On the Other Hand...

Have you all heard about this "Occupy Wall Street" thing that's going on? According to the movement's website, OccupyWallSt.org, it is

[a] leaderless resistance movement with people of many colors, genders and political persuasions. The one thing we all have in common is that We Are The 99% that will no longer tolerate the greed and corruption of the 1%. We are using the revolutionary Arab Spring tactic to achieve our ends and encourage the use of nonviolence to maximize the safety of all participants.

Yes, I had to look up Arab Spring as well. Here's the Wikipedia link.

Anyway, basically it seems that lots of people who are angry about the credit crisis and student loans and I guess anything else generally, are occupying the physical (yet symbolic!) space of those of those viewed as the oppressors, i.e. the "1%".

There is also an "Occupy DC" movement. They do not have a website, or rather they do, but it's is under maintenance -- how typical DC.  It's taking place about 3 blocks from my office and consists of a tent-city filled with people who are angry about the credit crisis and student loan debt*, etc. and trying to make a point about it to Congress and the White House I guess.

I knew Occupy DC was happening, but I didn't realize there was a whole tent city thing happening until I saw it on the news this morning. The Park Police just granted a four-month permit extension to this leaderless resistance movement, so there will be people camped out on Pennsylvania Avenue into the winter.  (I'm thinking the Park Police must have a lot of student loan debt too). The Channel 8 reporter interviewed a few folks who said they'd Occupy DC as long as it took. What is it exactly? Til they wipe your student debt? Give you a house for free or at least under market value?

My initial thought was "where are these people going to go to the bathroom and shower?" (The Regan Building?). My next thought was, maybe you should get a job instead of camping out in Freedom Plaza for four months. That might help you solve your problems (yes, I know the job market is still terrible).

These thoughts aside, I do sort of admire these people. They are actively doing something to change what they feel are problems in this country and that is admirable. It's the same kind of admiration I feel for people who quit their jobs to pursue something they love like blogging full-time, or running a start-up company -- paths I see as requiring huge leaps of faith to follow.  Paths that I am far to risk-averse and enamored of my health insurance coverage to traverse. 

But you know, on the other hand, though I find the drive to take political action honorable, I don't get the sense this group really knows what they want or what they want to accomplish.  I can't really get behind that, so I'm back to wondering why they don't get a job....I think [The Husband] is whispering Republican propaganda to me in my sleep.

*a lot of these people seem angry about debt from college tuition, so student loan debt is going to be my catchall for describing what the protesters are angry about.