I actually have absolutely no doubt that is is not only a direct attack on OWS, but that it is probably one of many that have been outlined and executed in the past few months. OWS has a problem with their image to begin with, just like the Tea Party did (okay, does still). Mostly, it is because people hate change, and like to discount discontented individuals as whiners. It's our nature and they are outside our norm.
Realistically the OWS movement has a problem in that they are very easy to discount. They don't own property on which they protest, they would prefer being unlawful and sleeping in a public place to make a statement... they are going a long way to become a circus, and when you're looking for freaks... that's the best place to start.
If they were to organize, if they were to become a movement with more cause than "we want to stay here and you should let us because it's our First Amendemnt right" while attempting to camp out in public areas across the nation, people would have more respect for their desires, demands, and political power. As it stands, however, they are working themselves into a corner where this type of action becomes necessary because they have broad support at a loose level, which makes taking action against them directly a political hole with no bottom. You're either with the circus, or you're the one pushing on the pole and hoping the tent falls.
Ask how many people support OWS, you'll get a lot of affirmative answers. Ask how many people support the physical actions that OWS is taking in parks and across the nation, occupying public spaces, sleeping in tents and on sidewalks, resisting police authority and thumbing their nose at public figures... all of which costs us, the taxpayers, money... and you'll get a lot less positive responses.
It ain't over.... And you're right--the number of Americans that SUPPORT what OWS is all about is growing daily.
The more the heavy-handed tactics are employed to try to shut them down, the more they create new people who are fed up enough to join them. Is the "inconvenience" starting to irritate some? You bet... That's part of the point. And the people who are getting irritated are the same kind of people who were irritated at the peace-movement protesters of the '60s. Anything that shakes the status-quo must be some sort of "communism"... rofllol
Since it's obvious from the way people throw the "communism" charge around that they have no idea what it really means, it just shows the desperation of those who are threatened.
Good point about the public relations. Maybe they should work harder on being better neighbors, supporting the small businesses in the area instead of throwing blood and urine on the food carts that refuse to give them free food.
Thomas Sowell: There are no solutions, just trade-offs.
