Have you ever been with an ignorant acquaintance who unknowingly humiliated you by mentioning some topic of animosity where you were the antagonist? Maybe you had an affair- and the unknowing friend made it awkward by imploring you to agree that Ashton Kutcher was a scumbag. Whatever the case, our community seems to be the guy being indirectly spit upon in the Occupy Wall Street Protests.
It is common to try and shut such confrontations out of our minds; nobody wants to admit to being out of step or the bad guy. But this is different; these protesters are not the “angry mobs” Fox News has portrayed— they are not a group of socialists that we can write off as lazy. They are justified in their anger and real—and do not deserve to be forgotten.
Take a second to close your eyes and imagine this scenario: you are 23- eager, self motivated, with a college degree. You have an intrinsic urge to take on the world for its imperfections and rewards— you fret over the countless possibilities that you think your life holds. But that possibility is crushed by the inevitable plunge of an economy dragged into the ashes by certain greedy, irresponsible bankers looking to profit off a vulnerable working class.
This has become the case for millions of Americans entering the job market; according to the New York Times, in 2010, 37 percent of 18- 29 year olds were unemployed. The Bureau of Labor Statistics also reported that 8.8 percent of people with college or associate degrees are now jobless. You would maybe even have to move back in with your parents- an unprecedented ten percent of 18-34 year olds are residing with their parents again according to the bipartisan Pew Research Center.
Would you be upset? The answer is yes. Would you feel misrepresented by the fact that the AIG’s and Morgan Stanley’s were getting billions in tax money, which they spent irresponsibly, while you aimlessly sat home every night next to your parents watching reruns of crappy 90’s sitcoms? If you have good taste, then the answer is yes.
This is not a matter of enraged craziness, socialism, or class warfare. The Occupy Wall Street movement is a coalition of people that have been personally affected. The larger picture here is that this is a movement of fairness. It is unacceptable that the victims are suffering at the hands of the irresponsible; as the bailed-out banks prosper (with an almost equal degree of deregulation), middle class Americans slip into poverty. And as the CEO’s of these financial institutions continue to receive reprehensibly high bonuses, people forced into extreme need by the banks lose their economic lifelines.
To put these numbers in perspective, 15.1 percent, or over 46 million Americans are living in poverty; the highest rate in the developed world according to CNN. This fact is sobering when compared to the 27 percent pay increase of CEO’s in 2010, as reported by USA Today. (If Republicans truly cared about average Americans, then they would stop insisting upon cuts that disproportionately hurt the middle class.)
Occupy Wall Street may be motivated by idealism, but to say that the protesters “have no purpose” is missing the point; the movement started because average Americans wanted a greater degree of economic equality, fairness, and representation. To start, politicians like Herman Cain could stop promoting the misconception that unemployed Americans are simply lazy by asserting that they should blame themselves for their joblessness, rather than on corporate greed. Then, the government could take steps like raising the taxes to a normal level on private equities, and to pass President Obama’s proposed jobs bill; legislation that creates jobs for the poor rather than increasing the upper class’s capital gain.
I am not saying that the movement is perfect or always pragmatic, but what calling for change ever is? Protest is motivated largely by angst which always leads to a degree of rashness— one must only look at images of Tea Party members holding up pictures of President Obama with a Hitler mustache to realize this. A few crazies will show up at any gathering of large people who are chanting and holding signs, but what will ultimately define this movement for change will be whether media, politicians, and prospering members of the corporate world continue to use an irrational few to delegitimize the righteous call of many.
