THE OCCUPATION
(Posted 2011-10-07 10:56:24 by ArchPaladin)

I have been following with growing interest the Occupy Wall Street [
http://occupywallst.org/ ] [occupywallst.org] protests.  I first came into
contact with them when a friend of mine posted a link to We are the 99
Percent [ http://wearethe99percent.tumblr.com/ ] [tumblr.com] on Facebook. 
At first I just thought it was a grievance site for the working poor (and
to a point I still think this is true), but the broader actions that have
been going on around the nation have really piqued my curiosity.

If you haven't heard much about these people, this article [
http://www.fastcompany.com/1785698/occupy-wall-streets-leadership-trail?partner=gnews
] [fastcompany.com] gives a good insight into some of the workings of the
protest.

I can't guess the long-term efficacy of these protests.  Certainly there is
some validity to the complaint that our financial system is heavily
weighted against people who have difficulties maintaining a competitive
advantage in their skill set or the services they can offer the job market.
 And the growing weight of debt that many of us carry has been largely
ignored by government.  I would love to see changes to these things.  But
are we capable of coming up with solutions that address these concerns
without plunging our country into upheaval due to the scope of the changes
required?  I'm not so certain.

I'm also not certain that the people who are there protesting really care
about the short-term communal impacts of any changes.  Perhaps we're in
upheaval already.

I've never been to a protest myself.  There is an anarchist portion of me
that finds the idea fascinating, and would like to see everything
overthrown and remade.  I don't know if it is this undercurrent that is
being tapped by those who attend these protests.  If it isn't, then I
wonder why we haven't seen a more comprehensive message come out.  This I
think is the real reason why I don't know if this movement will really be
sustained long-term, or what kind of impact it will have.

If this lasts well into 2012, I wonder what kind of effect it will have on
the upcoming elections.  The election season is just about to start after
all, so by all rights a lot of the election should be shaped by this
movement already.  Will it turn out for the best?

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