Zuccotti's Freeloaders
From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.
However lovely those who've organized themselves into the Occupy Wall Street protests find communism's foundational principles, they are quickly discovering that human nature creeps in and messes everything up. The NY Daily News reports that Manhattan's Zuccotti Park, which has served as the HQ of the OWS movement, has become plagued with freeloaders.
[T]he swelling ranks of freeloaders and disturbed characters in the last few days has pressed the working group members who’ve organized the protest and so far kept it from going off the rails to refine their ideas about just how open their movement should be.
....The number of non-participants taking advantage of the resources that the activists have provided — free food, clothing, tarps and sleeping bags, hand-rolled smokes and even books, not to mention a sense of protection from the police, who have increasingly left the park to protect itself - has exploded over the past week, and is threatening to define the occupation itself and overshadow its political and social ambitions. Despite those resources, “spanging” (spare-changing, or panhandling) at Zuccotti has become commonplace, as have fights, near-fights and open-air drug sales.
“I mean you wouldn’t see somebody at the General Assembly smoking a joint,” said Smith, reflecting the frustrations shared by many working group members who have invested their time and energies in the occupation. “But in the back, they’re selling crystal meth.”
How will Occupy Wall Street respond to its freeloaders and lowlife hangers-on? We're either in store for a boat load of new Tea Party converts, or a delicious smorgasbord of irony and hypocrisy.
Photo: pumabydesign001's blog
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Comments:
Apr '11
Re: Zuccotti's Freeloaders
I say irony, which as far as I can tell based on my distant analysis of hipsters is their preferred form of comedy. But, it is good to know that their make shift shanty town is becoming a haven for other deadbeats and lowlifes. If the NYPD work this right maybe they can kill two birds with one large stone and clean New York of both the neo-hippies and old fashioned bumbs.
Edited on October 31, 2011 at 8:31pmDec '10
Re: Zuccotti's Freeloaders
I vote for amazingly delicious. Man I hope this OWS experience generats more Tea Party members.
Aug '10
Re: Zuccotti's Freeloaders
Why does this story sound familiar? Hmm...
May '10
Re: Zuccotti's Freeloaders
It's like a bad science fiction movie set in some dark, apocalyptic future.
Aug '10
Re: Zuccotti's Freeloaders
Jul '10
Re: Zuccotti's Freeloaders
The NY Daily News reports that Manhattan's Zuccotti Park, which has served as the HQ of the OWS movement, has become plagued with freeloaders.
Gotta give the Daily News credit for the good ole eagle eye. Reporting on an influx of freeloaders amongst the Zucotti crowd is quite the fine distinction.
Maybe it's a boon to the overburdened "working group." Now they have a source of labor to power their new generators.
Edited on October 31, 2011 at 8:58pmJul '11
Re: Zuccotti's Freeloaders
I say let them be. The communist / socialist dream always pales when it meets reality. Before long they will either be demanding the government to provide law enforcement help or do their own law enforcement via strong arm tactics these types always fall back on.
Teachable moment.
Aug '10
Re: Zuccotti's Freeloaders
Will there be a "working group" charged with monitoring who gets first dibs on all that "free" electricity? I bet there won't be too many Occupiers willing to bike-to-nowhere for hours just to keep laptops charged for the executives of the "General Assembly".
Sep '10
Re: Zuccotti's Freeloaders
Its like a bad science fiction movie starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Dec '10
Re: Zuccotti's Freeloaders
Diane Ellis, Ed.
From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.
The problem with the OWSers and others of their ilk is that they somehow don't get that the "from each" part ain't optional, it's MANDATORY.
Dec '10
Re: Zuccotti's Freeloaders
So the OWSers seem to think that society is comprised of the evil 1 percent, plus the decent hardworking 99 percent, plus the sketchy freeloading 10 percent.
Maybe their failure to grasp basic arithmetic is why so many of them are unemployed.
Dec '10
Re: Zuccotti's Freeloaders
OWSer's fantasy of a rich fat-cat: "You can't have any of what I worked hard to earn - it's MINE!"
Actual OWSer to the homeless: "You can't have any of what other people donated to me - it's MINE!"
Irony is wasted on these people.
Apr '11
Re: Zuccotti's Freeloaders
According to the news on the radio this morning, the NYPD is being blamed for directing homeless to the protest for free food, booze, etc. I suspect that'll be the narrative: it'd all work out fine if people who weren't supposed to be there weren't encouraged to come.
I imagine these people will support illegal immigration without a hint of irony as well ...
Aug '10
Re: Zuccotti's Freeloaders
I just wish David Crosby could show up and sing Love the One You're With.
May '10
Re: Zuccotti's Freeloaders
I will bet every last dollar I have that we see a delicious smorgasbord of irony and hypocrisy before we see a single Tea Party convert.
Oct '10
Re: Zuccotti's Freeloaders
Fake John Galt: I say let them be. The communist / socialist dream always pales when it meets reality. Before long they will either be demanding the government to provide law enforcement help or do their own law enforcement via strong arm tactics these types always fall back on.
Teachable moment. · Oct 31 at 12:58pm
If they begin to self police, will freeloaders be taken away in the dark of night ?
Dec '10
Re: Zuccotti's Freeloaders
C. U. Douglas: According to the news on the radio this morning, the NYPD is being blamed for directing homeless to the protest for free food, booze, etc. I suspect that'll be the narrative: it'd all work out fine if people who weren't supposed to be there weren't encouraged to come.
I imagine these people will support illegal immigration without a hint of irony as well ... · Oct 31 at 1:33pm
I just don't see how they just don't see it. If society is 1% Them and 99% Us, then the "people who weren't supposed to be there" are part of the 99% Us and therefore have just as much right to be there as anyone else -- more, because they represent a diametric opposite to the rich 1%. So how is it at all consistent with the Great Narrative to denounce these other folks as interlopers?
Oct '10
Re: Zuccotti's Freeloaders
I think that was the plot of John Carpenter's They Live, starring Rowdy Roddy Piper.
Aug '10
Re: Zuccotti's Freeloaders
Oh, they won't be calling on the police for help: OWS organizers are allegedly telling sexual assault victims not to cooperate with police.
“We don’t tell anyone,” an organizer told the New York Post. “We handle it internally. I said too much already.” (emphasis added by me)
Edited on October 31, 2011 at 10:19pmJun '10
Re: Zuccotti's Freeloaders
Stuart Creque
C. U. Douglas: According to the news on the radio this morning, the NYPD is being blamed for directing homeless to the protest for free food, booze, etc. I suspect that'll be the narrative: it'd all work out fine if people who weren't supposed to be there weren't encouraged to come.
I imagine these people will support illegal immigration without a hint of irony as well ... · Oct 31 at 1:33pm
I just don't see how they just don't see it. If society is 1% Them and 99% Us, then the "people who weren't supposed to be there" are part of the 99% Us and therefore have just as much right to be there as anyone else -- more, because they represent a diametric opposite to the rich 1%. So how is it at all consistent with the Great Narrative to denounce these other folks as interlopers? · Oct 31 at 2:07pm
They should recast themselves as the 98% since both the evil 1% at the top and the pesky 1% at the bottom are obviously plotting against them.