3 Things You Need 2 Know about OccupyWallSt

It’s well into the second week now, but I’m not surprised at all if you haven’t heard of OccupyWallSt. So, for my readers today, here are the Top 3 Things You Need to Know about OccupyWallSt. Yes, it’s a departure from my blogging about unconventional shale gas development, but it’s definitely related…

Very simply put, I’m going to tell you the reason they are there, what actions have been occuring, and what the outcomes have been.

Please watch, then read:

#1. The Reason.

Humans are occupying Wall Street because Wall Street is the epicenter of a tacit corporate earthquake that has been undermining the foundations of life. Not “American” life or a certain “version” of life– but life itself. “Whoa, Ada,” you say, “noone’s destroying my way of life!”

Really? Hmmmm.

The best way to summarize The Reason is on one protestor’s sign that said, “We will continue to fight for you until you open your eyes.” That sign was for you. In other words, if you don’t see the Big Picture, a major reason for this protest is to help you out in that regard.

#2. The Protestors’ Actions.

Succinctly: they are peaceful (and, for the most part, legal). In NYC, you can legally sleep on the street. You can meet in public. You can talk with your friends in a park. You can do it all night. And all the next day. Ad infinitum. The protestors have sat, they have marched, they have held signs, they have shouted. They have made visual displays of their bodies that protest corporate sell-out of life.

Compare these actions in Wall Street to the protest in DC during Aug-Sept, in which over 1,250 protestors were arrested over two weeks. They were in front of the White House. There was not a single incident of anything resembling animosity between the police and the protestors.

White Shirt NYPD Top Dog reaches over OWN barricade to assault peaceful protestor (photo: Sean Connors)

#3. The Police Response.

Which brings us to point number three. The actions of the New York Police Department are shameful. Shameful? Yes, shameful. It is indeed a very shameful thing to pen-up a group of young girls and THEN spray mace on them. It is indeed a very shameful thing to pen-up protestors and THEN reach over your own barricade to physcially hurt the protestors that you already have penned-up. It is indeed a very shameful thing to jump on a man having an asthma attack, beat him down, and leave him in critical condition.

This is my understanding of what is transpiring, based on the videos I have seen and the updates from social media. Unfortunately, main stream media isn’t paying too much attention.

None of these people were doing anything illegal. Some of them, for all we know, may not have even intended on being protestors– they could have just been walking home from school or work and been intrigued by what was going on and stepped into the wrong place at the wrong time.

CONCLUSION:

The NYPD should have called the DC Park Police and asked for some pointers on how to handle peaceful protestors without violating their civil rights.

The NYPD should have an actual protocol, should issue warnings, should (essentially) get their act together and decide upon a consistent version of handling protestors. As it is, evidently each NYPD officer has their own personal version of what to do next.

New York, this is NOT the way to run a business, a police force, a city, or a nation.

White Shirt NYPD Admin must be pulled off from protestors by plainclothes cops. (Photo: Robert Stolarick, NYTimes)