Republicans seem to be under the impression that if the people at Occupy Wall Street leave because of the freezing cold, then they (the Republicans) have some how "won," thanks to their as-always stunning tone deafness.
Just because it becomes physically impossible to stay in the park doesn't change anything. The message doesn't change or go away; there are other ways of telling Congressmen they're going to be voted out of office if shit don't change. Until it gets warm again, people can gather in libraries, write letters to their Congressmen, mail them, and then repeat it the next day. When it's possible to go outside again, do it. Standing around in the cold isn't gonna impress anybody enough to make governmental changes - keep the noise going, but always remember that NEXT November is the important one, not this one.
4 comments:
Generally, the best way to deliver the message is to just vote. As the Tea Party did.
But if living in a park is the preferred method of OWS, that's hunky dorey for me. Especially when the excesses pile up and the temperatures drop.
tis what Ive been saying. these protests are nice and all, but worthless is they dont vote in Nov. as i said before http://xmastime.blogspot.com/2011/10/ows.html
Agreed. In the end, I think you'll find the protests are more narcissistic exercises, nostalgia for the 60s and outlets for generic rage. What the encampments do, I think, is salve the personal ("I went to the park and my voice was heard!") and give a venue to the inner performer. Plus, you have a decent size contingent of hangers-on, homeless, criminals, and unconnected political groups, so the longer they stay, the greater the chance of "black-eye" incidents. One thing about the Tea Party. They meet for a day, clean up and then go out and vote. And teven then, their opponents wait for the racist sign or the youtube moron who has 3 teeth and a beef with Obama's birth place and they seize on those symbols to tar the movement as a whole.
But OWS is meeting with no end and so we're getting violence, criminality, drug use, pooping on cop cars, laugh-out-loud internal spats (such as referenda on proper drumming or the recent strike by the workers at OWS because they were feeding too many non-authentic protestors [i.e., professional homeless], and an endless string of performance artists, which means a much higher output of weirdness, as the show is going on all the time.
Good stuff.
Theyve made a dent in that now politicians are suddenly talking about economic inequality; the trick is to sustain at least a light buzz for a whole year, without doing something stupid like burning down a city. Or shitting on cop cars. Might be a blessing in disguise the cold gets them out before they do something really stupid; mighta been a better play to let Bloomburg kick 'em out so they can cry maytr all winter. I fear the effort will fizzle, and, as I said, these same people don't bother to vote. Reckon we'll see. Give the TP credit, they voted. Perhaps the ace in the movement's pocket is it seems to be having a global impact; see China's "fuck yeah!" reaction, not just some grimy college US kids "grotty", as youd say)
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2011/10/why-many-in-china-sympathise-with-occupy-wall-street/247356/
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