Occupy: Hot Chicks and The Empire Strikes Back

Politics for Joe
October 15, 2011
By: Hubert O’Hearn
For: Lake Superior News

Equally to my delight and relief, the Occupy Movement is no longer operating within a Cone of Silence. A quick Google search of ‘Occupy Together’, the catch-all name for the activities associated with the activism emerging from the original Occupy Wall Street, sprang out a pretty impressive 209,000,000 results. Indeed, it is now worldwide. A quick list of countries and/or cities with Occupations either on-going or planned:

United States of America (50+ cities)
Canada (Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Ottawa, Thunder Bay)
New Zealand (Wellington, Christchurch)
Germany (Frankfurt)
Italy (Rome, Milan)
Spain (Madrid, Barcelona)
South Korea (Seoul)
Australia (Sydney, Melbourne)

… and on and on

And yes, a news result on Google peaked my curiousity. Searching ‘hot chicks of Occupy Wall Street’ displays (good grief!) 29,800,000 results!

However, just to put life in perspective: ‘hot chicks of the Tea Party’ also yields 21,600,000 results; although ‘hot chicks of the Republican Party’ only coughs up a relatively paltry 1,810,000. And just to finish this off - the Democrats have even less - 1,660,000. So the obvious lesson for males with lecherous intent is avoid your precinct caucus and grab a tent instead.

You're supposed to be looking at THE SIGN!

The point of all this (besides undoubtedly popping this column to the top of SEO searches) is that Occupy is now creating its own weather. It has momentum, growth and the single most important factor for a social movement: coolness. It’s new, it’s hot, and now it’s sexy.

Now that can be both a strength and a weakness. People who wander out to an Occupy event just to ‘see what all the shouting’s about’ yield numbers, which is good; and a lack of true believer commitment, which can be very bad. For the first time I worry about violent acts. Random thugs who sneak into an Occupation hoping to do a smash-and-grab under cover of a large crowd are now a real possibility. They are the same thugs who do the same thing when a big city team wins a major sports championship. So, I worry.

The greater worry though is what the Power, the 1% will do in response. Clearly the suffocation response has not worked. Big Media has been hauled out to cover the events. Any remaining credibility would be lost if the Occupation was ignored. Furthermore, the sniffy dismissals of, ‘they have no agenda’ have been dealt with and have turned into a boomerang. People are now bringing more agenda items: student debt, renewable energy, labour rights, etc. etc. I don’t think I’m exaggerating one bit when I say that the entire field of public policy has been put into play - it’s not just bringing back Glass-Steagall (the American banking regulations Act that has been dismantled over the past 30 years) any more.

So what has been offered up in response is...Herman Cain? It’s not that Cain has a snowball’s chance of being either President or even the Republican Presidential nominee. I’m on the record as saying if Cain is the Republican nominee, I will jump out of a cake, slowly strip to the sounds of Peggy Lee’s ‘Fever’ and stick a burning sparkler between my butt cheeks - all of this at your worst enemy’s next birthday party. Trust me, you wouldn’t wish that on your friends.

But Cain is a distraction. ‘Hey! Look over here! Black guy with EZ tax plans!’ And Big Media have turned their heads in his direction.

His 9-9-9 plan is an idiot’s dream. A 9% flat tax on individual income, 9% on corporate income and a 9% sales tax. Oh please spare me. Lowering corporate taxes to 9% while raising the price of toilet paper 9% is an Idiot’s Guide to Economic Idiots.

The second response in the U.S. has been the 53% movement. Supposedly 47% of the people in the U.S. pay no income tax. This is supposed to enrage the middle class. It well should, but not for the reasons the 53% founders want. There are over 46 million people in the U.S. living in poverty. That makes a pretty good chunk of that 47%. Once again, a possible boomerang effect.

Two more parts to come in this series. Next time out, we start to look at the next step - how to build on this momentum and create real change.

Be seeing you.