Opinion: Occupy L.A.: It’s time for a bigger mission
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Regardless of when the Occupy L.A. protesters get booted from City Hall’s dying lawn, it’s clear they need to devise a Plan B. It’s no longer enough to rebel against society in general ... (a world that Rolling Stone’s Matt Taibbi describes this way:)
We’re all born wanting the freedom to imagine a better and more beautiful future. But modern America has become a place so drearily confining and predictable that it chokes the life out of that built-in desire. Everything from our pop culture to our economy to our politics feels oppressive and unresponsive. We see 10 million commercials a day, and every day is the same life-killing chase for money, money and more money; the only thing that changes from minute to minute is that every tick of the clock brings with it another space-age vendor dreaming up some new way to try to sell you something or reach into your pocket. The relentless sameness of the two-party political system is beginning to feel like a Jacob’s Laddernightmare with no end; we’re entering another turn on the four-year merry-go-round, and the thought of having to try to get excited about yet another minor quadrennial shift in the direction of one or the other pole of alienating corporate full-of-****ness is enough to make anyone want to smash his own hand flat with a hammer.
… they need to start narrowing in on the root of the problem.
Naturally, readers on our discussion board have some suggestions. They need to get jobs, says one reader. They need to prioritize hygiene, says another. But there are some productive comments too.
What the protesters need, say some, is a nationally-focused game plan. Why not occupy the Pentagon, suggests a reader by the name ‘Whicheverone’: ‘you know people, we are paying Pakistan billions of dollars every year in foreign aid payoffs, so why don’t you demonstrate against that! The Mayor doesn’t care, he is just look for his next job.”
If Mayor Villaraigosa didn’t care, the Occupiers would have vacated long ago. But this reader does make a strong point otherwise. Protesters across the country should band together and narrow their focus.
Here’s one idea, care of Occupy Wall Street itself:
[Chart via I Love Charts via Think Progress]
RELATED:
Occupy L.A.: The eviction that wasn’t
Occupy’s freeloading freedom fighters
Occupy Wall Street: Civil society’s awakening
--Alexandra Le Tellier
