I have come to the inescapable conclusion that the methods of the Occupy Wall Street crowd are the exact same as the archetypical two-year-old that does not get his way. He stomps his feet, yells, cries, and makes a spectacle of himself. He does this by ransoming something that he has stolen; namely the peace and quiet. Or was that Zuccotti Park? What other explanation fits the actions of these people? The two year old will pee where ever is convenient. He will question authority at every turn with the constant stream of “The Whole World is Watching’, or “No! No!”. He will refuse to clean up after himself, leaving his pizza boxes and toys, for the adults to clean up. He hates to take a bath. He demands unreasonable things, like complete debt forgiveness or a pony. The actions are mirror images. You can’t tell one from the other.
You ask yourself, “But does it work for the two-year-old protester? I mean that is the test isn’t it? If parents lack the will to discipline the illegal, I mean, bad behavior. If he gets support from the media or an outsider telling Mommy to “Just give him the cookie!” If he is allowed to make a big enough scene that either acquiescence to his demands are now the most political and quickest option. Then, yes, it can work.
The police and Mommy have tried what I see so often in the local Wal-Mart; ignore junior and hope he stops peeing in the park. Usually the results of that action play out the same way. When the foot stomping, the breath holding and chanting “Human Need. Not Corporate Greed”, doesn’t get him the results he wants, junior will soon take up violence. He will slap at Mommy’s leg or try to shut down the Oakland ports. Then to get junior back on the straight and narrow, a larger response is needed from Mommy. Something like a stern scolding, a swat on the behind, or tear gas. As every supermarket observer could tell Mommy, it is easily avoided. If the first time junior violated the rules by pitching his tent and smoking grass, he was given the aforementioned pop on backside, or promptly arrested, prosecuted and punished. He would probably find a more constructive way to work toward societal change, or to get that cookie. The two year olds actions are selfish and born out of immaturity. The OWS actions are selfish and immature.
You ask yourself, “But does it work for the two-year-old protester? I mean that is the test isn’t it? If parents lack the will to discipline the illegal, I mean, bad behavior. If he gets support from the media or an outsider telling Mommy to “Just give him the cookie!” If he is allowed to make a big enough scene that either acquiescence to his demands are now the most political and quickest option. Then, yes, it can work.
The police and Mommy have tried what I see so often in the local Wal-Mart; ignore junior and hope he stops peeing in the park. Usually the results of that action play out the same way. When the foot stomping, the breath holding and chanting “Human Need. Not Corporate Greed”, doesn’t get him the results he wants, junior will soon take up violence. He will slap at Mommy’s leg or try to shut down the Oakland ports. Then to get junior back on the straight and narrow, a larger response is needed from Mommy. Something like a stern scolding, a swat on the behind, or tear gas. As every supermarket observer could tell Mommy, it is easily avoided. If the first time junior violated the rules by pitching his tent and smoking grass, he was given the aforementioned pop on backside, or promptly arrested, prosecuted and punished. He would probably find a more constructive way to work toward societal change, or to get that cookie. The two year olds actions are selfish and born out of immaturity. The OWS actions are selfish and immature.
Two years usually grow out of the terrible twos and learns to live by the laws society and Mommy have given them. They might eventually grow up to be Tea Party Protesters. The Tea Party Protester (TPP) differs from the OWS protesters in not only political philosophy, but also in maturity. The TPP gets a permit to legally “occupy” a public spot. They do so for a finite amount of time, during the legal hours. When the police arrive and ask the large crowd of TPPs to move a few feet, the TPP says “Yes, Sir. We’re sorry.”. Then they move a few feet and thank the officer. They chant their slogans and wave their signs, and then they go home and vote.
Yes, you ask again, but what good did that do? Well, in 2010, as direct result of the non-violent, completely legal, much larger, non-drug-using, toilet trained, Tea Party protests there was a seismic shift in the US Congress. Control was enthusiastically given back to the Republicans in the House, and Harry Reid’s filibuster-proof Senate was shattered. Further economic damage to our country was thus thwarted and the ground work laid for retaking both the Senate and the White House in 2012, and real economic reform. And they picked up their own trash when they were done.
What has the OWS protesters accomplished? They have filled network news broadcasts with endless incoherent babble. They have cost the various municipalities hundreds of thousands, if not into the millions by now in clean up costs, police overtime, and lost business revenue. They have given us such great ideas as the $20 minimum wage (That won’t cost jobs or cause prices to go up. Really), Complete Debt Forgiveness (Mr. Banker, can I have my savings back? No, Sir, We lent it out to some college kid and then had to forgive that debt. Sorry. Would you like to make a deposit?) and Free College Education (Exactly how much money would we have to print or borrow from China to pay for that?).
I am also particularly fond of the brilliant signs they have given us. “Eat the Rich” (That would be similar to “Kill the Golden Goose that lays the $20 an hour job”), “We are the 99%” (There are a few thousand OWS-like people and 300 million Americans. I’d say the math is a bit off) and my favorite; “I’m so Angry, I Made a Sign”. (Do you really want my thoughts on the depth of this one?). In short they have accomplished nothing.
As Thomas Sowell recently put it in his column "But anyone who reads this column regularly knows that I protest against allsorts of things--and don't get arrested."
http://townhall.com/columnists/thomassowell/2011/11/02/democracy_versus_mob_rule
He is referring to his insightful weekly column, and how it is a legal way to protest and influence public opinion. What the OSW/two year olds are doing is breaking the law. It is pointless, societally expensive, and ineffective in a system where the people control the representation they send to govern them. But, making change the lawful way isn’t nearly as much fun. You aren’t allowed to smoke pot, call police names, or relieve yourself like a dog. Perhaps the fun is really the whole point of the OSW protester. The two-year old protester takes his path because it is both easy and he doesn’t know any better. Well, it’s now time to begin the scoldings, the threats, and the arrests with time in jail. Drug use is illegal, blocking right of ways is illegal, camping in public parks is illegal, public urination is illegal and assemblies of this type, less permit, are illegal. It’s time for Mommy to say “No! You can not have a cookie! We are going home!”
Yes, you ask again, but what good did that do? Well, in 2010, as direct result of the non-violent, completely legal, much larger, non-drug-using, toilet trained, Tea Party protests there was a seismic shift in the US Congress. Control was enthusiastically given back to the Republicans in the House, and Harry Reid’s filibuster-proof Senate was shattered. Further economic damage to our country was thus thwarted and the ground work laid for retaking both the Senate and the White House in 2012, and real economic reform. And they picked up their own trash when they were done.
What has the OWS protesters accomplished? They have filled network news broadcasts with endless incoherent babble. They have cost the various municipalities hundreds of thousands, if not into the millions by now in clean up costs, police overtime, and lost business revenue. They have given us such great ideas as the $20 minimum wage (That won’t cost jobs or cause prices to go up. Really), Complete Debt Forgiveness (Mr. Banker, can I have my savings back? No, Sir, We lent it out to some college kid and then had to forgive that debt. Sorry. Would you like to make a deposit?) and Free College Education (Exactly how much money would we have to print or borrow from China to pay for that?).
I am also particularly fond of the brilliant signs they have given us. “Eat the Rich” (That would be similar to “Kill the Golden Goose that lays the $20 an hour job”), “We are the 99%” (There are a few thousand OWS-like people and 300 million Americans. I’d say the math is a bit off) and my favorite; “I’m so Angry, I Made a Sign”. (Do you really want my thoughts on the depth of this one?). In short they have accomplished nothing.
As Thomas Sowell recently put it in his column "But anyone who reads this column regularly knows that I protest against allsorts of things--and don't get arrested."
http://townhall.com/columnists/thomassowell/2011/11/02/democracy_versus_mob_rule
He is referring to his insightful weekly column, and how it is a legal way to protest and influence public opinion. What the OSW/two year olds are doing is breaking the law. It is pointless, societally expensive, and ineffective in a system where the people control the representation they send to govern them. But, making change the lawful way isn’t nearly as much fun. You aren’t allowed to smoke pot, call police names, or relieve yourself like a dog. Perhaps the fun is really the whole point of the OSW protester. The two-year old protester takes his path because it is both easy and he doesn’t know any better. Well, it’s now time to begin the scoldings, the threats, and the arrests with time in jail. Drug use is illegal, blocking right of ways is illegal, camping in public parks is illegal, public urination is illegal and assemblies of this type, less permit, are illegal. It’s time for Mommy to say “No! You can not have a cookie! We are going home!”
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