# What are the Occupiers up to?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-occupiers-up-to/620117
**Category:** Politics & Elections
**Created:** [April 27, 2012, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-occupiers-up-to/620117 "2012-04-27T12:24:59Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@What\_the](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_the)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2012, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-occupiers-up-to/620117/1 "2012-04-27T12:24:59Z")
Are there any significant occupations ongoing?
Have their plans for the political conventions been announced?
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### Author:  [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2012, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-occupiers-up-to/620117/2 "2012-04-27T13:26:23Z")
Apparently [they’re planning something for May Day.](http://www.occupytogether.org/)
> [@](#):
>
> **What YOU Can Do on May Day**
>
> April 19th, 2012 · Ella · direct action 11 comments - Tags: #M1, #M1GS, american spring, direct action, general strike, may day, occupy movement
>
> May Day is an international day of celebration to honor the labor movement. This year the Occupy movement has made a call for mass action—the May First General Strike (#M1GS): a day without the 99%. [Over 115 US cities](http://occupywallst.org/article/may-day/) have organized in solidarity with this call to action.
>
> A general strike is a way to build and demonstrate the power of the people. It’s a way to show this is a system that only exists because we allow it to. If we can withdraw from the system for one day we can use that day to build community and mutual aid. We can find inspiration and faith—not in any leaders or bosses but in each other and in ourselves.
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### Author:  [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2012, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-occupiers-up-to/620117/3 "2012-04-27T14:32:49Z")
They’re occupied with something else.
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### Author:  [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2012, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-occupiers-up-to/620117/4 "2012-04-27T14:41:04Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#):
>
> They’re occupied with something else.
Does that me they’re pre-occupied?
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### Author:  [@What\_the](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_the)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2012, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-occupiers-up-to/620117/5 "2012-04-27T14:46:49Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#):
>
> Apparently [they’re planning something for May Day.](http://www.occupytogether.org/)
Wow that’s Tuesday. I hadn’t heard… must not be on their mailing list.
Don’t the Communists usually do something on May Day too?
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### Author:  [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2012, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-occupiers-up-to/620117/6 "2012-04-27T15:35:38Z")
> [@What\_the](#):
>
> Wow that’s Tuesday. I hadn’t heard… must not be on their mailing list.
>
> Don’t the Communists usually do something on May Day too?
May Day is celebrated as [International Workers’ Day](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Workers%27_Day) in 80 countries (but not this one, we had to put our “Labor Day” in September for some reason), so, yeah.
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### Author:  [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2012, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-occupiers-up-to/620117/7 "2012-04-27T15:40:47Z")
I predict a lot of well-meaning earnest people will come out and march, and then a small contingent of violent dickheads will spoil it for everyone.
Again.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2012, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-occupiers-up-to/620117/8 "2012-04-27T17:54:02Z")
> [@](#):
>
> May Day is celebrated as International Workers’ Day in 80 countries (but not this one, we had to put our “Labor Day” in September for some reason)
Because we were afraid of the communist association with May Day, and needed something else to preempt it.
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### Author:  [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2012, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-occupiers-up-to/620117/9 "2012-04-27T18:06:00Z")
> [@](#):
>
> …and then a small contingent of violent dickheads will spoil it for everyone.
Certainly what I would expect, been a pattern going back to Bad Old Days. But it seems to me that this last set of Occupy protests bent the paradigm a bit, the attention whoring shit disturbers were much less in evidence. And I think I may know why.
The first Occupy gatherings were more or less spontaneous, propagated by Twitter, Inyer Facebook, so on. Not through the “traditional” lefty conduits, which had two beneficial effects. First off, it reached people who do not pay attention to standard political activity, who are not advised through political outlets, left or right. As a result, the asshole fringe was just as uninformed and clueless as the rest of us.
Second, it allows a more non-political discussion. As it happens, most of these problems, if not all, are the result of rightish ideology. That’s a true fact, you could look it up. But by eschewing “agenda” and ideology, Occupy got to concentrate on publicizing the problems, without necessarily offering a solution, or offering the solution.
Progressivism is, to one degree or another, a matter of faith. We believe that reasonable and well meaning people, given the facts, will come to very similar conclusions as we have, since we are reasonable and well meaning people. Of course, its taking a lot longer than we thought…
But, if we can simply lay out the problem of too much money in too few hands, the solution to that problem is bound to be somewhat progressive. In our outreach, we may not need to assert our solutions in order to get people activated and relevant. We don’t need an agenda. We simply need to state the problems clearly, and let non-political people go through the reasoning processes so that they arrive where we are already sitting, waiting.
Progress by stealth. People are suspicious of agenda, as well they might be. Occupy activities were relentlessly mocked for lacking a clear and stated agenda, but maybe they are on to something, there.
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### Author:  [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2012, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-occupiers-up-to/620117/10 "2012-04-27T19:36:48Z")
> [@Gyrate](#):
>
> I predict a lot of well-meaning earnest people will come out and march, and then a small contingent of violent dickheads will spoil it for everyone.
>
> Again.
Bear in mind that no violent dickheads spoiled the first OWS occupation, except those wearing blue uniforms.
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### Author:  [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2012, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-occupiers-up-to/620117/11 "2012-04-27T21:58:11Z")
I deliberately did not exclude members of the police force from the category of “violent dickheads”. I haven’t forgotten [Ian Tomlinson](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Ian_Tomlinson).
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### Author:  [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2012, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-occupiers-up-to/620117/12 "2012-04-27T22:08:32Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#):
>
> Apparently [they’re planning something for May Day.](http://www.occupytogether.org/)
I expect what the Occupiers are doing, but that sounds all kinds of assholish.
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### Author:  [@Saltire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saltire)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2012, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-occupiers-up-to/620117/13 "2012-04-27T22:24:31Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#):
>
> May Day is celebrated as [International Workers’ Day](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Workers%27_Day) in 80 countries (but not this one, we had to put our “Labor Day” in September for some reason), so, yeah.
The weird thing is that May Day was chosen to honor the Haymarket Riot, which happened here in the USA in 1886, in Chicago. But we’re one of the countries that doesn’t make a big deal about it.
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### Author:  [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2012, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-occupiers-up-to/620117/14 "2012-04-27T22:42:37Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#):
>
> I expect what the Occupiers are doing, but that sounds all kinds of assholish.
:rolleyes: Like the [Great American Boycott](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_American_Boycott) was assholish?
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### Author:  [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2012, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-occupiers-up-to/620117/15 "2012-04-28T05:02:23Z")
> [@What\_the](#):
>
> Don’t the Communists usually do something on May Day too?
If you go to the occupier’s website (at least in Seattle), it’s not too unclear that they’re mostly lead by Socialists.
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### Author:  [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2012, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-occupiers-up-to/620117/16 "2012-04-28T06:18:51Z")
> [@What\_the](#):
>
> Are there any significant occupations ongoing?
There is absolutely nothing significant about this “movement”. They’ve accomplished nothing, and they aren’t going to accomplish anything.
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### Author:  [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2012, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-occupiers-up-to/620117/17 "2012-04-28T07:02:13Z")
The only thing less significant than being talked about is not being talked about. You’re talking about them. But they ain’t talking about you. Oscar Wilde said a similar thing about squash, but seems never to have mentioned broccoli.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2012, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-occupiers-up-to/620117/18 "2012-04-28T07:16:13Z")
> [@](#):
>
> There is absolutely nothing significant about this “movement”. They’ve accomplished nothing, and they aren’t going to accomplish anything.
Would you say the same thing about the Tea Party? Because the Occupy movement is everything that the Tea Party claims to be.
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### Author:  [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2012, 9:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-occupiers-up-to/620117/19 "2012-04-28T09:13:35Z")
> [@Chronos](#):
>
> Would you say the same thing about the Tea Party? Because the Occupy movement is everything that the Tea Party claims to be.
No it isn’t. The Tea Party, for good or ill, is a political force to be reckoned with. They have organization, and more importantly, money. They’ve parlayed that into actually electing candidates to pursue their agenda.
Meanwhile, the Occupy folks have managed to…camp in parks. They have no organization, no money, and no influence with anybody that matters.
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### Author:  [@gamerunknown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gamerunknown)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2012, 9:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-occupiers-up-to/620117/20 "2012-04-28T09:56:52Z")
> [@Oakminster](#):
>
> They have organization, and more importantly, money. They’ve parlayed that into actually electing candidates to pursue their agenda.
As someone that’s attended a general assembly and talked to various people at the Occupy protests, this is precisely the difference between the two protests. I would say no candidate requiring independent funding would support such a movement, but I suppose Elizabeth Warren did so indirectly. The issue seems clear: corporate advertisers would not benefit from an Occupy candidate and would not support the exposure of reasonable arguments by them to a general public. Unless one holds that all mainstream views are encapsulated by the range of broadcast media in the US and a lack of favourable hearings to Occupy is a conspiracy theory.
That said, Occupy has at least seeped through into the public conscious, with resignations over their right to protest from Giles Fraser for instance.
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