Occupy Wall Street. This topic has been discussed countless times, and I'm sure like most people you could definitely live without another Occupy article; however I'm going to throw my hat in and try to discuss Occupy and new media... and how I see it.
I am not going to lie; I kept myself pretty distant from the Occupy protests. I didn't really read much about them and I didn't really support the movement in general, or at least what it became. I watched the news and heard of updates as to when different camps were shut down, and any news coming out of those camps. You could say I had a biased view of the movement, but I did also try to get a better understanding of the cause through discussing Occupy with friends, family and by participating in class discussions of the movement with peers at school.
From my understanding, Occupy Wall Street had humble beginnings. People wanted to come together and promote change, they wanted to show the government and big businesses that they were the 99% and they were at an unfair disadvantage. People were mad that corporations were being bailed out, they were frustrated living in a society of debt. It seemed however that the use of new media destroyed their cause.
To me, Occupy Wall Street could have been a successful movement; however it ended up an unfocused mess which I equate to being like, "too many chefs in the kitchen."
This movement was accelerated and spread by new media. As the poster below shows, people in the Occupy movement didn't trust main stream media...they wanted the facts spread through 'their' networks. Social media sources like Twitter and Tumblr helped feed the movement and kept participants informed on every little update.
I believe new media can bring about great change. People can spread information and come together for great things; however I also believe new media can have extremely negative effects. There are pros and cons to the access of technology and information in the world today, and I think the Occupy movement went on a downward spiral and fell from reaching its true potential.
Images like these and scenes like the ones shown above really upset me and make my blood boil. Smartphones and technology can take a situation and misconstrue it completely. We don't know that this protester was not swearing and engaging a peace officer, or breaking the law....all we see is someone being take down by police and we make our own assumptions. In NY, it is illegal to have more than 2 people wearing masks. So as many people have seen, the Occupiers and other vigilante groups like Anonymous have chosen to wear Guy Fawkes masks. If there were a group of people, knowingly breaking the law and wearing these masks....then why are the police officers criminals for arresting them!? I saw an Occupy video where a person was getting arrested and he refused to get up. Then this sh|t-disturber girl recording was like "Sir, why are you dragging him, could you not get him on his feet?" (to the cop) So of course... we see the video and think, 'Oh that officer is a monster'...when in reality, you see him try to lift the man up. You see that the protester does not make any attempt to stand on his feet and keeps his knees bent. Then after the girl's comments, the protester continued to make it difficult for the officer by screaming and squirming.
There were signs all over the internet that many protesters had no clue what they were really there for.
The first two signs are just infuriating. Why would you go down and waste a voice at a protest. It's like living in a democracy and not voting, or just showing up and drawing a smiley face on the ballot...what's the point!? Why not write a real message to add some validity to the movement?
Then the last image you have some chick angry that she has $80,000 in student debt. She clearly went to a school with high tuition; she chose or was unable to work during school and has amassed some debt. Why is this our problem? She can work and pay that debt off. Applying for that debt, she willingly entered a contract for that money. People need to take responsibility for their lives. Work hard, save money....pay off debt and become part of that elite class that they so badly despise.
Let's step back for a moment. If you were at work, say you work at a grocery store and were trying to scan some groceries, would you be able to think if you had a group of people standing all around you, there's a huge commotion....constant noise, you're trying to enter codes and focus on your work, you have dozens of people questioning you and shouting orders at you, people are throwing things on or blocking your scanner.... How would you feel? How do you think the cops feel!?
I watch these videos and I see time and time again officers trying to do their job, they're trying to keep order, arrest people breaking the law, and next thing you know their home addresses and phone numbers are pasted on the internet and their lives are now in danger and their rights are now violated because they were trying to do their job. Then to make matters worse, they have 100s of cameras in their faces, they have people yelling, they have uncooperative suspects.
These people are on our side, they are protecting us, working in the same cities as us and face the same labour markets and economies as us. I just believe that new media does not do anything more than bully people that are trying to do their job, especially law enforcement. I'm a strong believer in truth and knowing all sides of the story. I feel like people in the Occupy movement shut out any opinions or rational arguments that could hurt their cause and just used new media to shed a negative view on anyone not part of their cause.
Why aren't people protesting celebrities and Hollywood!? You watch an episode of cribs and you see pop stars with 6 cars and a mansion they probably live in less than 1/4 of the year. Why is it that because they can sing or act they are better in the eyes of these occupiers than CEOs who help manage their companies and take them into being global leaders?
I just feel that Occupy ended as a horribly unorganized mess of movements that lost focus and momentum. If they stuck to Wall Street and opened dialogue with the government and businesses to bring about change and to stop big bailouts and to start social programs and increase awareness to other problems in society, then this would have been a better movement. Occupy had the potential to really ignite some change, but having crowds in random cities, especially outside of the United States was just ridiculous. We as Canadians have universal healthcare, we have done relatively well with the economic crises through our leader Stephen Harper... I just don't believe we had the same issues as the Occupy Wall Street people, and should not have been involved in the movement.
To end and clarify....I don't think that Occupy Wall Street was useless cause, I just think it needed more solidarity, more unity in one location. New media enables us to achieve new lengths in social awareness and understanding. The goal however it to make sure our message comes out in the right way and does not lose site of the original goal. I am sure the frustration has not disappeared and that there will be a renewed era of protest and opposition towards big businesses and corporate greed, I just hope that the new revolution brings about more change than memes, photos and videos that fall on deaf eyes & ears.
