Occupy Wall Street: Raising Awareness or Apathy?

One of the claims I hear from OWS participants is that they are raising awareness and they're really proud of how much awareness they are raising. Bringing the conversation to the table. Putting the conversation on the front page. A movement spreading like wildfires.

A November 21 USA TODAY poll  suggests that 6 out of 10 people don't care. 56% of people surveyed feel indifferent. Not angry or hateful towards OWS. They don't care. Take it or leave it, either way, its whatever.

Bello cites English Professor (WSU) T.V. Reed, who besides having two interesting first initials, claims that well, you see, these things take time. "The Occupy strategy is not going away".

Okay, first of all WHAT STRATEGY? Of annoying people to the point of apathy?

Secondly, okay can't argue with that - only time will tell if its going away or not. But that doesn't reconcile the fact that people claim to be raising awareness of issues and that is not verified by hard evidence - I really challenge anyone who isn't already an OWS supporter to name 5 five specific complaints (because in addition to the demands, that's really what they are, not suggestions: suggestions are often specific and don't say solutions are out there, suggestions suggest the solution, complaints on the other hand...have no such responsibility).

The movement needs to be about more than this, and the way you are doing it is ill-conceived. You should have a lot more in store than civil disobedience, and some sort of actual tangible goal you aim to produce with your civil disobedience, not just "attention" (again making you sound like children) especially since its the wrong sort of attention. Your "civil disobedience" demonstrations need to be thought through much more. You need to have the goal in "raising awareness" of not just getting on television.. but also in thinking of how to present your message and what the messages are.

What are you up against? Apathy. 

If you think that isn't a big enough problem, and it is, you are also up against massively skilled rhetoricians and propagandists.

You will not be around for a long time, you will not get anything tangible done, and you will not make a difference unless you change your game-plan and change it now. You define the discourse, you consider the rhetoric, you shape the message. Do it now, or it will be done for you.

You will not succeed without realizing what you are truly up against and it is naive to think you can survive much less succeed in this way. You will be crushed like a bug, like a fairy swallowed whole by the trolls under the bridge, if you don't really and truly act, with courage and conscience, now.