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New York Mayor Bloomberg has tipped his hand. He is rich in money but poor in morals, ethics, compassion, or humanity. He showed his extreme hypocrisy and condescension to the occupy movement by using the most brutal means of clearing Zuccotti Park, sneaking in at midnight with no warning, on the false pretense of "public safety and health". It was an empty show of power. He had no concern whatsoever for the occupiers' safety; in fact, he was responsible for creating a highly unsafe situation where many people were needlessly injured. The wanton destruction of property in a public space was completely senseless and uncalled for, and likely illegal. It was outright theft.
The occupiers, on the other hand, are exhibiting the utmost in self-sacrifice by putting themselves on the line, living outside on concrete for months at a time and subjecting themselves to the indignities of being physically assaulted and dragged off in handcuffs to jail cells. They are seeking fairness for themselves, sure, but also fairness for us all, because what is fair for one is fair for all. They are not selfish, lazy, ignorant punks, but are far more educated on the issues than the people who are minimizing and deriding them. They are there to further the cause of overturning the crass corruption in our country's economic and public life and reversing the extreme income inequality gap.
Zuccotti Park occupiers by rob kall
The occupiers are there for the great masses, many of whom have health issues for which there is no remedy when you can't pay, to stand up for what the 99% believes in. The occupy movement is really much larger than the groups in their sleeping bags in the parks. It is the vast cross-section of people across this land who have had it with the travesties that are being perpetrated on the 99% under false pretenses, and with the "financial-political complex", of which Mayor Bloomberg is a part, which has cheated and robbed us of the democracy that should rightfully be ours.
It is not only the 20-somethings with no job prospects and crushing "unforgivable" student loan debt, but also the middle-aged middle class with children and family responsibilities and worries about corrupt financial institutions ripping out their homes from under them, and the too frail elderly who are no longer physically able to endure the harsh conditions of sleeping on concrete but who are now worried sick that the very last protection and security they have is also going to be ripped out from under them merely so that just over half of Congress can keep a meaningless, crass, and selfish pledge not to raise taxes on the 1% "job creators", itself a cruel joke.
The occupiers had also included the homeless in their makeshift compound, feeding them and providing them a better situation than Bloomberg, with all his millions and the vast resources of our largest city, has managed to do. They are standing in for the police who are treating them so brutally. The occupiers chanting "We are the 99%" are including all the public workers who are faced with loss of pay, union representation, benefits, and jobs. But the police are following their craven bosses like sheep and assaulting their brothers who want to side with them.
The occupiers deserve our praise, not our censure or ridicule. Save that for the likes of Mayor Bloomberg. He, along with other mayors who have perpetrated this outrage, is the one who should be pepper-sprayed, handcuffed, and thrown on the ground for causing this monstrosity to happen.
