Saturday night I walked through Occupy Wall Street at Zuccotti Park in New York City and my opinion of the movement completely changed—and the change wasn’t in favor of Occupy.
Last Saturday I ran Tough Mudder, which is a 12 mile obstacle course that consists of fire, mud and water obstacles. I slept at my friend’s house in New York City and asked him if he would mind if we walked down to Occupy Wall Street.
“Sure,” he said.
When I got down to Zuccotti Park, I was kind of surprised by what I saw. It was a little late, maybe around 11 p.m., and what I witnessed was a pretty small area loaded with tents. I’d say the whole space was about the size of three basketball courts. Maybe a little bigger, but I had imagined something much larger. It was very quiet. Many people were sleeping.
I walked through, navigating the tents, and realized very quickly that a large portion of people were there because it was a free and “cool” place to stay in New York City. I heard one guy talking to another that he and his group had come to New York City from Arkansas and had never seen NYC, and he was happy to be sleeping at Zuccotti Park. “Yeah, we’ll be staying here for the next eight days and then we’re going to head back home.”
I passed by a table where cookies and food were being handed out for free, and then I passed by some genuinely strange people—some very old (they appeared to be on drugs to me), and then young college types in their early 20s.
Again, I couldn’t help but think that all Occupy Wall Street was about for a lot of people was a free place to sleep in New York City and hang out.
There is little doubt in my mind that some people were there because they want the economy to improve, want their own situations to improve, and they are feeling hopeless. But I can tell you that from what I saw, they are not in the majority. Most people were having a good time at the good old free camp ground in New York City and were there for the pure adventure of it. It didn’t feel right to me.
I consider myself a pretty openminded, even liberal guy. But I didn’t feel good about what I saw on Saturday and I have to be honest, Mayor Bloomberg’s decision to break up the protesters in Zuccotti Park today was the right thing to do. (Read The New York Times take on the protest being broken up todayfrom an order by Hamptons resident Mayor Michael Bloomberg). I believe that the protests will continue after this, but I think they will continue by people who generally know what they are protesting for and are not there because they think it’s cool to camp out in New York City for the week.
There should be true protesters at Occupy Wall Street, not people on a camping trip.
Here’s a video of my walk through. It’s a little dark but it gives you the idea. After you watch, let me know what you think of Occupy Wall Street.
This piece really crystallized my suspicions not only about the general substance, competence and knowledge of the occupy group in general, as more of a generally privileged and politically interested, but not necessarily realistic bunch, but also about this type of forum in general for bringing about real political change.
I’d have to disagree although I’m sure there are people taking advantage of the situation, as you pointed out with the “free” camping…but there are always people taking advantage of any situation, it’s kinda part of human nature….. I still think it’s great to see people actually acting and standing up for what they believe in, and doing so in a peaceful manner. It’s been way too long since people have voiced their worries and concerns and publicly protested. And like everything else, I’m sure it was really strong and pure at first, but as weeks have gone by it gets harder to maintain that energy and enthusiasm. I haven’t been there myself, but it seems to me that even if they’re not quite getting the results they wanted, at least they’re making people think and that on its own is well worth the effort, even with a few freeloaders amongst them
Oh Dave, you’ve been in the Hamptons too long if you don’t recognize a genuine harbinger of change to a rotten system. The occupation is a footnote. What matters is the hope it inspires in a generation who have grown up too stimulated and too sophisticated to bother with their own civic responsibilities, the spotlight it shines on banking/campaign/taxation practices that are just as immoral and illegal as the Vietnam War, aka the last time college kids and wayward hippies took to the streets to give their movement a human face. Go read up on what Russell Simmons just announced in Boston and then tell us you begrudge those Zuccotti idealists and derelicts their camp space.
Gee Dave it looks like in your case the apple fell pretty far from the tree.
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2011
Rubber bands, Slinkys and Occupy Wall Street…
I am ready to admit that humans are powerless over the world’s economic systems and that the world has become unmanageable.
” throughout all of human history up until 2003 we created 5 exabytes of data (five billion gigabytes). We now create that much every day. In 2011, we’ll create 1.8 zettabytes of data (a zettabyte is a 1000 exabytes) and we’ll be creating over 20 times that by 2020.”
The world has too many moving parts for anyone to understand or manage. So complex that not only can’t we figure out the answers to the problems that face us (economic, social, scientific) – there are no answers.
Imagine that the world is made up of rubber bands and slinkys. If you stretch a rubber band and then release it it snaps back to its original length. A slinky once put in motion down a set of stairs will continue down the stairs (In other words some things go back to the way they were and other things once set in motion continue to keep going). Now imagine a bazillion rubber bands and slinkys comprising a giant Rube Goldberg contraption and all the comings and goings and interactions and interrelationships of all these zettabytes. And there behind the curtain stands whoever… Obama, Romney, Berlusconi, Papandreou, Hu Jintao – people – talented people but human (i.e. flawed and imperfect (some more flawed and more imperfect than others). I am not sure any human can even tell which are the rubber bands and which are the slinkys any more.
I think that is what Occupy Wall Street is about. I think it is not just about economic reform (although that is a part of it). It is not just about a political point of view (although that is a part of it). I think it is about a belief that the world has too many moving parts. It is about the kind of community and society people want. It may even be about our existence.
As one Occupier was reported to have said:
“It is not OK for the richest 1%, to make us bend to the will of the financial institutions and the labyrinth of dividends, offshore tax havens, and money making schemes. Stop referring to fair taxation as socialism. Stop telling dishwashers and migrant farmers that you earned your money, that you work hard for what you have, because lots of people work hard and don’t have. There are a lot of hard working people who are not rich. Don’t look down from your fairy tale and tell us that people get what they deserve. Stop quoting Reagan. Stop telling us that riches beyond imagination breeds innovation. Stop pissing on our leg and calling it rain.
Occupy Wall Street is not a set of demands, it is a statement: We exist.”
PS. I read this piece to my wise and now 87 year old Uncle Yoda (who lives in Santa Barbara, CA because he says it is the only place on earth where calling heaven is a local call) and he said that it was “Typical Rough Fractals, lovely, well intentioned, idealistic and full of shit”. He did add however that he does think that “the problem with the world is that it is run by humans and that does not bode well for the future of mankind”.
Im running Rebel Race on 4-14-12. Cant wait cuz the obstacles look amazing.
I’m jealous!
This whole “movement” has bothered me since the beginning. I understand the desire to better ones self and even the frustration with the economy and jobs that are available to people in general. It sucks living way below the poverty level. Its tough all over though. I make about 12k a year. its really really difficult to get by. but guess what? it can be done. I do it. I work my tail off and make do with what I have. I work hard and strive to better myself through hard work. It does NO ONE any good to moan and groan about how bad things are and to camp out in front of wall street or any other work site on the planet. GET A JOB! and work hard. show how valuable you are with your actions. impress employers with your desire and work ethic. dont stand around all day in your own stink and filth complaining about “the man” or whining because things arent as easy for you as yoy think they should be. sure it sucks right now but it sure isnt gonna magically get better just because you think you deserve it. Make it happen by doing what the majority of us do. work for it! I have had it good. it hurt when the bottom fell out from under me. Instead of wasting a minute complaining about it or wishing for it, I spend my time trying to come back up. I work a crap job 7 days a week for about 20% of what I was making 5 years ago. I have had to live in my car. I walk to and from work. I have far fewer luxuries. what I do have though is self respect and a sense of pride in being able to over come my setbacks and come out the other side on my own 2 feet. I may or may not ever get back to my prior financial status. I am giving myself a chance though. I can gurantee that camping out in a public park waiting for someone to GIVE me my break would result in 100% failure. give yourselves a shot. get up off your lazy stinky butts. stop moping around getting in the way of people working for a living and GET A FREAKING JOB!
The writer and most of the commenters are missing the main point of the occupy movement: it is not a level playing field. To write off the whole movement and the people involved as do nothing free loader thrill seekers is also missing the point. The are the vangaurd of the process (by shining a light on a dark corner of our culture) for fixing what is wrong with the economic and political system. Do you think it’s good to have to sleep in your car while multinational corporations that pay little or no taxes get bailed out by your sweat and income so that the executives can take large bonuses and workers can take cuts in pay and pensions? Use some perspective and step back; we laugh at the folly of Rome to allow their empire fall to corruption of few bilking many.
Rome fell because the Government spent too much money that it didn’t have.
The Occupy Movement desire the government to spend more money on them by taxing the rich. What they don’t seem to get is that all that happens when you tax people is that people who work for the government get richer. The hipsters will still stay poor. The only real answer to any of this is to stop trying to fix things by spending ourselves into a deeper hole.
Kids today, including myself, would be much better off if they stopped looking for answers from people who have never had an answer in the past. They should start looking for answers by figuring out things for themselves. It’s a horrible habit many people in this country have to seek answers from “experts” who do nothing but rely on the fools who perceive them as experts. All these kids at Occupy were just sitting around. If just one of them viewed themselves as a leader instead of a victim, they would be better off.
American kids need to stop playing the victim and start playing the leader. It doesn’t have to do with left or right, it has to do with self-respect.