Occupy Wall Street Essays

“Occupy Wall Street” For three months now, a movement known as “Occupy Wall Street” has swept the U.S. and has spread throughout the world. Their goal is to end social and economic inequality and they have taken over the attention of the media. Due to all the attention it has drawn, it has definitely been a success so far and who knows how long it will continue to grow despite all of the non-believers. People cannot sit back and judge this movement from the outside when the idea behind it is a very serious one. The movement known as “Occupy Wall Street” began on September 17, 2011 and has been the cause of a lot of talk due to the violence and arrests that have resulted. It all started in Manhattan where these angry citizens from all over the country set up tents and protested in areas where they could not get arrested. Their slogan, “We are the 99%” states their claim that there is a growing difference in wealth between the wealthiest 1% and the rest of the American population. They have put forth a lot of demands that would head us towards a more egalitarian society which shows they are left-wingers. Throughout this three-month span, a lot of wild events have occurred such as the arresting of 700 angry protesters who blocked the Brooklyn Bridge on October 1st. According to Stephen Foley in “Support for 'Occupy Wall Street' protest boosted by mass arrests” protesters have said that the police lured them onto the road where they proceeded to arrest them (1). There seems to have been a trend in stories involving the mistreating of protesters by the police which has, in turn, increased support. Despite this fact, the movement is still growing and has not slowed down. Gaining attention is one thing Occupy Wall Street has done perfectly and it has helped them greatly with gaining support. There are three main reasons for this with the first being how much it has spread since it has started. Occupy Calgary, which started in the middle of October, is the first movement out of the country. It is, however, different than Occupy Wall Street because its more peaceful-like nature as said by Damien Wood in “Activist plan Occupy Wall Street protest north of border.” (3) He also says that these protesters, like that of Occupy Wall Street are still willing to take some pain for what they believe and they are very adamant about what they are doing (3). The second reason for this attention is the fact that their main goal is to fix pieces of the economy and society which is an extremely important thing. A lot of people are in financial crisis’ and when they see that these people are trying to fix the economy they are willing to jump on the bandwagon and support them. The third reason for the attention is the amount of violence and arrests that have been made. All of the conflict that has happened is a media persons dream. This attention is propelling the Occupy movement into becoming a big threat.
For most people, the Occupy Wall Street movement is a pure waste of time. They have no leadership and organization and a lot of people do not even know what their main goal is. Their decentralized nature has come with little official demands and most of the time they are asking for ridiculous things such as a minimum wage of $20 an hour which is almost $13 more than it is now. The movement, although quite young, lacks structure and someone who can stand up and speak for everyone. Dan Gainor in “Occupy Wall Street – More Than Just Another Loony Protest Movement From the Left” says the protesters are “mostly young, rarely bathe, and chant a lot.” (4) People against the movement say this is a sign of a weak protest and one that should not even be looked at. They are merely judging it and before they know it, this could turn into something major. According to Joe Pompeo in his article “The “Occupy Wall Street”

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Essay on Occupy Wall Street