The Optics of Occupy
Google "Occupy Wall Street" and you'll come up with 36,400 news hits; search news on "Syria" and you'll come up with half that. Tangent: perhaps the Arab League will now take the noble step of condemning the actions against the regime oppressing OWS as it has with al-Assad. Jokes. Occasionally hilarious/faux-intelligent news source The Daily What features almost hourly mini-updates on Occupy, exposing what, from their perspective, looks like outgrowths of the Big Brother Police State in Oakland, Portland, and your basic set of liberal college enclaves like UC Davis, et al. Though, in all honesty, it looks like there is one particular example, among others, of unneeded heavy-handedness dealing with protestors.
And the New York Times still churns out product, right?
Point is, in between the protests, sign-making, and defecating, the movement's done a pretty solid job of selling itself in terms of media presence.
The question: For people reading largely supportive commentary, or following @OccupyWallStNYC on Twitter, or watching memes spring up, or having really any interaction with the media coming from the movement itself, do you think the self-victimization and marketing of it all will ultimately help or hurt Occupy in the eyes of the general public? Does it matter if the media continues to prop it up?
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Apr '11
Re: The Optics of Occupy
OWS can depend on sympathetic coverage from the mainstream media, no matter the erratic behavior of the protesters. The press has a natural affinity for the oppressed. So when the oppressed (by the system, by the banks, by the university, by mom and dad) gather in one place, cameras can easily capture the injustice of it all. In contrast, the gray - haired Tea Party grumps are the 'haves,' determined to hold on to their ill-gotten nest eggs and bourgeois privilege. They are the oppressors and must be condemned. The press has chosen its side, and it is paying for that choice in its continuing loss of respect and influence.
Nov '10
Re: The Optics of Occupy
I'd guess that in the long run it's going to hurt them more than help. People my age (60) know that pepper spray and tear gas aren't the end of the world (high school football hurt a lot more), while people I know in their early 20's (like my son) are really tired of the meme being propagated that their generation is whiny and self indulgent, when most of them, in fact, are not.
Something else that seems to be surfacing is the awareness that while the Occupiers are protesting the special consideration given to the financial powerful - and I agree lots of those people should be locked up - the Occupiers themselves are demanding that exemption from the law be given to them.