occupy wall street

Occupy Wall Street (OWS, Occupiers)

Occupy Wall Street is a movement that - from their perspective - represents 99% of America and stands in opposition to the remainder: the richest 1%. According to OWS, they oppose corruption, the rich having undue influence on politics, and big banks.

According to rightwingers however, OWS are just a bunch of dirty hippies committing crimes in squatter's camps.

Back in the real world, OWS are a leaderless group that has similar issues as the Tea Parties: many of their ideas are fringe; they have the "act out" gene that causes them to want to always put on a show rather than making an argument and showing how they think their opponents are wrong; and they're tools for those they pretend to oppose.

OWS fails basic (U.S.) civics. Just as the Teapartiers want to take the U.S. back to a time that never existed, OWS wants to restore democracy, something that the U.S. has never had and by design. Not even knowing what the U.S. political system is does not speak highly of the intelligence of those involved in the movement.

OWS shows little regard for other fundamental U.S. concepts, such as the speech rights of others. It would be fairly easy for me to show how some of those the Occupiers pretend to oppose are wrong. OWS isn't willing or able to do that: instead of engaging others in debate, they try to shout them down or dump glitter on them. The U.S. has severe problems that require grown-up solutions, yet all OWS has to offer are vague, unworkable ideas and childish pranks.

The alternatives - which have been suggested repeatedly in the posts below and presented without effect to OWS leaders on Twitter - include the Question Authority plan and the plan for policy debates. Both those would go a long way towards cleaning up U.S. politics, but all the Occupiers are so far willing and able to do is to act like kids, shout people down, and dump glitter on them.

Last modified Feb 20, 2012
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Occupy Wall Street May Day 2013: still fake, still helping the wealthy - 04/22/13

Occupy Wall Street is still around and they're still a fake group, either by design or not. On May Day 2013, they'll be continuing their efforts that have the net effect of helping those they pretend to oppose. From the emailed "OWS Newsletter":

Occupy the Debate, Global Noise signifying nothing, and other worthless OWS efforts - 10/12/12

From an Occupy Wall Street email: Movement activists the world over have begun a campaign to create Global Noise in an international potbanging protest on Saturday, October 13th. The main goal is to foster a feeling of solidarity between all the global movements. Likewise, local occupations and occupiers across the country will be banging on pots and pans, a tactic known as a 'casserole march', in order to gain attention for our shared grievances.

A microcosm of Occupy Wall Street failure - 09/17/12

For just one of the very many examples of the huge problems that the Occupy Wall Street movement has, consider the following from a report about today's festivities in New York City ( peekURL.com/zjgNRLs ):

S17 2012: A full list of Occupy Wall Street's major accomplishments, one year later - 09/15/12

September 17th ("S17") marks the one year anniversary of the Occupy Wall Street movement and a full slate of events are planned. Let's look back at the glorious past year.

How Occupy gets tricked on private immigration detention prisons - 05/22/12

Imagine you're in a room with a barking dog, a stomping elephant, and a dishonest politician. The politician keeps harping on how he's going to do something about the barking dog, but completely ignores the stomping elephant in the room. Shortly before the elephant has crushed all the furniture, you might wonder why the politician keeps ignoring the elephant. You might even wonder if the politician is in the pay of the elephant.

Occupy Wall Street May Day 2012: still fake, still not the 99% - 04/30/12

On Tuesday, May 1 2012 (May Day), the Occupy movement has a series of events planned [1] designed to reinvigorate their movement. That includes the call for a general strike. None of it is going to work too well: they're still the same people they were before and they still have the same problems as before. They're just repeating failed ideas, hoping for a different result (see Occupy Wall Street for the background).

Soledad O'Brien of CNN, Huffington Post fall for obvious hoax (banker 1% restaurant tip, OWS, Political Carnival) - 02/28/12

If you dislike CNN and their completely inaccurate self description of being a real news site as much as I do, the video below (cached) might just be absolutely hilarious. It features Soledad OBrien and three guests discussing a picture of a supposed restaurant receipt which shows a 1% tip and which includes a supposed note from the patron saying, "Get a real job".

Occupiers shout down Rick Santorum (OWS, glitter, gay marriage) - 02/14/12

The video below shows Occupy Wall Street doing what they do best: help those they pretend to oppose. In this case, they do that by shouting down Rick Santorum at an event in Tacoma, Washington.

Occupy CPAC is incredibly dumb and might be fake (Occupy Wall Street, OWS) - 02/07/12

The latest plan from the Occupy Wall Street folks is called "Occupy CPAC" (CPAC is the annual "Conservative Political Action Conference"). OccupyCPAC will consist of, per this, "[creating] as much non-violent resistance as possible, and make this a conference the attendees will never forget".

Occupy Wall Street acting stupidly videos (Minnesota, pirates, show tunes, dress-up...) - 01/21/12

First came the playlist Occupy Wall Street Behaving Badly. Here's a related playlist showing Occupy Wall Street just acting immaturely and doing things that will have no effect.

Occupy Iowa Caucuses: dumb, ineffective, minor fascists (OWS, Ed Fallon) - 12/30/11

For the benefit of those in the Occupy Wall Street movement, I'll explain how this is the work of incompetent, ineffective, astonishingly stupid lil' fascists below:

Immigrants Occupy December 18, 2011: OWS are useful idiots for big banks, big business, Federal Reserve, Koch, Bloomberg... - 12/16/11

On Sunday, December 18, 2011, Occupy Wall Street will be conducting "ImmigrantsOccupy Global Day of Action". This "Action" will put them on the same side of immigration as the Koch brothers, the US Chamber of Commerce, big banks, big businesses, the Federal Reserve, and virtually the entire establishment.

Hidden irony: Occupy L.A., Antonio Villaraigosa, and the Federal Reserve mural - 12/02/11

Lots of things about the Occupy Wall Street movement are ironic.

Occupy Wall Street is failure: three examples in one story (Occupy Davis, California, tuition) - 11/28/11

Most stories about groups in the Occupy Wall Street movement only contain one or two dissimilar examples of failure. However, here's a story (link) that contains at least three different types of failure. First the story then the needed explanation for those in the Occupy movement:

Occupy Wall Street removed from Zuccotti Park: what they should do now - 11/15/11

Early this morning, Michael Bloomberg and the NYPD cleared out Zuccotti Park in New York City, home of the Occupy Wall Street ("OWS") encampment (link).

Occupy DC helps the Koch brothers, shows what democracy actually looks like: a mob - 11/06/11

The Washington DC branch of Occupy Wall Street appears to be the dimmest and least emotionally-controlled of their various chapters. And, that's really saying something. For examples, see the videos below. In the first, they block a woman in a wheelchair from leaving a building. In the second, they use little kids as human shields.

Occupy Wall Street isn't qualified to lead: promotes childish prank instead of effective plan - 10/28/11

The video below is a new plan that's received the near-official blessing of Occupy Wall Street [1]. It's a childish, ineffective plan that shows that they aren't qualified to lead much of anything and that they aren't qualified to have much of a say in U.S. politics.

Occupy Wall Street helps John Stossel make them look bad; what they should have done - 10/19/11

The video below shows John Stossel of Fox News discussing his recent visit to the Occupy Wall Street ("OWS") protests on the Bill OReilly show.

Occupy Wall Street behaving badly videos - 10/17/11

The following playlist has videos of Occupy Wall Street protesters behaving badly or promoting extremist policies. The problem with street protests is that - like the tea parties - the group becomes defined by the wackiest, most extreme participants.

The best way for Occupy Wall Street to be effective - 10/17/11

If the Occupy Wall Street movement ("OWS") wants to have any sort of long-term impact [1], they're going to have to eventually tell people in detail what they support and what they oppose. Street protests and "occupations" are great theater, but interest in them - both by observers and the occupiers themselves - will quickly wane. There won't be too many people occupying Wall Street with snow on the ground or even after a few days of cold weather.

I Am The 53%: Tea Party continues War on The Poor (Erick Erickson, Josh Trevino, Kevin Eder) - 10/12/11

The latest sociopathic effort from the Tea Parties is "I Am The 53%" (#IAmThe53, the53.tumblr.com), a response to the Occupy Wall Street ("OWS") protests. The 53% is a reference to the fact that just 53% of Americans pay federal income tax, and it features pictures of those in the 53% holding up signs describing how they became successful (per them) on their own.

Occupy Wall Street or Teaparty: which is more fake? - 10/06/11

Occupy Wall Street ("OWS") as a movement appears to be about as fake as the Tea Parties as a movement. Some or many OWS members seem to support a policy that harms the lower and middle classes while it further enriches the rich. That policy lowers wages and increases costs on the lower and middle classes while enriching bankers and corrupt businesses and giving more power to corrupt politicians.