Occupy Boston…
So, as I walked to lunch today, Atlantic Ave was completely blocked by college students that had left their classes and were walking to the site of Occupy Boston (on the Rose Kennedy Greenway, across from South Station). They were holding up traffic for miles. They had a drumline! The drumline was pretty damn good!
I honestly don’t know what to make of this. I love the fact that people are mobilizing en masse and telling the truth about corporate greed. I love that, in Boston at least, so many diverse people are coming together. There are the college hippies, suburban parents with kids, couch surfers extraordinaire, and even a good smattering of the brokers that WORK across the street from the protesters in the Financial District. These things are awesome; it’s important for people to see that the “99%” represent far more of the population than some people may think.
However, there is a disorder that still reeks of the Tea Party, but only instead of chanting “no taxes” they chant “student loan forgiveness”. I believe what they believe, and yet I find it difficult to be motivated to leave my office and join them. I went to the opening rally last Friday night (and I remembered it—take THAT, Katy Perry), but heard very little of a mission to do anything except express rage.
We are ALL angry. Liberals are angry, conservatives are angry, and the 1% is just as angry as the 99%. Anger is a motivator, but not a reformer. Maybe I’ll spend some time over there after work today and try to get a better picture.
