Here’s what the Occupy Wall Street bunch accomplished Thursday by
having a conniption in lower Manhattan:
They showed just how pointlessly obnoxious they could be.
The occasion was a Day of Disruption, in which the self-anointed representatives of the 99% flocked downtown en masse, presumably to throw wrenches into the gears of the financial sector, thereby damaging an economy that has left many jobless.
Whatever. No one expects clear thinking from tots throwing tantrums.
Two months after the birth of the movement, days after they lost the Zuccotti Park encampment, some in the revealingly small band declared: “Resist austerity. Rebuild the economy. Reclaim our democracy.”
But the takeaway was:
“Aggravate workers. Snarl streets. Injure cops. Hammer taxpayers.”
Thanks to a muddled message and aggressive tactics, the public has wearied of OWS. According to a new Public Policy Polling survey, 33% of respondents say they support the goals of the Occupiers; 45% are opposed.
Stack that up against last month, when 35% said they supported the Occupiers, and just 26% were opposed.
A candidate who saw his negatives grow rapidly by 20 points would see looming doom.
Even the editors of Adbusters, who are credited with coming up with the idea of an occupation in the first place, seem to understand the movement’s peril.
In a briefing published Monday, they advised:
“We use the winter to brainstorm, network, build momentum so that we may emerge rejuvenated with fresh tactics, philosophies and a myriad projects ready to rumble next spring.”
Primal screams are no substitute for real ideas.
What causes do these people want to champion? Would they impose a millionaires tax and fight to ensure that the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reforms that have already passed Congress are vigorously enforced?
Do they even understand issues like those?
If the Occupy Wall Street crowd is serious about influencing American politics and economics, they need to burn the disruption playbook.
And to start doing the much harder, but infinitely more important, work of figuring out what they want to accomplish beyond being royal pains in the . . .
. .
