Letter to the editor

Dear Editor:

I am writing in response to an editorial in the latest Waltonian entitled, “Occupy Wall Street: For goodness’ sake, why?” First off, I must say that I am a supporter of the ideas behind the Occupy Wall Street Movement, but I am not wholly in support of the actions of the protestors. In fact, like the writer of the article, I strongly dislike some the actions taken by certain individuals involved in the movement. Is it right to question the actions of a particular movement and some of its members? Of course. As I read the opinion article, however, I was quite shocked by the lack of quality.

Instead of reporting actions and calling us to put the movement into question by using the art of persuasion, the author went on an emotional tirade, quite blatantly asking those who are out supporting the movement, “What is wrong with you?” and then telling them to move to Europe. The author also says, “If you do not like capitalism, there are places all over the world that don’t have that. Go there.” I guess it is now an “American” thing to tell people who have different viewpoints to get out of the country. I can’t imagine what the author would say to an illegal immigrant. The author does quite well in generalizing all Occupy Wall Street protesters as anti-American, anti-capitalist and indecent. Yet I guess it is quite standard for most people on the author’s side of the political spectrum to generalize, especially when it comes to the poor. I also found it amusing that the author did not once put into question the actions of the police, which again shows an extreme bias. Such emotional chaos causes the article to lose any hint of intellect.

I am also amazed at the praise the author gives to the Tea Party movement, as if the Tea Party were the sole example of decency. Since when is it decent to hold up a sign that says, “Some village in Kenya is missing its village idiot” or to question someone else’s faith because of the color of their skin or their political beliefs? Or to chastise Muslims and seek to estrange the Muslim community from our national fabric?

I think that the real reason this article was written is not to address the lack of decency of particular members of the Occupy Wall Street movement, but rather to simply attack the movement because the author disagrees with the ideas behind it (addressing political corruption and corporate greed). It has been labeled a Leftist movement, and I do not particularly disagree with that labeling. If the author disagrees so much with the movement, I would rather see a lengthy opinion article that seeks to refute the ideas behind the movement and even challenge the goals of social democracy; an opinion article that defends corporate personhood, free-market capitalism, cutting programs for the poor and denying adequate health insurance to all Americans. Such an opinion article, even though I would most likely disagree with it, would be far more warranted and better received than an article that, at its heart, simply wants to attack supporters of the Occupy Movement on any grounds possible.

“Every generation needs a new revolution.”

Doug Kennedy