they were quite appropriate for their time. Another fact that many people don't talk about is that after slavery was abolished in the southern states, many former slaves were put into government positions as part of an effort to "mix up the pot" and desegregate the south. The result was unsatisfactory as the uneducated and unsophisticated began "running the government" (read: sitting on their porches with chickens all day). The situation was almost laughable, and rightfully so.

That sounds racist but it's not. I do not speak of them of that way because of their color, but because they were unfit for office. In fact, I applaud modern day African Americans who lead successful lives. I think of them as being no different than anyone else. Long story short: don't pull the race card on me.

Yeah, but its not advertised as game design just mostly what I've done. I do a lot of other stuff, so I usually class it it under programming and software prototyping.is think that it'd show ambition. I mean its not like there is a trade school for third shift stock at kmart, so I'd think running a software prototyping business for 5 years would be sufficient work background for such an insignificant job.

The principle of democracy is that all people can participate in political decisions, because they are affected by them. Democracy is the form of governing at present, because each elite - regardless of how well educated they were - failed to see the needs of the rest of their society, and thus failed to keep their supremacy.

Yeah, but its not advertised as game design just mostly what I've done. I do a lot of other stuff, so I usually class it it under programming and software prototyping.is think that it'd show ambition. I mean its not like there is a trade school for third shift stock at kmart, so I'd think running a software prototyping business for 5 years would be sufficient work background for such an insignificant job.