Fantastique wrote:
Just by getting on the news and getting the message out, OWS has accomplished something - people are talking about them. It all starts with talking, no?
Getting people to talk about things is always good but, for me, it depends on how you go about doing it. Would you say, "Well, Jared Lee Loughner got people talking about his YouTube channel and his views because he shot Gabrielle Giffords in the head... so GOOD FOR HIM!"
Since everyone likes to compare the Tea Party to the OWS movement I guess I'll just go along with that.
The Tea Party picked up momentum in 2009 through protests of excessive spending, bank and industry bailouts, unsustainable budgets, excessive regulation and they also promoted the Constitution and that all laws and politicians be held to it. People were sick of the Bush Era of spending (like Tarp) and when Obama started talking about another 790 billion dollar stimulus package that helped ignite the movement. One defining moment of the early Tea Party Movement was when Rick Santelli stood on an exchange floor and railed against the government rewarding bad behavior. He also said, "
We're thinking of having a Chicago Tea Party in July. All you capitalists that want to show up to Lake Michigan, I'm going to start organizing. We're going to be dumping in some derivative securities. What do you think about that?" Within months there were national Tea Party rallies all over the country and they did a fantastic job of getting media attention. The protests were almost completely peaceful and clean - People would show up in a park for permitted protest, show support for the cause, then go home to their families. The message was clear and documented, there was an orginizational structure (where there were leaders and organizers), and things were orderly. It's easy for me to look at the movement and get a sense of what is going on.
The 'Occupy Wherever You Fucking Want For Whatever Fucking Reason' movement operates in a much different manner that's where my major disconnect with them, and their 'message' is.
Despite the message being somewhat the same (sometimes), the OWYFWFWFR movement isn't nearly as organized or clear. One thing the OWYFWFWFR prides itself in is a show of democracy where there isn't a 'leader', but more of a 'council' or 'moderator' (AKA Leader(s)) who gets a general concensus through twinkle fingers and sparkle hands. There isn't a real prominent voice that people can go to and, because of this, you get a hodge-podge of pissed off people demanding different things. Some people demand the legalization of drugs. Some people demand their college tuition be paid for by the government. Some people demand other silly shit and it all gets lost in the mix. Everyone has a voice via 'Mic Checks', where someone get's to take center stage and rant about whatever they want while people sit around and wiggle their fingers in the air. There are some brilliant minds in the movement, sure, but they're easily drowned out by some kid that's mad that he voluntairly took on a massive debt for a degree in something that has little demand in a down market. People always say that I espouse this, "Fuck You; Got Mine" philosophy but these guys are crying about the same thing just on the opposite side of the page - "Fuck You; Give Me"
Another thing that pisses me off about the OWYFWFWFR movement is their method of protest - they decided to live in a fucking public park because their parents tax dollars paid for that park. In each city there are large tabs being run up because the cities need to go in, replace grass, clean grafitti, steralize properties, replace bushes and haul away tents and whatever else. The Tea Party didn't do that... they all went home at the end of the day and they've achieved far more and were taken more seriously without squatting in public places and shitting on public sidewalks.
In addition to using public spaces as their own private encampments is how they want to 'Shut Down' everything.
"Let's sit in the road so people can't get to work and provide for their families!"
"Let's march across a bridge during Rush Hour so people and emergency vehicles can't do what they need to do!"
"Let's put a four-year old on a train track so shipments can't be made because believing in humanity is going to stop a cargo train"
"Let's storm shipping ports to help slow trade and slow local economies" - BTW, any response from DHS on this one?
"Let's run into a local bank branch and sit on the floor while people try to go about their business"
If these guys are so mad at the economy and their inability to find a job, prosper and strive to be anything other than X% then why are they so fucking eager to disrupt it? When they conspire to slow trade, commerce and business then they're stalling the engine that is going to carry them to employment. "Oh, but evil consumerism and capitalism is what is hurting this country, not us trying to get heard." Want to protest something? Protest the government for GIVING YOUR TAX DOLLARS TO THE BANKS WITHOUT OVERSIGHT instead of protesting the banks that did whatever they wanted with it. That's the government's fuck up. If someone gives you a blank check and says, "Fix yourself", you do whatever you want with it. How many OWYFWFWFR people are actually protesting at the Capitol, White House or other federal buildings? That's where the problem is at. The Tea Party realized this... why can't OWYFWFWFR?
Seriously, I feel like the OWYFWFWFR camps are magnets for the 'fringe group of liberal sellouts that champion a bunch of anarchistic, marxist and anti-capitalist ideals' who just want to start trouble and/or be revolutionary/rebellious by 'fighting the man.' They're so unorganized and the message is so lost in the 'Fog of War on Capitalism' that I doubt they'll be the driving force of change in this country. The Tea Party was able to get two or three dozen people elected to Congress/Senate in 2010 and there's a whole slew of people the Tea Party is pushing for in 2012. I'm not saying the Tea Party's endorsement is the Insta-Win button, because it's not... only a small margin of their endorsements went on to win seats. Has the OWYFWFWFR been pushing for people to hold seats in government to actually have an impact/influence? That's a genuine question because I don't know if they are... if they're not, then they're fools. That's how they're going to change the system - not by camping in parks, laying in roads, clashing with police, protesting banks and forcing local economies to slow or spend more.
Until they get a clear, unified message and until they change their method of protest then I'm going to just roll my eyes at them. I wish them well, though.
