The power of messaging, riding on the back of a propaganda machine can turn a movement into a circus. The OccupyWallstreet movement was originally a protest against the financial industry, it's lobby, the US congressmen and senators who support legislation that facilitated fraud, mortgage servicer fraud, pension raiding, high risk investments, that created the credit crunch with the too big to fail approach. The movement is suppose to be the "we are not going to take it anymore and we are going to vote out congressional members that support corporations at the expense of the people". A teaparty sort; more like the french revolution, from the Marie Atwonette protester's point of view. A referendum, to illicit job creating legislation, and retribution.
Instead, the protest has become a melodramatic circus, with people jumping on the bandwagon all over the country for the sake of expressing their anger and disdain in a bubble. Without a centralized messaging strategy it has morphed into an unorganized circus of testifier's and holy ghost enactments against banks. That was displayed with this George Washington Law student who screamed and yelled like "big mama at a sad funeral", while begging to be arrested. The spectacle diminished the objective, and the message was lost in translation. That was not effective Civil disobedience.
The movement is suppose to send a message to elected officials. Those officials must comprehend the repercussions of the "people's anger". That anger will turn into votes against politicians that erode governmental protections. Oust politicians that push financial deregulation which facilitates the fraud and thievery that has destabilized the economy. Most importantly, preserve the equity of American working class by voting out politicians that push risky convoluted investment instruments, tax loopholes which give corporations moving off shore to evade taxation and exporting jobs. Or politicians that protect only wealthy Americans that legally evade taxes, while their corporations receive outlandish tax subsidies paid for by the American people.
The video below shows a George Washington law student screaming about the bank that foreclosed on his parents house. It is incredibly tragic. However, he should have articulated the actual injustices; the mortgage servicer fraud, predatory lending practices and aggressive illegal foreclosures violating mortgage regulatory laws that the government ignored.
In addition, the financial industry driven globalization has exported jobs to cheap labor countries. The loss of American jobs has driven down demand for products due to lack of consumer income from joblessness. Buffoonery does little for making change. It appears 21st century Liberals have shut Jessie Jackson out of this administration. Jessie Jackson has 50 years of human rights, equal rights, civil disobedience, social justice, logistical protests and communications. Without his participation, it appears the voice of the voiceless has been silenced. The Obama administration has had the tables turned on them by the Teaparty.
To hedge off the OccupyWallSt movement from becoming a mockery, operatives of this movement should enlist Jessie Jackson's consultation; before all this screaming and yelling falls on deaf ears. This movement needs management leadership and clear communications to be heard. Change can't happen if no one is listening. OccupyWallST has spread to Los Angeles, Austin, Portland, and Washington DC. The message must be passionately articulated in a measured disposition with a smooth delivery.
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