The Occupy Movement: What Are They Doing Wrong?

by Colin Jones

                 Last Wednesday I was enjoying my weekly Taco Bell burrito below Towers when I heard somebody scream, “Sound off!”  A handful of others in the area echoed the voice.  I assumed at that point that I was in the middle of some sort of improv-everywhere type of thing.  About thirty seconds later I realized that the screaming was that of the Occupy Pittsburgh movement simply announcing a meeting later in the week, after, of course, telling us to occupy our education.  Immediately afterwards, I can only describe my emotions as that of shock and confusion.  Mostly I was shocked because after rattling off the list of things we should occupy, neither Taco Bell nor my burrito had made the list.  I was confused as well by the largely ineffective strategy of screaming at people until they join a given cause. 

                This strategy proved to be ineffective in two ways.  First, in the middle of their verbal barrage, a kid next to me stood up and screamed “Shut the hell up!” (well, he used a stronger third word, but you get the point).  The second reason why it was ineffective was that I honestly couldn’t remember a damned thing they said.  Maybe try handing out flyers? Like they say, “Take a picture. It lasts longer.”

                But let’s go back to the first point.  Screaming your message is not a great way to convince others to join you.  Frankly it makes you look crazy.  I would be much more interested in hearing what they have to say at a table up in Tower’s lobby.  Most radical movements make the same basic mistakes: they are overly aggressive and often inconsistent in their preaching.

                Now, the fact that I was at Taco Bell is important not just to show you that I have terrible taste in Mexican cuisine.  Half of the students advertising the Occupy Pittsburgh group were eating Taco Bell! In all seriousness, it’s not all that shocking because, well, it’s pretty damn delicious.  What is shocking about it is that one of the main tenets of the Occupy movement is the opposition of corporations.  Allegations levied against “corporations” by the movement include: “poisoning the food supply…sought to strip workers of the right to negotiate for better pay…etc.”  I love Taco Bell as much as the next guy; however, the chain is in fact operated by the Fortune 500 Corporation Yum! Brands Inc.  So let’s get this straight. “Down with the corporations… so long as they don’t sell warm, yummy, delicious comfort foods.”  Sounds about right.  Furthermore this Taco Bell is in the very university you’ve just asked me to occupy?!  Please.

                The problem with the movement is that it lacks a true identity.  It covers such a broad spectrum of complaints (without offering solutions) that the movement as a whole appeals to only a small group of people.  To most of us, myself included, the Occupy movement, taken on the whole, comes off as an angry mob of people screaming a message they are not quite sure how to convey…or how to define.