Last week I found myself in lower Manhattan. With a bit of time to kill, I decided to satisfy my curiosity about the Occupy Wall Street protests (I hesitate to describe what I saw as a movement). So, I wandered over to Zuccotti Park and waded in. First, as an historian with a passion for medieval history, I have often wondered what odors would assail the senses if one was among a large group of individuals who had only a passing acquaintance with concepts of hygiene. I no longer have to wonder. If any of you are planning to send CARE packages to the OWS folks, please, for the love of God, include soap, along with instructions for its use.
I also noted that the average OWS revolutionary is rather lazy. I began my wanderings at about 10:00 a.m., and at least half of the OWS occupiers were still wrapped up in their sleeping bags and tarps. If the day ever arrives when I feel compelled to lead a revolution, job number one will be recruiting folks ready to roll out the banners and start chanting slogans at the crack of dawn. I may make some exceptions for those leading midnight marches the night before, but that’s it. Everyone else will be manning the barricades by first light.
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I was not alone in my disappointment. Spotting a milling crowd in the center of the encampment I wandered closer. A man on the outskirts of the mini-mob was yelling at the crowd. I assumed he was attempting to stir them from their lethargy, possibly preparing them to march on some millionaire’s house. Given the buzz of activity around him I was sure I had found the epicenter of the revolution. It turned out, however, to be the feeding station, where free eggs and what I think was bacon were being given away. Milling around waiting for the free food was the most motley collection of vagrants I have ever witnessed. And the man haranguing them from the sidelines was in actuality condemning them for their lack of commitment. Over and over he shouted, “You’re only here for the free food — not the revolution,” alternating with, “The revolution is not about free food.” I stood to one side for a while, and it was soon apparent to me that for the majority of those at Zuccotti Park, their revolutionary fervor was very much related to getting a free meal.
Disappointed to discover that for many of those in the encampment the revolution really was mostly about filling their bellies on someone else’s dime, I moved on. As I made my way across the park, I was accosted three times by folks asking me for money. Possibly my business suit identified me as one of the 1 percent with a few dollars to spare. Unfortunately for the panhandlers of the revolution, there are a number of worthier causes for me to distribute my limited assets to.
As luck would have it, though, many of them will not have to worry about money for much longer, as several OWS occupiers had the answer to everyone’s financial problems. This innovative group, all sporting $4-bill badges, claimed to have reimagined money. Intrigued, I asked how such a reimagination worked. In short, it seems that people are to create money as they need it for their own happiness and the happiness of others. This I liked, as I have a wonderful imagination and a deep need to use my money so as to increase my own happiness. I promptly imagined a page of my notebook into $10,000 and gave it to one of the $4 lapel-badge ladies. She looked at the sheet of paper and smiled at me. So far, so good. I then asked for her laptop and told her she could keep the $8,000 change I was due so as to further increase her own happiness. She quickly turned away, taking her laptop with her and leaving me short $10,000 of reimagined money. I assume the system has some kinks that the revolution will figure out as it goes.
Before the obnoxious political correctness reared its ugly head in our society, we used to call them 'bums'. I'm not sure what the new term is but it sounds like they still smell the same.
I haven't seen this discussed much, but it occurs to me that one positive takeaway from OWS is that a whole bunch of young people from my generation are learning a valuable lesson: the trappings of civilization matter and they are hard work. From the problems with free/imaginary money and free food to the need for security to protect people's belongings and safety, the OWS protesters are learning first-hand and through experience that the rule of law, property rights, and public safety all matter. The "general assembly" that so many of these groups have set up is an attempt at self-governance that, while ineffective, bloated, and silly, might still be a useful learning experience for the more thoughtful of the OWS protesters; mistakes and missteps often teach us more than when we do well, and by any metric, an OWS general assembly is a terrible approach to managing a "mini civilization" but a useful lesson in why our representative republic actually works.
The naive optimist in me would like to think that, by effectively establishing themselves as alternative civilizations (limited in scope to the parks the occupy) governed under a separate set of rules from the rest of us, at least a few of these protesters come away from their experience better understanding why we have a constitution, a military, a capitalist economic system, and all the other things that make it possible for people to productively live and work with one another. If the protesters can learn that lesson without the need to lead the rest of us into the disaster of a soviet-style collective or socialist paradise a la Greece, that would be a distinct benefit for everyone.
Of course, the cynic in me counter-argues that most protesters will continue to have no clue.
If I can summarize, what you've noted (and the protesters have yet to understand) is that running everything looks simple until you actually have to make the thing work.
As soon as one tries to develop a functioning society on socialist (or "social justice" if we must speak their language) principles the ugly reality of human nature raises its ugly head. I'm amused by the irony of the actual downtrodden of society coming to the committed protestors for help and the sudden lack of compassion from those claiming to speak for the poor masses.
Or simpler still: complaining about problems is always easier than coming up with workable solutions.
There is a synergy with the Obama campaign for sure: OWS is also about naming & blaming "the bad guys" who "stand in the way" of our "great ideas" which would "surely work, except that the bad guys are standing in the way!" Tautological victimhood, clueless self-righteousness, and all the usual campus activist blather.
Obama's core supporters: a bubble full of unemployable moonbats drunk on whine! I hope these protests last for another 12 months. ;-)
Ahh, Barry's Vineyards, where the grapes of whine are stored.
Maybe those rolled up in sleeping bags and tarps are pods waiting for just the right moment to emerge and join the revolution.
Great article, and it confirms a lot of suspicions I had about the younger generation's sense of entitlement.
What ever happened to "Dress well, work hard, and get a good job"?
Is it really that hard to perform the basics of personal grooming, dress respectably, and not be offensive in appearance or odor?
Years ago our main MN Paper, The Star Tribune, did an article on the value of a college degree. Page A-1 (below the fold) told the story of a young woman who'd spent four years at a private Mpls. university for her degree but could not get a job.
I said to y husband, "Bet her degree is in Women's Studies." Inside page of the article - her degree was in, guess.... women's studies.
In one of my careers, I hired people. Today, I simply would not hire anyone with a degree in _______ studies. Why? They learn guilt and blame. They are taught that the most productive, free-opportunity nation is awful.
Grow up - get a job, any job and stop expecting government monopoly money to pay your way.
Just kidding, but thanks for the perspective and the $10,000 story. Perhaps the young woman will save it as a reminder of the moment when wisdom began to dawn on her. Maybe even in a frame on the wall to show to her kids and grandkids.
Those folks sleeping in until 10:00 a.m. or later should be careful about expressing revolutionary rhetoric. While they're sleeping at dawn, the right-wing forces will sweep in and capture them while they're still huddled in their sleeping bags.
It's not long before a poster directs everyone to YouTube and tells us to understand that OWS is made up of a cross-section of people. THat Lacey's article is a fabrication. That the people are articulate, educated (______ studies anyone? - credit below for the _______), and focused.
I've viewed numerous YouTube videos - it's just like he says. But since I haven't actually been there, I don't get to experience the aroma. My loss.
A degree in ______ studies along with a buck and a half should get you a cup of coffee. "Almost cut my hair" worked for David Crosby but then again he had a talent other than free basing.
You really should have entitled this "Stand-To in Zuccotti Park".
Thank you for sharing your $10,000 anecdote. While such exercises do represent training opportunities for the "revolutionaries", a greater benefit is the illumination they provide for us outside, but remote, observers.
Most amusing. It seems one of the useful things these dolts are doing is showing how the economy actually works, albeit in a negatory way. I have recently had discussions with many young people (the kind who think that dollar bills actually exude wealth all on their own, and that, therefore, printing more of them is always a good thing) and use little tricks like your $10,000 bill to teach them elementary economics.
After beating around the bush a dozen times, or so, they sheepishly ask me if maybe Gold would be a better investment, to which I reply, "Only as long as we, and all the Arab sheiks, agree to it. Otherwise, it is a marginally useful metal when used sparingly in electronic equipment and pretty things. Like Tin, or Silver".
As they scratch their little heads and walk away, I feel I have done my job. Telling them what to think is not my job. Getting them to think, is. After all, someone's got to do it, and colleges are obviously no longer the place. I'm still waiting to interview the first Studies Studies applicant. I'll probably keel over, laughing.
We, the Arab sheiks, and everyone else in the world have been agreeing to it for all of recorded history, and there is no reason to think we will stop.
'"Only as long as we, and all the Arab sheiks, agree to it. Otherwise, it is a marginally useful metal when used sparingly in electronic equipment and pretty things. Like Tin, or Silver"'
Interesting you should point this out. It seems (and maybe I've totally misunderstood them) that so many of the people lamenting the lack of the gold standard say exactly the same thing about the dollar (minus the bit about the limited practical applications) while insisting that gold actually has intrinsic value independent of what we assign to it.
The value of gold lies in its rareness. Just like a Babe Ruth rookie card, the value lies in people's desire for it. Although the substance may not have many functionalities, its value is not necessarily arbitrary. That being said, I agree with your post.
But then again, people are fickle so maybe the value is arbitrary - which is basically your point, or so it seems.
Gold also does not tarnish, which could be important if it was used for preserving information or some such thing. It would outlast digital info, without recopying, but technology has mostly eliminated this use.
It has some applications in jewelry, of course. Our vanity may be the main source of its value.
