Occupy A Purpose

A while back, a Canadian-based website call AdBusters told everyone to gather in front of Wall Street on September 17, 2011 and occupy Wall Street. In a move of creativity, AdBusters called the movement "Occupy Wall Street."

When I first heard about OWS, I liked what they had to say. I heard things like "put the people in jail that started the Great Recession" and "stop government lobbying." It doesn't take much for people to put those two ideas together. Government lobbyists get the congress to look the other way while Wall Street rapes the American public. It made sense.

But OWS was never an organized movement with a defined cause. It was just a bunch of people gathering in a park in New York City handing out fliers about various things and making a general mess of Manhattan. As more people got involved in the movement, the list of issues being protested grew and the whole thing got clouded.

Now we have people gathering in cities all over the world demanding to take their countries back and that the rich pay their fair share. They are also demanding that rich people go to jail, President Obama be impeached, union workers get fair contracts, that the citizens get to reclaim their cities and that the government be completely overhauled.

Meanwhile, political hacks like Nancy Pelosi are throwing their support behind the movement. I takes a lot of balls for a politician to support a movement designed at destroying every single politician on the planet. But, then again, Nancy Pelosi has some pretty big balls.

So now we have an anti-establishment movement being supported by elements of the establishment. Hell, I have even seen some pictures of politicians down in Zuccotti Park shaking hands and kissing babies. I have gotten into heated debates with people who support the OWS thing just because I insist on asking what they are protesting about. Rather than give an answer, they get angry at my ignorance and walk away.

I am all for a movement that brings about meaningful political change without violence. But this whole OWS thing scares me.

For one thing, there is no leader. AdBusters just keeps fueling the fire by expanding to more cities and inviting more people to get involved. Instead of having a meaningful group of people focused on a common goal, you have a huge group of individuals all pissed off about something different and all wanting to express their opinions.

People are unemployed, broke and scared. I get it. It really does not take much to get angry people to gather and protest against the government these days. But when there is no central leadership and no real message to focus on then all you have is pissed off people demonstrating.

A growing mass of disenfranchised people getting angrier and angrier at the government for a wide variety of reasons is a problem. Please do not talk to me about why you joined the OWS movement. I would be willing to bet that it is not the same reason that others joined. You are angry because you cannot find a job while the guy next to you is angry because his job does not pay enough. I get it. You are angry.

But I am asking everyone involved in the OWS movement to just think about things for a little while here. What happens if a leader does emerge in the movement? What if that leader's agenda is different than yours but he/she uses your anger to achieve his/her goals? You are so angry and so convinced that the OWS thing is great for the country that you may follow someone who has much more sinister ambitions.

A large, leaderless and angry group is a very, very bad thing. It scares me that this thing keeps growing and not one person involved in the movement really knows what it is all about. That is because it is all based on anger at the government. That anger comes in many forms and has many targets, but the end game is still anger at the government.

I agree that things are getting out of control. Corruption and greed are at epic levels. It is extremely depressing that we expect politicians to lie, take bribes and work in their own best interests rather than do the job we thought we hired them for. President Obama could be one of the most disappointing presidents in recent memory.

But this OWS thing needs to slow down and get organized. Everything is happening so fast that it is very easy for a charismatic person to step in and take control. Then what? You would have an international group of people pissed off at various world governments all under the control of one person. There have always been groups of people pissed off at various governments, but the groups that cross international borders have never had very good results.

As soon as OWS starts to get violent, that is when we should all be very concerned. I am not saying that we should continue to put up with the royal screw job we are getting from the rich and the government. I am just saying that what is happening now is a recipe for international disaster. I want to see change, but I don't want to see innocent people getting hurt in the process.