The Occupy crowds have been in the news for a couple months now. What started at Occupy Wall Street has spread to cities across America, most notably Occupy Oakland. Having to drive through Oakland to get to work for the past 4+ years, I can attest that no part of the city is known for its ‘fat cats’, who live and work in luxury while the 99% of the population suffers. So why Oakland? Well, that’s where professional protestors are readily available. It’s next door to Berkeley, which is the birthplace of free speech marches and ant-government protests. Not much is required to gin up a reason to protest. A stroll down Telegraph Avenue on any given weekend will reveal numerous opportunities to buy buttons, T-shirts, bumper stickers and even tattoos to shout out the whole gamut of causes, from legalizing pot to promoting communism to freeing so-called political prisoners you’ve never heard of. Protesting is the only activity that gives these people meaning.
They’re like that thirty-something guy living at home in his parent’s basement. He can passionately rail against society and government for their unfairness but is content to abdicate his personal responsibilities for food and shelter to others. He wants to have the car available for his use, but doesn’t want to pay for the maintenance or registration. He wants the hospital, police and firemen to be there for him, but feels someone else should pay. He wants to excuse his personal situation by blaming it on the cruelty of our social structure, the greed of others, or more popularly – the failure of government to provide for him. We all realize that a society made of these people cannot succeed. But somehow they seem to the rest of us owe them something. Victims get passes, the rest of us have to make our own way. Maybe that’s why we have so many victims in our society, and why we have so many government programs that keep them that way.
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