Occupy Portland loses its connection
Yesterday, while strolling around town doing some research for upcoming tours, books and blogs, Glenda and I happened to stumble upon one of the latest incarnations of Occupy Portland. They were evicted from Lownsdale and Chapman squares on Sunday and have since become mobile rather than camped in one place.
We found them on their way down Burnside as we were heading up. What I witnessed slightly disturbed me. This was not about the 99%, this was not about complaining about the state of the economy or anything else related to the original movement. This was about hatred for the police. There were probably almost as many police as protesters. Some of them were on bicycles, some on motorbikes, others on foot, and round the corner were more reinforcements in case they were needed.
This was not a peaceful demonstration; this was aggressive confrontation between the protestors and police. Insults were rained down on police and I heard many words that I will not print. People were claiming that this is what a police state would look like. They are so wrong. This is the police enforcing the laws that 99% of us agree with. These are laws that allow us to peacefully cohabitate with each other. Breaking those laws is not free speech, it is civil disobedience, but to what end, what purpose? I believe that they wanted to provoke the police, hoping that one of them would snap and then they could claim police brutality and get themselves on TV. These people are looking for attention for themselves, not what the original movement attempted to draw attention to.
The only sign I saw of any relevance was “End the Fed”. Come on – what do you really think that will achieve? You want to cripple the country economically. Get real. Get on with trying to grow this economy, do something constructive and stop wasting OUR money with your protests. I no longer support you, I support the police in enforcing the laws and I hope they make you pay for the costs that you are incurring!
If you agree, disagree or have a different view, please leave a comment. I do not censor – that is free speech.
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When I saw that I lost 60% of my 401K, I took matters in my own hand, and removed the money from the stock market and planted it into what I believe is our future, the young minds of today. We all bitch and complain, but Brain is right, we need solutions. Solutions come from brain storming and discussion, not throwing words around about what we “hate”. We need to put energy towards what we love and respect, and that is this EARTH. Continue this direction, without suffering the consequences, earth will continue to make its shifts. Camping out in our parks needs to change to researching in our public libraries for ideas from our great leaders of the past, repeat what worked, we know what does not work. Equality is as easy as respect. Respect yourself and you will circle yourself with equality. The top 1% will hear you when you take the 99% to the table with respect. January 11, 1944, FDR’s State of the Union address. Start there. Trust me, I did and it changed my life.
The core of the Occupy movement is still there but what you saw was an example of how many movements get other causes latching onto them. When I fired up the KGW live stream from afar last Sunday morning, I was suprised and pleased to hear that the fellow who tossed a firecracker and injured a police officer was ejected by the crowd and pointed out for arrest.
As for End The Fed, one can’t assume (even if it is likely) that the fellow in this march was from the left since there are many on the far right who feel the same way, even Ron Paul on his latest question for the GOP presidential nomination. The main worry is that the longer an economic malaise lasts, the greater the danger that loopy ideas find their way into policy.
Myself, I think that the camping had made its point after the second weekend. The Occupy movement has made its point as an amorphous movement, because there are too many issues of concern amongst the 99%. If there is one issue that one can start with, it’s the recent rise of concerns in lowered social mobility – brought up in a previous issue of TIME, by CNN’s Fareed Zakaria on his show two weeks ago, and the Pew study recently featured on a number of media outlets. I would agree with Bill Gates in his recent UW talk, that 99% of the 1% are innocent and fairly got their gains. My concern is what has happened to the middle 89% (the bottom 10% has always been an issue throughout history) even as I remain a free market capitalist and globalist.
I agree with you Brian. Well done, and great photos.