Friday, November 04, 2011

The Hippies of Occupy Wall Street

I remember the the sixties because I was too young to participate.
The spontaneous movement that arose without a leader and without any clear goals with the simple message of "Peace", "Make Love Not War", "Tune In Drop Out"
When I read about the Occupy Wall Street movement I can't help but think about the Hippies because the similarities of these two movements are hard to ignore.

The hippies wanted to change society and so do the OWS protesters.
The hippies wanted to abandon conventional standards and morality in favor of free love, drugs and communal living and today OWS want to put the blame on all our problems on Wall Street. Unemployment, GFC, Sub-Prime Crisis all point to the sins of Wall Street.
The catchphrase "We are the 99%" equates to the hippy catchphrase "Peace".
But the OWS movement has become an umbrella for all forms of discontent. There is no articulate and defined goal beyond and expression of discontent.

However justified may be the grievances of the OWS movement, it will inevitably fail and fade away because it is disorganized and unfocused. Just like the hippy movement.

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