Occupy Austin, y'all!

So, for this round, I decided to take a look at how the other half lives. That is, I took a look around at some of the more conservative, right-leaning blogs around the state. There's very interesting stuff out there (both on the left and the right). Unsurprisingly, I disagreed with much and that's alright by me. I didn't expect to agree and appreciate the other side's opinions. But, I found this little lovely on UrbanGrounds.com and found myself feeling a bit perturbed.

The article pretty much lambastes the Occupy Austin movement's activists as "slackers, professional protesters, and brainwashed Liberal college kids." They amount to nothing more than whiners who are "coveting that which [they] did not earn nor deserve." A picture of a young man is featured in this piece. He is tattooed, lip-pierced and bearded while holding a sign asking to be able to work for an education. The writer finds him "mockable" and "unemployable" based only on his appearance. So much for individualism...

I cannot disagree with this article more. The young man in the picture should be respected. Political activism is always a good thing. Being motivated to attempt change in government, whether big or small, is always a good thing. Even if stand on the other side of the line than me, it's a good thing to get politically active. He and his community of "slackers" are out there doing something. I find the author's write-off of this movement based on surface judgements offensive, even deplorable. It would be wise to know what the movement is about before being so quick to judge. The participants are not looking for freebies and hand-outs. Ending corporate corruption, environmental protection, equality, fair work practices are some of the goals of the movement. Now that doesn't sound too bad to me.

Occupy Wall Street was the starter of the movement and has prompted many across the globe to join in. I had the good fortune to be in New York City last weekend. I was able to see the gathering in Zuccotti Park first hand. What I saw was a large group of every race, age, gender and social class gathered together in a non-disruptive, peaceful fashion. It was inspiring to see so many gathered together trying to make a change in the government. There's was definite solidarity within this community. It's awesome to see it happening at our own City Hall. I hope to see this affect politicians on every level of government to listen to what the 99% out there have to say.