The Occupy Wall Street movement is spreading like a rash on the face of North American Capitalism (this used to say "the Occupy Wall Street Movement is spreading like HPV on the ass of Western Capitalist Society"...but I decided it was too awesome a metaphor to be appreciated by readers of a newspaper literally called the "Nugget"). The movement has seeped Canada in the form of Occupy Toronto, and Occupy Bay Street, among others. According to the Sudbury Star, it has even travelled farther North, catching on in Sudbury last Saturday. Recently I was informed that the movements supporters here in North Bay will even be "Occupying" North Bay City Hall this Friday.
Let me first say that I understand the desire for change. As a student, with heaps of personal and student debt as well as copious amounts of seemingly endless bills in the mail every day, and having grown up less than rich, having relied on social assistance for a short time, with a mother working more than 50 hours a week to put food on our table and clothes on our backs, I am no stranger to the plight of the 99.
I understand that people are disenchanted with the political process, angered at the destruction caused by our increasingly competitive and unequal capitalist society. I can also honestly say that I support most forms of political protest if the cause has any sort of rational basis, which this cause, while a bit diluted, clearly does.
However, I find myself unable, as many others, to stand behind this specific movement at this time. The reason for this is quite simple: the recent election boasted astronomically low voter turn-out, the lowest its ever been since 1867. One might argue that people are disenchanted with our system. To me this is a sad excuse. How can you say that the system is broken if you have not attempted to use it? I would equate such an argument to saying you hate the way a Macbook works without ever having strayed from the comfort of your 10 year old PC. The point of course, is that the Macbook is better. I kid of course...
Needless to say (but I will say it nonetheless), my advice to the Occupy "Insert place-name here" movement in Canada is: Vote first, occupy later. Show that you have used our already instated democratic means (which, by the way, our neighbors in the Arab world are still fighting to the death for) to encourage change. If this doesn't work, then I, and most other Occupy skeptics will be more likely to jump on the Occupy bandwagon and ride it with you all the way to a more equal society.
p.s. Just a little side-rant: it is ridiculously easy to vote. I timed myself this year, just to prove to a fellow student how silly he was for saying it was a waste of time. Including travel time by bus it took me 15 minutes and 16 seconds. The average adult Canadian watches 28.8 hours of television a week. Which seems like a bigger waste of time to you?
