In the beginning, Occupation Camps were wonderful places to meet people from all walks of society. One could meet college students, lawyers, writers, filmmakers, artists, union workers, educators, homeless people, waiters, etc. It has a great cross pollination of ideas, and people of all races, genders, and orientations were there. This degree of interaction rarely exists in society, and I certainly haven't see it in New York until Occupy. But sadly, things have degenerated. OWS is now basically just a charity for vagabonds.
When the camp was still up, there were those who were worried about infiltrators working on the behalf of the government. However, undercover agents are not what brought OWS down. Nor did the mentally ill or chronically homeless that came by the camp.
The problem is, a number of the campers were people from other states who came to New York with no money, no place to stay, and no resources. After the camp shut down, considerable resources were spent on trying to house this population, to feed this population, and to give this population weekly metro cards so they can use public transportation here in New York. Essentially, instead of the movement focusing on making things better for working people, its became a collection of people who are never going to get a job or contribute to society in a worthwhile way. These people are freeloaders, vagabonds, and are simply lazy bums.
At a spokescouncil meeting Dec. 12 th , 2011, a woman reported occupiers were kicked out of housing for throwing feces out of a window. On Tuesday, Dec. 13 th 2011, the point man for housing, Jeff, reported the reasons why some occupiers were kicked out of church housing. These reasons included stealing from the church, doing drugs and alcohol in the church, and sex in the church. These vagabonds are also in poor health from their lifestyle. As the weather has gotten cooler, many are growing rather ill. Unstable housing and exposure to the cold is sickening them and this will only get much worse January through March.
This doesn't mean that Occupy Wall Street didn't have positive effects. Occupy Wall Street did change the nation's narrative.
The mainstream media recently reported half the nation is poor. Its no longer taboo to talk about poverty. The government is no longer interested in cutting all taxes and eliminated all services including education, infrastructure maintenance, and security. The tea party is unheard these days.
At the same point, the desire to be inclusive has killed off Occupy as a force going forward, because it has allowed and tolerated behaviors that are unacceptable to at least 99% of the country.
1
1
1
