Protests and Movements

In spite of my pessimism the "Occupy Wall Street" folks are getting some attention; helped somewhat by the excesses of the NYPD. (One thing that can always be counted on in the US, when the violence starts it will be the police who deliver the first blows.) That is the good news.

That they will probably amount to nothing more than a few headlines for a couple of months is the bad. It isn't that they aren't trying, but they don't seem to know that they want to see happen. "End corruption" they say, without a slightest hint of what corruption is being referenced or what they would do to end it. There is not a single demand for any particular individual to be forced from power or to face a legal tribunal of any form. Bent on being a "peaceful protest" they can't even carry their protest to the Wall Street they hope to occupy. (The Police and their barriers are not going to move without being shoved.)

Still, the fact that there is any "movement" at all forces a little optimism. The media is noticing even if most of the coverage is misleading, critical or downright false. That isn't surprising, coverage of nearly everything is misleading, critical or downright false. (The people who gather, edit and deliver the news are rarely experts in anything. I notice it nearly every time there is news that involves aviation - something I am an expert in. My guess is experts in power systems, oil spill recovery, transportation systems, education, and nearly every other technical field in existence notice the same thing.) More to the point when it comes to the OWS protests, the protesters are directly challenging the very people who own and operate most media outlets; massive corporations and near monopolies who have every motivation to spin the “news” to their advantage. (You don’t really think they will tell the truth if it offends sponsors – who are mostly other massive corporations - and hurts the bottom line, do you?)

But I still don’t think it likely that this will turn into some kind of “American Autumn” and force any real change. I hope I am wrong, but I don’t think a system as badly corrupted as this one can be reformed or repaired. It is failing at nearly every level, overcome by greed and fueled by deliberate ignorance. Facts are ignored or misconstrued, history is revised to fit the narrative of those in power, public opinion does not matter in the least (not that the public bothers to learn much)and even “historic” elections don’t change the direction determined by corporate campaign money and special interest lobbying efforts. No system can survive an assault on so many fronts at once, and a democratic system is particularly sensitive to propaganda, false information, and the twisting of history.

This democratic system is failing. Hopefully a more robust one will rise in its place.