Who are the Wall Street Occupiers?
Over on the Member Feed, some of us are discussing whether the Wall Street protesters are right. But this new poll written about in the Wall Street Journal certainly gives fodder for the "dead wrong" camp:
Our research shows clearly that the movement doesn't represent unemployed America and is not ideologically diverse. Rather, it comprises an unrepresentative segment of the electorate that believes in radical redistribution of wealth, civil disobedience and, in some instances, violence. Half (52%) have participated in a political movement before, virtually all (98%) say they would support civil disobedience to achieve their goals, and nearly one-third (31%) would support violence to advance their agenda.
The polling was done by Democratic pollster Douglas Schoen and his argument in the Journal is that Democrats are making a critical error in embracing a group bound by a deep commitment to radical left-wing policies.
This is probably becoming apparent to those of us who are truly trying to understand what the movement is about, but it sums it up nicely:
What binds a large majority of the protesters together—regardless of age, socioeconomic status or education—is a deep commitment to left-wing policies: opposition to free-market capitalism and support for radical redistribution of wealth, intense regulation of the private sector, and protectionist policies to keep American jobs from going overseas.
I'd still say it's worth noting that the group is rag-tag and full of divergent view points. In the same way that outsiders (and, heck, insiders) really missed the mark by trying to define and codify the Tea Party, we can do the same to Wall Street Occupiers. Still, there are some general themes worth paying attention to.
In that regard, it is interesting that after more than a month of daily opportunities to join the Occupy movement, it is still dramatically smaller than what we saw with Tea Party efforts throughout the country. I'm actually surprised, to that end, that the Occupy movement hasn't taken off more. A few dozen here or there and only several hundred on Wall Street. Why isn't it gaining more traction? If you can't count on young left-wingers to protest, what can you count on?
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Jun '10
Re: Who are the Wall Street Occupiers?
They're also running their own little redistribution laboratory experiment. Protestors who leave expensive electronic devices (like laptop computers) unattended for two minutes are getting them stolen, routinely now.
May '10
Re: Who are the Wall Street Occupiers?
...and this in spite of HEAVY mainstream media coverage. I'm so glad the President and his supporters have embraced it. The mask is off of the false Messiah...
Sep '10
Re: Who are the Wall Street Occupiers?
People can hang out with nothing to do for only so long without getting bored. Whatever genuine complaints some OWS people have, the same-old same-old gets old quick (except of course on weekends, when it becomes just another party). The Tea Party marched then went home, realizing, OK, so we've had our protest, now what? and promptly got to work. The OWS people, conversely, blame other people for their problems and so have no plan except to protest and hope that someone from on high will fix their lives for them—though apparently now with a lessened sense of urgency that this prince, uh, president, will do just that. I'm with George Will. The longer these folks stay camped out, the more they will annoy regular folks who are just trying to get on with their lives and the less coherent their points of view (if indeed they really have any) will become, even to reporters. And of course there's the question: how many of these people are being paid to stay there? I wish reporters would get at that instead of sticking microphones in people's faces, but then reporters seem pretty bored too.
Feb '11
Re: Who are the Wall Street Occupiers?
I say it's time to breakout the water cannons and bring in the bulldozers.It's time to clean up this filth. Anyhow Kevin Williamson has a great post over at NRO if anyone hasn't seen it yet.
Apr '11
Re: Who are the Wall Street Occupiers?
I'm also surprised by the lack of support. An email list I'm on with friends from college is filled with statements like "If you have a chance to go to an Occupation, do it. I am still buzzing at 4:50am after being one of the last 20-25 people in the park. I hear there were 500 of us arrested." From the news reports, too, it looks like a lot of fun. With the youth unemployment rate where it's at, it's not like kids have anything better to do.
Plus, who wants to have Cain's problem of being asked 50 years later why you weren't part of the greatest movement in history?
I'd like to think that it's because people sense the commie centre beneath the hippy veneer, but that may be wishful thinking.
May '11
Re: Who are the Wall Street Occupiers?
Who are they? Wesley Mouch.
Sep '10
Re: Who are the Wall Street Occupiers?
As a kid I can recall seeing George McGovern on tv being shouted down and jeered at by a bunch of SDS students he was trying to communicate with. I believe it was considered a defining moment in his horrendous and unsuccessful campaign. To that end, lets hope the President trys to do the same with the hooligans in the OWS movement.
Aug '11
Re: Who are the Wall Street Occupiers?
From a political standpoint, it doesn't matter who they are: what matters is who they might be able to persuade.
Gallup just released a poll indicating that 22% of respondents approve of OWS's goals, while 15% disapprove. That leaves over 60% open to persuasion.
Let us recall that the anti-war movement of the 1960's was spearheaded by exactly the same sort of people who now populate OWS.
Who won that argument? The self-same rabble who now dominate the Democratic Party.
The more we sneer at this thing, the more the undecideds might tend to hear, "Let them eat cake."
Edited on Oct 18, 2011 at 12:31pmAug '10
Re: Who are the Wall Street Occupiers?
That would be about as effective as a parents group protesting a Marilyn Manson album. It's exactly what they want you to do. They would feed off the publicity.
Feb '11
Re: Who are the Wall Street Occupiers?
Misthiocracy
That would be about as effective as a parents group protesting a Marilyn Manson album. It's exactly what they want you to do. They would feed off the publicity. · Oct 18 at 12:30pm
You're absolutely correct and I know it would be a bad move , but I couldn't help stating how I really feel.
Jan '11
Re: Who are the Wall Street Occupiers?
Sometimes, perhaps too often, it's passion not numbers that takes the field. Yes, they are a rag-tag bunch, characteristically homogeneous, and they cling to impracticable ideas. No matter that their demands are defeated by simple arithmetic imbalances - so much revenue in vs so much welfare out. But they persist, because reality is invariably trumped by idealism. They are yet small in numbers, but, as history teaches, small sparks can cause catastrophic fires.
Yes, they are stupid, unhygienic, robbers, rapists, racists, and much more, all documented, and thank goodness there aren't more of them, but they are a spark in bad times, in the midst of lots of social tinder. Their threat has to be taken seriously.