OWS Protests Observations

In talking to some Occupy LA protesters last weekend I came to realize how futile this resistance movement is. At best, the Occupy Wall Street movement will achieve superficial reforms, not the long lasting changes sought by the protesters. The movement will fail to accomplish its goals for the following reasons:

1. Unfocused message – the movement has too many issues bundled together (ex. , close corporate tax loopholes, End the Fed, end the wars, bank foreclosures, student loans, etc)
2. No leadership – as one protester told me, “it's an organic movement”
3. No plan of action – the protesters plan to camp out indefinitely until the desired change is achieved

Beaten like dogs, the OWS protesters hope to change the world and current power structure and do it in a peaceful way. A short conversation with one of the sharper OWS protesters highlights the thinking and mode of action of the movement (shortened for the sake of space):

(me) If I didn't know what this movement is about, I would not be able to tell by all of these different signs.
(ows) The OWS movement is about a lot of things. The most important are: holding the people/institutions responsible for causing the latest recession accountable, putting in place legislation that ensures these things don't happen again, and limiting corporate influence in the affairs of the government among other things.
(me) Good stuff, I can't argue with that. Who is the leader of the Occupy LA movement?
(ows) There is no leader, this is a grassroots movement.
(me) No leader? I can't recall a movement that changed the world that did not have a leader. Do you know of one?
(ows) This movement will grow organically. It is like in nature.
(me) Hmm. Nature is brutal. It is the survival of the fittest.
(ows) Nature is harmonious. We are all one.
(me) When was the last time you saw a lion hug an antelope?
(ows) Our movement is grassroots...leaders will emerge over time.
(me) Protesting the rules won't change a thing. Rules are not for everyone.
(ows) No one is above the law! Why should it be?
(me) It's been like that since the beginning of history. The big fish always eat the small fish, to use an example from nature. The big fish making the laws will never be eaten by the small fish following the laws.
(ows) This is a democracy though! We have a right to vote and express our opinions.
(me) Yes, you do. This is a democracy. In this democracy, you have the wolves and the sheep sitting at the table every day voting on what's for dinner. Can you guess?
(ows) Well, the founding fathers never intended for this kind of corruption and greed to take place in this country. Government and banks and corporations working hand in hand to screw the little guy.
(me) Greed is human nature. Human nature is to want more, to be faster, stronger, bigger. Laws try to curb the human nature. We've institutionalized morality in order to curb human nature, however that works only to a degree. Humans will be humans. Lions will be lions. Antelopes will be antelopes. It's a big jungle, and the strongest survive. The sooner you accept it the better.
(ows) Well, we choose to use nonviolent resistance to change the world. Just like Martin Luther King, Jesus, etc.
(me) And, tell me, what happened to MLK?
(ows) What happened to MLK?
(me) Yea, what happened to MLK?
(ows) He was assasinated.
(me) And Jesus?
(ows) Sentenced to death.
(me) Both were killed. Why? Human nature. Think about that for a minute. Good luck to you all.

Change/progress can happen, and it is not by accident. The OWS protesters are delusional in thinking that the political establishment will give up power benevolently. As Frederick Douglass said:

“Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.”

How then, can the protesters change the situation?  Become GFY Students and learn the GFY Method.  More on that in the next blog.