Most important story of 2011?

[Liberal_in_LA]

Poll question: Most important story of 2011?

Well? Now that the year is almost over...

[Wait Wut]

1. "All of the above"

Each story has had a tremendous impact on our lives, and will in the future. OWS is just the most current.

[Liberal_in_LA]

4. I forgot to ad: Penn State

[Wait Wut]

9. While obviously important...

...and disturbing, it won't have as much of an impact on our general public. The aftermath definitely shows the lack of civility in society, though.

[peacebird]

2. I would like an option for peaceful citizen protests

The Arab spring through American fall (OWS) could be linked as one. I think it fits.

[BanzaiBonnie]

3. Arab spring because they showed us the way

and they knew, absolutely, that they were putting their lives on the line.

[reggie the dog]

5. damn right

Iran and greece 2 years ago, the uk and wisconsin last winter, then most of the countries on the south side of the med and then some

now the usa, plus protests in spain, portugal, france


the arab spring and occupy are the same thing, the same movement

[Liberal_in_LA]

7. wow. I forgot the Wisconsin Union story/

[reggie the dog]

6. i argue that arab spring and occupy are the same thing

[Liberal_in_LA]

8. what about the Recession and Occupy being the same thing?

[reggie the dog]

10. honestly all 3 are the same

the economy is what pushed people over the edge to protest all over the world

iran too, its economy is shitty, doesnt provide work for the young, and the people wanted freedom and justice, this influenced other arab spring countries that said "shit, they are trying in iran, we must try too" plus they had horrible poverty and unemployment in just about all the countries that revolted.

the fact that our leaders are corrupted by big money interests in most countries in the west and by despots in the countries that had the "arab spring"

wisconsin is the same as it was cuts to salaries and collective bargaining the put people over the edge

tuition hikes and autserity in greece, spain, france, and the uk

people want social and economic justice all over and whether we had democracies or dictatorships those in power either favored the local elite or the global elite but either way they did not favor the people.

worldwide we have access to the net and now talk about how our economies are fucked and about how our worthless leaders work for the banks

so all around the world we are revolting against the same system which favors rich investors over people

there is the potential for a radical new world to come about and it is all one movement in my opinion

[Wait Wut]

11. You could argue that they are all united in some form.

Well, except for the Japanese tsunami/earthquake. That would be a stretch.

Edit: ...and OBL. Not sure you could tie that in with the rest, either.

[dtexdem]

12. But what about Dancing with the Stars?

;-)

Oh, OK, I put OWS.

[Crabby Appleton]

13. Tohoku Japan earthquake and Tsunami

20,000 dead or missing, massive property damage, hundreds of thousands of displaced people, ongoing nuclear problems, etc

[Morning Dew]

14. The Duggars are having another little one -

but I voted Arab Spring.

[tabbycat31]

15. I would say the WI protests this winter

Wisconsin showed people what democracy looked like and used it to take action (first by recalling state senators, now the governor).

I think Occupy would not have happened if not for Wisconsin.

[jorno67]

16. GOP over-reach in the US

Arab Spring globally

[jpljr77]

17. These results are depressing

I know that the Occupy protests have a lot of support on this board (myself included). But the question was not, "News story that you wish was the most important," or "Story I'm most happy to see," it's THE MOST IMPORTANT STORY OF 2011.

How can Occupy, which while extremely important to us -- maybe -- going forward but has thus yielded NO RESULTS, trump legitimate government upheaval across a vast swath of the globe or a catastrophe that brought one of the most advanced civilizations on Earth to its knees? Doesn't make any sense.