A Letdown Squid

Jay-Z’s has an OWS inspired clothing line, MTV has a reality show in the works, and news media outlets are getting rich from the added viewers. When a “movement” continually benefits its opposition, and when it hurts the people it aims to support— how much of the 99%’s taxpayer dollars have been used to pay for the needed law enforcement, public works and environmental services to facilitate these protests, how many municipalities are having to move funding from social services—at what point do we start to question its effectiveness?

I believe in people’s right to assembly, and this has helped call attention to some serious problems with the U.S. tax code and our economy.  The question is not whether we need reform…we do.  The question is, “Does this course of action bring about the desired result?”  No. OWS has been misguided since its inception, targeting not the law makers who have created the policies but the corporations, which represent the interest of people themselves. Attacking the rich for being rich, attempting to circumnavigate the Democratic process in a civil manner, cannot work and will never change anything.

Last night at the Columbia Statehouse I saw a protestor get arrested in the rain.  She was carrying a sign with a butchered quote from Goethe that read, “None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free.”  I agreed with her completely.

17 November 2011 · Comments

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