Occupy Wall Street's Collateral Damage
I'm against corporate welfare, and I'm for smaller government, but I'm not a joiner -- and I'm neither a Tea Party member nor a member of the vague-missioned Occupy Wall Street.
I do have to say, I am all for people protesting against politics they don't agree with.
What I don't understand is why Occupy Wall Street stays in the locations overnight, fouling parks and other areas, and engages in persistent drumming...just to name a couple examples. New Yorkers who live on Liberty Street near Wall Street (my old neighbors) have been living in hell since Occupy Wall Street started. Pushcart vendors and small businesses are in trouble.
Mike Riggs writes at reason about more thuggery and abuse from the Occupy Wall Street movement:
Last night, San Diego residents held a fundraiser for two street vendors whose carts were burglarized and vandalized, with blood and piss, by Occupy protesters. The protesters were angry that the vendors would not "donate" their wares to the movement. CBS Los Angeles reports that the vendors, one who sold hot dogs, and one who sold coffee, also received death threats for refusing to give away their goods.At the Port of Oakland earlier this month, workers and observers could only enter--and more horrifying, leave--the port after the mob "voted" their permission. When one trucker tried to break through the blockade, his vehicle was attacked. The protester who did the attacking had this to say: "These people tried to kill us. I can't believe they are being that aggressive over a paycheck, over your own people fighting for you." (Savor the irony.) While people waited into the early morning hours for permission to see their families and do their jobs, Oakland Mayor Jean Quan, who gave the OK for Oakland Police to fire tear gas and rubber bullets into a crowd of Occupy Protesters, sat safely in a government building.
Even if we are to assume that the bulk of these crimes have been committed by members of Black Blocs--groups of anarchic nihilists who cover their faces in order to wreak meaningless havoc, yet are not really on board with the wider aims (whatever they may be) of the Occupy movement--and other minorities of the movement, there's still no good explanation for why Occupy protesters on the whole are causing more harm to their local economies than they are to their government.
Show me an Occupy demand that can be met by destroying the livelihoods of people who are on the cusp of poverty (due to government regulations on food vendors), smashing the windows of a Men's Warehouse and a coffee shop, trashing the bathroom of a Manhattan restaurant, pushing an old lady down a flight of D.C. stairs after imprisoning her and her fellow conservative conference attendees using a human chain, or "clobber[ing] a store manager with a credit-card reader." You can't. That's because the government holds the strings here, not the people who Occupy is hurting.
Because it's all about me, me, me. Because the OWS people made stupid choices in their lives, and want other people to pay for them.
See this chart for a concise and complete explanation of the OWS movement.
a_random_guy at November 11, 2011 1:11 AM
They don't want to help anyone other than themselves. When it comes to helping others, they just want to force someone else to help.
damaged justice at November 11, 2011 4:21 AM
"What I don't understand is why Occupy Wall Street stays in the locations overnight, fouling parks and other areas, ..."
Because leftism is the politics of narcissism. The OWS is a demonstration of what you get when narcissists and borderlines run the world. You can no more stop them from doing it then you can stop a skunk from stinking. And in both cases, once they reach a certain critical mass, only two courses of action remain... remove and disperse them, or dispose of them.
Cousin Dave at November 11, 2011 5:49 AM
Under the system of Capitalism, the Occupiers are whining, hapless losers. If their revolution should succeed, then under the system of Socialism they will be whining, hapless losers.
No matter where the government goes, there you are, still who you were before.
And there is no similarity between the Tea Party and Occupy Main Street. This:
http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/archives/209965.php
is a few day out of date. With the gunshot death at Occupy Burlington i think OWS has five deaths at their rallies, the Tea Party zero.
Storm Saxon's Gall Bladder at November 11, 2011 5:56 AM
A bigger question is why local pols allow them to stay and don't enforce public safety, or pursue arrests in light of openly criminal behavior.
I think that it's fair to say that Occupy is being used as a goon squad by Prog politicians to intimidate the public. No other group would be allowed to seize public accommodations, commit arson, rapes, assaults, and engage in the sort of threatening coercive behavior that Occupy has. Residents of Oakland and NYC are under siege and it's being condoned by their authoritarian pols.
jerome at November 11, 2011 5:57 AM
"the vendors, one who sold hot dogs, and one who sold coffee, also received death threats for refusing to give away their goods."
Entirely consistent with their view of "the 1%" (for sufficiently large values of 1%). Also consistent with one of my dad's possibly borrowed observation: a group's IQ is the lowest one in the group, divided by its size).
silverpie at November 11, 2011 6:00 AM
For 35 days the City of Portland, Oregon, has been fining itself for not enforcing its own laws regarding the occupiers occupation. After 35 days of misfeasance of office, the Mayor of Portland, Oregon has given the occupiers until Sunday to leave. Although, it does appear that Portland's occupiers have behaved a little more responsibly that most.
At times like this when politicians and bureaucrats are guilty of misfeasance of office, I have to wonder if Robert Heinlein was correct. "An armed society is a polite society."
Bill O Rights at November 11, 2011 8:45 AM
"The protesters were angry that the vendors would not "donate" their wares to the movement."
Right. Because the pushcart vendors are the epitome of corporate greed, standing out there in the cold trying to sell hot dogs.
Steve Daniels at November 11, 2011 9:19 AM
"What I don't understand is why Occupy Wall Street stays in the locations overnight, fouling parks and other areas, and engages in persistent drumming..."
That's easy to understand. A guy who decided to camp out on Liberty Street 8 months ago and act that way would have been instantly recognized for what he was - worthless scum. Yet the Occupy Wall Street banner somehow confers an aura of nobility on a whole group of people who indulge in these actions, and lets them feel righteous about themselves.
Martin at November 11, 2011 10:27 AM
Tweet
Crid [CridComment at gmail] at November 11, 2011 10:49 AM
Met a cop last night who suggested to those living on the street that they go to the Occupy movement and go to sleep, since they can break laws that no one else is allowed to. Homeless are forced to pack up promptly at 6 a.m. and move, and cannot set up camp any earlier than 6 p.m. The occupiers are allowed to "occupy" all day and night. Considering the homeless are part of the 99%, they have taken to occupying the Occupiers space. Now the Occupiers are complaining of the homeless people. So, no middle class only applies to them as a lower class, not people who don't have homes?
NikkiG at November 11, 2011 1:30 PM
not people who don't have homes
Ha, ha, they are the 1% of the 99%! Charity!
Stinky the Clown at November 11, 2011 3:05 PM
An article addresses various reasons the police haven't shut down the protest, despite a long list of laws being broken:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204002304576630972339904448.html
Lori at November 11, 2011 6:28 PM
@Cousin Dave:
Right on.
What we're dealing with are a set of elitists displaying their jealousy against another set of elitists. They are NOT the 99% they profess to be - they are poseurs, people who can't or don't want to work. They are spoiled children who are accustomed to getting what they want immediately.
And I agree with the tweet Crid posted. Thank God I never got into that "Wild in the Streets" phase. My parents would have had my head.
Cleary Squared at November 11, 2011 6:31 PM
Has anyone heard about the drug resistant tuberculosis at the Occupy Atlanta movement?
They essentially took over a homeless shelter. Now both the homeless and the OWS crowd are coming up with it. Of course the OWS will have a place to go indoors and take their medicine. Meanwhile the homeless are just going to die.
Jim P. at November 11, 2011 6:58 PM
> Thank God I never got into that "Wild in the
> Streets" phase.
Helluva film though.
Crid [CridComment at gmail] at November 12, 2011 4:10 PM
Got an idea why these folk don't have jobs? I do.
Radwaste at November 12, 2011 5:38 PM
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