I recently received an invitation (finally, something different on the ward listserve!) to join an Occupy DC march to the Convention Center last night to protest the Republican gathering there. I was tempted...I'll admit that it's mostly because I just have this really strong desire to join some kind of movement (and I kind of like this one to some degree). Maybe it's so that in the future I can say "Yeah, I was there." Instead, I will probably be saying, "Yeah, I knew people who were there but I had to study, was lazy, didn't want to pay the metro fare to get there...etc." So lame, but that's the way it is. Plus, it's getting cold here.
Anyway, I feel like this article is a sign that I was right not to go yesterday. Maybe I'll make it to the next event. Maybe. If it fits into my class schedule.
2 comments:
I love your honesty about having the desire to join a movement. I think (maybe I'm wrong) that a lot of "occupiers" around the country are in the same boat - they want to take a stand for/against *something* they are angry/passionate about and this seemed like one that was getting some press, so why not? I'm curious about which points you appreciate in the movement. I find their approach a bit vague (among other things) -- which is probably what makes it easy for lots of people to get caught up in the excitement and join the crusade. :)
I totally get what you mean when you said you wanted to be able to say, "I was there." Jeff told me that he wanted to go to the Occupy SF camp to go check it out. Not necessarily be a part of it but to say he was there. He kept talking about how he just wanted to see if it was really as crazy as the media kept portraying it. Jeff said in school growing up everyone always learned about famous protests like the Vietnam protests. In the history books they are always portrayed as these intense movements, so Jeff said he was curious to see what it was actually like. So we went late one night and it was weird.
I'm glad you didn't go. It was smelly. People were smelly. Weed was everywhere. People were playing guitars and doing nothing. Homeless people were running-a-muck and making it smell even worse. Blech. If that is what these movements are like, I don't want to be a part of it. Yucky. And it just ends up seeming kind of stupid to me. Why are they protesting Wall Street when they should be occupying Capital Hill and protesting the policies that have made people poor.
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