First, let me state how gratified I am that so many people contributed to the comments section. I deeply appreciate the time and attention that so many of you generously provided. Of course, the majority of the comments were negative, but that's perfectly alright, it shows that this is a topic that many of you feel passionately about, and I respect that. Plus, I learned quit a bit by reading them. For example, my heartfelt thanks go out to the commentor who mentioned Alexis Goldstein, of "Occupy the SEC", who is my new heroine. Seriously, everyone needs to stop reading this right now and go view this video: http://www.bing.com/... Especially note what she says about the Occupy movement at about 13:40 or so- I'm in complete agreement with her, esp where she points out that reformers can choose to work within the political system while others try to come up with a whole new alternative.
I also want to point out that I am a very strong supporter and participant of OWS and I very deeply want it to continue and succeed. If I criticize it, which I intend to continue doing, I do so from love. And curiously, the thing that many of you seem to have been most powerfully engaged by was something that was almost a throw-away line: "..no coherent goals..."
Now, I understand perfectly well that OWS doesn't necessarily need goals. No less than Lemony Snicket wrote:
"It is not always the job of people shouting outside impressive buildings to solve problems. It is often the job of the people inside, who have paper, pens, desks, and an impressive view" (you can read more by Lemony on Occupy at http://occupywriters.com/...).
Occupy exists fundamentally to express the anger of ordinary people at the financial and political elites who are still abusing them. It can continue to do nothing more than that and still remain true to it's original purpose. A perfectly valid argument could be made that the most important thing right now is to draw as much attention as possible to the injustices going on, to make as much noise as possible, so that important issues aren't swept under the rug, so that candidates for office and the mainstream media cant use social issues to distract us from the fact that we are still being exploited and lied to. Nevertheless, having said all that...
...I'm going to stand by my statement. Perhaps I should share a little about myself to help explain. I have a wife and two young children to support, a mortgage that is underwater, and I have no job. Until recently I was a full time faculty member at a state-supported university, until I was laid off as part of a wave of lay-offs that were the result of a massive state budget deficit, itself partly the result of a collapse in property taxes. All of this ultimately traces back to the sub-prime mortgage crisis and the financial speculation of Wall Street. I respect that people come to Occupy for a variety of reasons, but my reason for doing so had nothing to do with economic models, or political theories, or radical politics. I desperately dont want my children to have to face the kind of financial insecurity that I am currently undergoing. As I say on my web page:
"...I am not attempting to address what many see as the true “underlying problems” of all economic crises. I am not trying to “uproot the rot” or “cure the disease”. Those kind of goals may very well be important, but they are long-term transformative changes that I and my children can’t wait for. I can take care of my own short term needs, the long term goals and aspirations of humanity will have to wait upon a much wider global conversation. But I need the hope of middle term solutions now."
There are very specific things that I believe need to be done, right now. We need to get money out of politics. We need a more effective federal regulatory regime, including the regulation of the financial sector and Wall Street. We need to protect and strengthen the government's commitment to civil liberties, esp. in the face of the fear-mongering campaigns that have accompanied the War on Terror. We need a more responsible and effective foreign policy that isn't driven primarily by domestic political agendas, but reflects the complexity of international problems and is based on an understanding of long-term environmental, political, economic and cultural sustainability. And Finally we need a less centralized set of democratic institutions, starting with empowered neighborhoods and local communities.
I joined OWS because I thought I could help with accomplishing some of these things. And I still expect this- not in spite of it's leaderless nature, but because of it. Occupy functions a little bit like anonymous (not surprising, nor a coincidence, Anon helped found Occupy)- there are lots of independent voices and groups, and as long as they do not try to impose their agenda on others, anyone with a particular set of answers is free to try to attract as many others to work with them as possible. That is truly wonderful. But it also has costs, and one of those costs is a vulnerability to having its efforts dissipated across too many diverse approaches. I don't want that to happen. If Occupy remains nothing more than a venue to express frustration, then Godspeed to it. But I hope for more.
Read more at http://387442890115614373.weebly.com/...