"Occupation is more exhilarating and instantly gratifying than the hard slog of advancing political and social change" – Wendy Kaminer, at The Atlantic, November 18. This really was the first criticism of the Occupy Blah-Blah movement that really clearly summarizes my own discomfort with it.
Kaminer goes on to sugges (in different words – I'm extrapolating) the idea that the Occupiers are hypocrites, because they are setting themselves up as an "elite" of their own sort – an elite who are somehow more politically aware than the remaining 99% who remain clueless, comforming sheep. And that's the point – the remaining 99% aren't clueless – they know just as well (if not better) than the Occupiers what's going on, and how things work. But they prefer to attempt to advance social and political change using other methods – less confrontational, in-your-face methods.
The main thing I like about the Occupy Whatchamacallit movement is mostly that they provide a kind of loony, far-left counterweight to the loony, far-right idiocies of the Teapartiers. I keep hoping the two groups will somehow accidentally reach a political critical mass while passing each other on the streets, one day, and then suddenly cancel out, like so much matter/anti-matter, in an explosion of useful political change.
Hmmm. I don’t think I necessarily agree with you on the Occupy movement. It appears a lot different in the media – it gets filtered through people who are already skeptical and might have their own agendas. My personal experiences with Occupy movements here have been generally positive. There are loony people, but any broad social movement that encompasses a large array of people will; and there is a divergence of opinions that seems to make the movement lack coherence, but that’s one of the traits of democracy. You know, giving voice and representation to those who don’t have the money. If you talk to “occupiers” – there’s a strong sense of community, of wanting to do well together, of wanting to address the structural inequalities that limit social mobility, and wanting to fight the neoliberal policies that negate basic human rights. I would also argue that people who claim to be more politically aware than others and that consumerism has become a substitute for political choice – not a new argument. Intellects like Jurgen Habermas have made that claim awhile ago.
Thanks for your thoughts. I meditated on your comments some: http://raggedsign.blogs.com/caveatdumptruck/2011/11/caveat-preoccupied.html.