This will be short because I just want to get this idea out there. Occupy Wall Street has been so successful that I think it's taken a lot of people by surprise, including many of those who support the idea like me.
But you can be sure it's surprised a lot of powerful people who don't support it, too.
And one of the things that can happen when something like this gains steam is that the establishment will look for an excuse to marginalize it. I'm always amazed at how fast the news cycle is these days, and while I'm thrilled with all the coverage the protests are getting (much of it positive) I'm not foolish enough to think that will last forever.
What could change? Well, in the past there have been instances where police or those opposed to a protest tried to discredit it by planting fake protesters or in some cases even weapons. I'm not saying this will happen, or even that it is likely to happen. I'm just saying it could - and therefore it's wise to be prepared for the possibility.
Just like Howard Dean was discredited once there was a "gotcha" moment (the scream), a protest can similarly be discredited and effectively destroyed if something that widely perceived as bad happens and is blamed on protesters.
Here's a few previous stories to consider:
Many arrested people have sought to discredit the police by alleging the planting of evidence. It is particularly common in drugs cases. But Simon's allegations carry rather more weight because a cameraman from Greek television was recording the sequence of events. The shot of the arrest clearly shows Simon, as he says, with a rucksack coloured blue and purple.
The lens then switches to the other side of the road where a police officer is displaying an open black rucksack containing the Molotov cocktails, and other weapons. Two police officers carry this bag across the road and dump it on the pavement next to Simon. The sequence ends with Simon surrounded by three black rucksacks. Meanwhile, the blue and purple one - his own - has disappeared.
Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/...
When Bush was in Canada selling America to Mexico earlier this week, Canadian labor unions protested the secret negotiations between the three countries’ leaders. And whenever there’s a big political protest, there are cops in disguise — usually as “anarchists” — trying to start shit so that the uniformed cops can smash skulls and shoot their water cannons and rubber bullets and tear-gas cannisters at the real protesters who were just peacefully protesting. What was interesting about this week’s agents provocateurs is that they got caught on video and the video was immediately seen by hundreds of thousands of people all around the world and for possibly the first time ever, a police department has been shamed into admitting that it plants disguised cops in protest crowds to stir up shit.
Source: http://wonkette.com/...