Don’t worry about sleeping through Occupy, you didn’t miss much other than a lot of middle class liberal students being like “Oh my god you mean I spent all that money of my parents on school and might not have a secure job after!!! oh my god, I just learned the and can barely deal with it, did you know capitalism is bad?!?”
the entire thing was based on the standard liberal bullshit
1) we need a mass movement, if we can get enough people on board we will hit a critical mass/tipping point and those in power will magically change their opinion to whatever we think is right, you know 100 monkeys
2) if we only have the best arguments, and facts, and can back them up, everyone will change their minds and become like us, and they will know our truth is their truth. The 1%[sic] will quit investing money and being rich and being the 1% if we just have enough good arguments
3) There is a right answer. There is one truth, only one, we have it. Our higher education and advanced society has conquered racism, sexism, and other ‘problems of the past’ of those more ignorant people who couldn’t help it because they were so unadvanced. Now we must make it our manifest destiny to share the word or the good news with everyone.
4) the issues that effect the white suburban middle class are the only issues that matter, things like colonialism are ‘special interest issues’ and those Indians pushing them on us is counterproductive because we need to have one unified movement that speaks for everyone. And we know what is best for everyone. strength in unity yo!
5) The problem isn’t the government, or the state, corporations, industrialism, the upper class; it is only the richest 1% the few bad apples who ruin capitalism for the rest of us. Just like when people whine about police brutality, it isn’t the police who are wrong, just a couple bad cops who do violent things. The institution itself is never the problem, I mean, how could we live without cops or cell phones? right? we just need to get rid of the 1% at the top and everyone else will be equal enough for me to get a good job after university.
6) The answer is to camp in the park. Non-violent symbolic protest is always the most effective. Plus it will be fun, there will probably be lots of cute college students down they to flirt with, maybe I will even get laid. Organizing? Protest? What are you talking about, that sounds way too much like work, and if I am not getting paid why should I do work? That is for the poor people to do. They should be working instead of doing drugs and getting in the way of our camp where the real 99% are trying to take a stand. All these lazy homeless people should go to school or get a job and quit making our protest look like we are just a bunch of bums.
7) Those people who wear black and just want to break things don’t represent us. We are the 99%. They are probably just agent provocateurs trying to discredit our legitimate movement by inflicting violence on those windows. If they come around again I will totally call the cops on them.
yup, I am cynical.
The only think posi I can honestly say about the Occupy movement is that it helped politicize a lot of people who had never thought about anything like capitalism, class, or so on. And it was for many folks their first experience with consensus organizing. Now lets just see if they are still doing anything in 5 yrs.
Profane Existence 