Nurse the Hate: Occupy Wall Street

I can’t help but feeling many of the people involved in the “Occupy Wall Street” movement across this country are the same people that complained as kids when things didn’t go their way. Of course, it doesn’t really help that there doesn’t appear to be a cohesive point to this thing, except to get across the basic point of “I don’t have enough money, and I should get more. It’s unfair.” You knew that when all those years of praising kids regardless of outcome, and giving every kid a trophy in recreational soccer would come back to bite you in the ass sooner or later, didn’t you? “Billy, your team finished eighth, but you sure tried! Here’s a trophy just like the winners got!” Life is competitive. There are winners and there are losers. If you can’t figure out how to win, complaining that the game is unfair isn’t going to help. You better find an edge. Also, if you are going to complain, at least complain about something worth complaining about. It’s all a matter of focus.

If everyone took to the streets to hang Wall Street Criminals from lamp posts, I could get behind that. A little guillotine action in the Financial District would straighten a lot of that shit out. That smarmy investment shyster will think twice about cooking the books and leaving people like you and me out to dry if his head ended up on a pike if he got caught. Ivy League students aren’t exactly known for embracing physical challenges and mass violence. (See War, Vietnam) As it is now, everyone in the system covers everyone else’s ass. The angry mob with torches storming Goldman Sachs will probably keep those pussies in line more than a fine and stern talk. But this isn’t about that is it?

This appears to be every person that spent their early twenties on a friend’s couch smoking weed defending why they weren’t going to class/work gathered in one place. How do you know there are some folks detached from The Real World? The bongo drum. When you see a drum circle form, you are going to get some very naïve ideas about how the world works. “Hey man, there’s enough for all of us. Let’s share all the resources. You go grow some wheat. Have your buddy make the flour. Have someone else make some bread. I’ll be here making love with my new special friend “Star Shine”. Bring us some bread when you’re done working.”

Sometimes it makes me feel like one of those crewcut Union guys that wanted to bash hippies in the head in 1968. Of course, the main difference between 1968 and now is a unified tangible purpose. In 1968 an entire generation wanted to end a senseless war that was killing their friends. In 2011 some ex-Starbucks employees want to be able to get a new iPhone and X-box without having to work that hard to get it. It’s pretty hard to get excited about that, much less write a good protest song about that. People overthrow governments when they can’t eat, not when they can’t eat at Ruth Chris Steakhouse.

The bottom line is that some people have more than others. The people that have the wealth write the rules to make sure they keep the wealth. That was true in 1612 and it’s going to be true in 2012.


P.S. I have been writing sports crap for Defend Cleveland. Check out my take on Peyton Hillis here http://www.defendclevelandshow.com/2011/10/18/defend-hillis/