By MIKE JONES Associate Editor on Dec 13, 2011, at 2:24 PM Updated on 12/13 at 2:24 PM
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It seems to me that the “Occupy Wall Street” movement was best summed up a couple of weeks ago in a “Doonesbury” comic strip. One of the strip’s characters was looking out the window at the protestors as they chanted: “What do we want?”
“We don’t know.”
“When do we want it?”
“Now!”
What started off with the good intention of making the country aware of the discrepancy between the wealthy and the middle class and poor has never been able to establish any kind of momentum. Maybe because it has no focus.
The latest “protest” was shutting down some ports on the west coast. Exactly how does that help the middle class? The ports are run by the working class. The somewhat successful shutdown sent a lot of union workers home and caused a lot of truck drivers to lose some wages.
The occupiers had a chance to really bring some awareness to the 99 percenters. The movement’s original goal, or at least what seemed to be a goal by those on the outside, was to point out the financial gap between the 1 percent who hold most of the money and the 99 percent that does most of the work.
Instead, we got a mishmash of splinter groups within the movement. Last week, a group of Tulsa occupiers marched on the Tulsa jail to demand that a man held on murder charges have his day in court proceed.
I’m all for due process. And the man being held in connection with the murder one of Tulsa’s best-liked businessmen and former University of Tulsa athlete certainly deserves his day in court.
But the occupiers simply made themselves look stupid. I know there is no official leader of this movement and I know that is the way they like it, but jeez. C’mon folks, pick you battles better.
What started out to be a significant and important movement is quickly becoming a joke. Too bad. The 99 percenters really need someone to stand up and speak for them. They need someone to shine a light on the growing wealth gap in this country and the problem it presents.
They need someone. These guys certainly don’t fill the bill.
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