The "Occupy" movement.

So I decided to start out with the ‘Occupy Wall Street’ movement. It’s current, and somewhat relevant to some of the topics I’d like to discuss, so I thought why not.

First off, I see Occupy Wall Street as a double edged sword. To start, It’s good to see people getting out and voicing their frustrations, both with Wall Street, and with the government. I think the sheer numbers alone are at least enough to make government leadership do a double take (let’s be honest, no one on Wall Street gives a crap). And of course, any press is good press, and they’re getting plenty of that. It seems in between all the other stories on the news, they always have a moment or two to mention the Occupy movement.

The bad side of it all is the muddled message. Watch ten news reports with ten interviews with Occupy participants, and you’ll get ten different reasons why they’re doing what they’re doing. A general protest of the banks, a protest of the banks participation in government, a protest of the governments participation in the banks business. A protest of greed and general corruption. Then there are the people who just have no class. The news has covered them of course, from the defecators to the litter bugs, but truly they seem to be the minority. Most of the protesters have handled themselves very well, even when having their free speech rights violated, for instance, to save a few bushes (side note – this disgusted me. For all intents and purpose, the city of Boston effectively came out and said “we’re sorry, but these shrubs are more valuable than the rights given to you in our constitution.” Absolutely awful)

The other part of it is the non-involved public reaction. A joke pic circulated on the net a few weeks ago, it showed members of the Occupy protests, then pointed out all the “big company” items these people were wearing or using. Whether or not I agreed with the Occupy protests, I have to admit, the pic irked me a bit. First, it proved a general ignorance of how the world works. You’d be hard pressed to look at a crowd, ANY crowd and not find items in the crowd produced by big business, that’s why their business is big, their products permeate everywhere. Second, I find it offensive to belittle anyone who is actually willing to go out on a limb and stand up for something they believe in, even if you don’t agree with the message. Go out and protest against them, tell your side, but belittling their message does no one any good. Note – racist/hate groups are my exception to this, belittle them with my blessing.

On that same note, a co-worker of mine said he believes that by protesting the banks, they are protesting capitalism, and as such, should be welcome to leave for a country where they practice socialism. First, a basic definition of capitalism from Websters:

an economic system characterized by private or corporate ownership of capital goods, by investments that are determined by private decision, and by prices, production, and the distribution of goods that are determined mainly by competition in a free market.

In this world, our country certainly has the closest thing to real capitalism there is. But it is a far cry from true capitalism. Our government has dipped their greasy palms into everything they can. They regulate everything. They tax everything. They punish the overly successful businesses for being such. Then they give taxpayer money to the banks that crashed the entire economy because the government, the president even, encouraged them to practice business in a way that just wasn’t reasonable. So when the occupy Wall Street people protest greed, and government involvement in the banks, they are actually protesting in favor of true capitalism, not against it. Something to think about.

Finally, and most important, I think the Occupy Wall Street movement is a starting point. Hopefully, it can be the spark that starts a much bigger fire. If we let the spark go out, people will be that much more reluctant to get involved next time around, and the opportunity to effect real change in our government may be lost, and that would truly be a shame.