Time For Last For Rites For OWS

If you aren't old enough to remember the Beatles and the British Pop Invasion, then you may no get this reference, but the Occupy Wall Street fad was to the Tea Party what the Monkees were to the Beatles. And, while I mean to highlight the manufactured nature of both second comings, the comparison isn't fair to the Monkees who were likeable and in the end actually had some talent and integrity. The Monkees were not content with the concocted bubble they existed within, they wanted their individuality, and they wanted to show that they had an earned place at the table; Mike Nesmith has done the most with his ambition and effort. But, they all transcended the reactionary bubble they were created within. Maybe some individuals from the Occupy madness will also take their fervent desires to better heights, but mostly they are now marked for what the group as a whole has been shown to be; a desperate attempt to counter the citizens revolt that is the Tea Party. The Beatles lead an invasion of British bands and showcase real American music to Americans, slick media types must have an American response they can manipulate; enter the Monkees. The Tea Party retro-patriotism mushrooms as citizens of all political affiliation congeal in response as governments at all levels  lose there American way and threaten to economically derail our great experiment; the propagandists create the Occupy Wall Street mayhem.

Walter Russel Mead has more on the demise of OWS.

Much of the Tea Party’s influence was negative from a Republican point of view: weak Senate candidates nominated by Tea Party enthusiasm dragged the GOP down to defeat in Delaware and Nevada races. In other cases, Tea Party enthusiasm increased turnout and swung close races to the GOP. But like it or loathe it the Tea Party did — and does — make a difference. Politicians seek its support; its leaders have taken over local party organizations and made waves in race after race across the country.

OWS is not in the same league. Despite generally favorable coverage from the MSM (something the Tea Party has never had), OWS has essentially fallen apart. It is not a significant presence on the streets; it is not a significant presence in Democratic Party politics; it is not a significant presence in the national conversation. Its vaunted strategy of shunning conventional politics in favor of self organizing groups making decisions from day to day more or less evanesced into space while the Tea Party, equally anarchic, did in fact spawn the kinds of movements and political changes that the OWS crowd did not.

I will always feel a sense of despair that the Tea Party is believed to be equivalent to the Republican Party, I did not feel that I was signing on to the GOP when I attended a local Tea Party rally, (my first and only political demonstration ever, I began voting in 1972, never before did I feel the cause warranted my presence),  But, that is where the media pigeonholed them, and Lord knows what the media wants the masses will accept. The masses are such lemmings. The Tea Party transcended any Party, and to a great extent remain unaffiliated, look at how many old school pols decry what they are doing to the traditional methods of Party, the Tea Baggers are carrying the day where corrupt practices and blind obedience failed us.

But, dealing with media propaganda is nothing new, or going away soon. So, let those fools ply their trade, and let the lemmings parade off the cliff with them. They will tell you it isn't so, yet, but the the OWS phenomenon is on life support provided by that media. It should not recover, it serves no purpose as constructed. If there is a legitimate argument to be made about income disparity, and capital, then now is not a good time to bring it forward; the Occupy crowd has fouled the waters of reason as surely as they fouled the streets with excrement, rape, violence and general foolishness. It is time to pull the plug on them, they are done.