The LA Times Just Now Figured Out That The Occupy Movement Is Incoherent
The Occupy movement needs to get its act together, notices the LA Times. Subhead on their editorial:
The Occupy movement appears to have lost its way. To be a factor in the November vote, it needs to get organized.
An excerpt from the editorial, which says pretty little, actually:
An example of the problem cropped up in late February, when attorney Michael Pollok, founder of the 99% Declaration Working Group and a self-appointed movement leader, announced a national Occupy Wall Street conference in Philadelphia the week of July 4 that would pick delegates from 50 states and draft a petition to present to the president and Congress. That idea was speedily pooh-poohed by Han Shan of the Occupy Wall Street public relations working group, who said the movement wasn't endorsing the conference.Other Occupy leaders say they're planning big protests during the Group of Eight economic conference in May. And there are of course splinter groups all over the country holding regular demonstrations at banks and city halls. But 2012 is an election year that presents a sharp contrast between candidates who aim to help level the playing field dominated by the 1% and those who don't. If the Occupy movement is to have much influence over that contest, it will probably have to do something its leaders have so far resisted: get organized.
I can tell you what the Tea Partiers stand for: Smaller government. Lower taxes. That's four words.
Can anyone put into words what the Occupy Movement stands for? Concisely. In a statement others would generally agree with?
The LA Times Just Now Figured Out That The Occupy Movement Is Incoherent
Better late than never!
The Occupy movement appears to have lost its way. To be a factor in the November vote, it needs to get organized.
Nope, it's too late for that. They missed their chance. Had they been able to figure out what they stood for six months ago, they might have had an impact. Now, they're rightly a joke.
Christopher at March 8, 2012 11:37 PM
Taking other people's money.
MarkD at March 9, 2012 4:49 AM
Occupy was instigated by class saturation.
A generation was raised believing that, if they earned a college degree and punched certain other tickets, a well-paying white-collar job in a glam industry would be waiting for them.
Then they graduated, realized there weren't enough jobs, tried to hide for a few more years under the guise of graduate degrees and internships, ran out money and parental indulgence, but, nope, still no jobs.
The Occupiers' policy prescriptions are vague, but I think that, at root, they're mostly mad about the lack of jobs.
Paul Karl Lukacs at March 9, 2012 5:30 AM
The Occupy movement had a way? When? Tell me one coherent message that comes from squatting in Zuccotti Park for months on end?
When you have a clear and coherent point you can come, get your photo op for the lame stream media on the evening news, piss off a few politicians, and be home in time for dinner.
U.S. shifting May G8 meeting to Camp David from Chicago:
That they are still getting permits to protest an event that is not even happening tells me that they plan to try make a point. Again what point?
Jim P. at March 9, 2012 6:29 AM
"Goals limit our aims."
-Jut
JutGory at March 9, 2012 7:15 AM
That was my commentary to a few supporters I conversed with some months ago...
"get organized and vote, or you are irrelevant... protests are only one step."
I don't happen to agree with them, but they could help their own cause by doing such simple things...
SwissArmyD at March 9, 2012 8:33 AM
Occupy is a typical lefty grab-bag of PC causes and moronic verbiage.
mojo at March 9, 2012 12:06 PM
"The Occupiers' policy prescriptions are vague, but I think that, at root, they're mostly mad about the lack of jobs."
From what I've seen, they are mostly mad about not being given all the free stuff they think they deserve. In a way, it's a shame, because the Occupy movement originally touched on a very valid point: although the current economy has hurt nearly everyone to some extent, it has really zapped young job-seekers. There is an ocean of student loan debt out there that, as things stand, will wind up drowning a lot of people, and not just the students who took out the loans. However, the Occupy movement was never really intended to address this; the leftists who direct it have never meant it to be anything more than just disruptive.
Cousin Dave at March 9, 2012 1:41 PM
Moving the G-8 summit was such a dumb move. Looks to me like it was done specifically to try to give some credibility to the whole OWS movement too.
Miguelitosd at March 9, 2012 6:20 PM
Oh, I quite agree. But you are making the false assumption that the OWS movement had much legitimacy with the 53% percent of taxpayers that are paying in the first place.
Jim P. at March 9, 2012 9:00 PM
> I think that, at root, they're mostly mad about
> the lack of jobs.
I think they didn't realize how much of life was to be spent thinking about ways to do things for other people... For earning a living and for other purposes. This is a surprise to them.
They didn't know they were going to have to put their souls into it. They figured that someone out there —their parents, their teachers, or their government— was supposed to hand it to them in an envelope, and that would be that.
No one told them about the nuances, the investment in (often-unproductive) relationships, the risks and experimentation, and the power of luck.
Much as the preceding generation demanded financial investments that grew no matter what (or demanded to be sold investments wrapped in those promises), these kids thought the entire course of their lives could be written beforehand with almost Islamic inevitability.
Crid at March 9, 2012 11:45 PM
Amy:
In 4 words?
"GIMME GIMME GIMME GIMME"
Unix-Jedi at March 10, 2012 8:01 AM
> I think that, at root, they're mostly mad about
> the lack of jobs.
Nope, there was a study done on the signs and peaches of the ows, the top 4 words used were student, loans, debt and college. They are asking to be bailed out of the loans they took out. Yes many ere promised/lied to that getting an degree in dance or communications, would guarantee them millions. But they never bothered to look past the curtain, even when it was pulled back, they closed their eyes.
Some have jobs, some were paid to be there, but they really wanted a bailout to themselves so they could go take free classes and not face the real world.
joe j at March 10, 2012 5:14 PM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2012/03/09/the_la_times_ju.html#comment-3054477">comment from joe jI didn't go to grad school for film because my parents laughed at the idea (meaning, I could go if I wanted, but they sure as hell weren't forking over for it). Smart parents.
Amy Alkon
at March 10, 2012 5:23 PM
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