Oakland Betty

It’s been clear from the get-go that you guys had a renegade agenda. Though most of the #Occupy contingents have promoted their peaceful intentions, your presences — from the signage at the encampments, plus your FB and Twitter presences — had a definite FUCK THE MAN vibe.  

Now, there is nothing intrinsically wrong with a FUCK THE MAN agenda.  Indeed, change rarely happens when people sit at home watching Wheel of Fortune and eating bon-bons.  But I think you’re doing the whole #occupy movement a huge disservice using the name as you burn flags, storm abandoned buildings and send ultimatums to city officials.  

Let’s put this another way.  #Occupy — as a mainstream movement — is incredibly powerful. It has the potential to attract hundreds of millions of people to its cause.  And when hundreds of millions of people stop buying shit made in China, when they start demanding zero or low-emissions vehicles, growing their own food and boycotting big agribusiness, creating new educational models and reinvesting into their own neighborhoods, THEN we have a fucking revolution. 

But when a few hundred angry souls start in with the anarchy, we lose Aunt Mable and cousin Jim and the millions of others like them, and the movement becomes weakened. 

So please. If you’re going to go for pure anarchy, please publicly dissociate with #Occupy. We’ve got to make this work in Peoria, you know?