I was reading something the other day in the Huffington Post about another brutal paramilitary police attack upon peaceful OWS protestors and as I was perusing the comments left by readers, I read one that was so seriously skewed with ignorance I was driven to respond, and over the past few days, some folks I admire greatly have said that I did a fair job of capturing the movement's core Raison d'être. Here's what I said:
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| Police arrest protestors at an OWS event |
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| UC Davis Officer John Pike Blasts Pepper Spray on sitting, peaceful protestors. |
I'm so tired of folks "wondering" what the OWS movement is about and argue we're already debating these things. Look, it's not about the content of the debate. it's about the fact that those who represent us aren't listening to us IN the debate. It's about the fact that there are different standards for different folks, and those who HAVE decide the standards. It's about the fact that the playing field isn't level - at all - and those who HAVE make damned sure that those who don't stay that way. It's about media that sides repeatedly with corporate/political interests and fails miserably in presenting us with the truth about issues. It's about the decades of frustration we as a middle class have felt as our wages have stagnated, our pensions have been raided, our jobs have been shipped overseas and we've been dragged into wars around the world we have no business being in. The OWS movement is the collective consciousness of a nation who was raised to believe in moral, ethical, compassionate fair and honest behavior and who has discovered that those who preach those things the loudest are nothing but hypocrites. Imho, this is really what the OWS is about.
I'm not sure this resonates with you, but after 52 years of life in America, I can surely tell that things have changed for the worse - dramatically - in the last couple of decades. I was a young man when the riots in Detroit occurred, and I knew about, although did not understand, the Kent State killings when they occurred. I watched Los Angeles erupt into violence when the thugs who beat Rodney King senseless were declared innocent and knew then that we'd just been given a forceful push down the slippery slope.
The OWS movement is testing the very limits of police abuse under the color of authority. I think it is very safe to assume that the vast majority of people out there, whether they agree with the OWS protestors or not, would not only agree but also be outraged if it was their 84 year old mother or grandmother who was pepper sprayed - for damned near any reason whatsoever, but especially for peacefully protesting something she felt passionate about. That this actually occurred stands as stark testament to just how far down the slope we've traveled in this country.
