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Go Home Otherwise Occupied

POLITICS OCTOBER 27, 2011

Otherwise Occupied

BY ESTHER BREGER

Back in May, five veteran protesters hatched a plan: The tenth anniversary of the deployment of American troops in Afghanistan was approaching, and they wanted to demonstrate their discontent. They’d start with a concert and a rally, and then the more hard-core protesters would stick around in tents through the winter. The protest would take place in Freedom Plaza, a rectangular, concrete park in downtown Washington. They designed a logo, ordered signs and t-shirts, and raised more than $30,000. It was set to begin on October 6.

Then, in July, the Canadian anti-consumerism magazine Adbusters floated an idea of its own: It called on readers to flood into lower Manhattan on September 17 and occupy Wall Street. Soon, “Occupy” protests were springing up all over the country. On October 1, Occupy D.C. kicked off in McPherson Square, a grassy park that takes up about two and a half acres of land near the White House. Bordered on the north side by K Street—Washington’s lobbying headquarters—the McPherson Square encampment was planned as a “direct echo” of the Wall Street protests, and it gradually developed all the same trappings: a food tent, a library, even a sukkah.

The protesters in Freedom Plaza were thrilled to have company from this upstart movement; for one thing, it meant that journalists were suddenly interested in covering left-wing gatherings. “Before, [the media] never would have shown up,” Medea Benjamin, a co-founder of Code Pink, one of the groups behind the Freedom Plaza demonstration, told me. The protest, which had been calling itself “The October2011 Movement” and “Stop the Machine,” also started going by a new name: Occupy D.C.

But that didn’t go over so well with the folks sleeping six blocks away in McPherson Square. On October 6, the McPherson group issued a press release stating, “We are not Stop the Machine and they are not Occupy DC” (though they went out of their way to emphasize that they respected the goals and efforts of the people there). The McPherson protesters also began furiously tweeting the message that the two protests were distinct. In fact, Twitter soon became a major source of contention between the groups, as they bickered over who could use the #occupyDC hashtag to advertise their activities.

Tensions seemed to cool somewhat with the establishment of diplomatic relations between the camps. Freedom Plaza reached out casually to the McPherson occupation, sitting in on their meetings and spending time in their area; after several days and some internal debate, the McPherson Square General Assembly—the nightly meeting at which protesters make decisions-responded by appointing liaisons to Freedom Plaza. On a recent Friday evening, I headed to McPherson Square to see if the peace was holding.

THE PARK THAT NIGHT was busier than I’d ever seen it, with about 100 protesters gathered in a circle by a large tree. A member of the group’s media team wheeled around a camera attached to a stroller and announced that the video of the general assembly meeting would be streamed live online.

The first two hours of the meeting covered topics such as cleaning the park and the possibility of bringing in solar panels. Eventually, discussion turned to the plan for the following morning: a march to nearby banks. The event would be a co-production of the Freedom Plaza and McPherson groups; it had been planned by a joint committee from both camps the previous afternoon. “At Freedom Plaza, they’re down for anything,” yelled one man in the back of the group clustered near the tree. This was confirmed a few minutes later, when a liaison from Freedom Plaza explained that he, along with others, planned to move furniture from inside the banks onto the sidewalk. A collective “whoa” issued from the crowd.

The McPherson occupiers started airing their concerns. “I would like to know what people involved in what I am getting involved in are planning to do,” said a blond guy with a messenger bag. Lots of people wiggled their fingers in the air—the gesture has become, in the culture of the Occupy protests, a sign of approval, although it most closely resembles jazz hands. More objections: “I dare you to find a constitutional argument for trespassing and grand larceny.” “We cannot put all of us at risk for the egos of a couple people at Freedom Plaza.” “We should not be dragged down by a group that is not aligned with the principles that we have agreed to here in this park.” “The decisions of Freedom Plaza’s action committee were not consensed upon”—“consensed” is one of the Occupy movement’s favorite verbs—“by us.” More finger wiggling.

An angry kid—dressed in a hoodie and a sideways cap—had been complaining that the group needed to respect “diversity of tactics.” He was shut down by the facilitator for speaking out of turn. By this point, it was almost 9 p.m. The meeting had been going on for nearly three hours. A “temperature check”—protesters were asked to wiggle their fingers up or down—confirmed that the group was not ready for this kind of escalation. Just when it seemed they might call off the joint march, the Freedom Plaza liaison got a message on his phone. “The plans have changed. They don’t still plan to remove furniture from buildings—so everything that we said, all our worries, are totally null and void.” The march would go on as originally planned.

THE EVENING HAD suggested one of the main differences between the Freedom Plaza and McPherson groups: The Freedom Plaza demonstrators tend to be older—many cut their teeth protesting Vietnam and the Iraq war—and a bit more radical. Wes Taylor, a twentysomething who’s starting a federal government job in November but has spent every day since October 1 at the McPherson occupation, described the Freedom Plaza camp as “institutional activism.” They favor confrontational tactics like storming the National Air and Space Museum to protest a drone exhibit—as they did October 8—or barging into a House Armed Services Committee hearing to shout at Leon Panetta. The crowd at McPherson Square, by contrast, is a bit more cautious. Its ranks generally grow in the evening, after protesters leave their white-collar jobs.

Still, not everyone sees major differences between the groups. I caught up with the angry kid from Friday night—his name turned out to be Yotam—two days after my evening in McPherson Square. He had been staying in McPherson—partly because of what K Street represents and partly because the grass there was more comfortable for sleeping—but he told me he thought the friction between the two camps was stupid, and he considers both to be Occupy D.C. “We’re here, they’re there, whatever,” he said. 

Esther Breger is a reporter-researcher at The New Republic. This article appeared in the November 17, 2011, issue of the magazine.

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44 comments

The question of which group of protestors is more ill-smelling and more stupid I leave to the experts in political pathology. Those of us out here in American who love honor, freedom, and human decency have nothing but contempt for the dimwitted totalitarian rabble who make up these pseudo-protests.

- bulbman1066

October 27, 2011 at 1:15am

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According to the article, there's only 100 protestors daily at McPherson Square?? How is this NATIONAL news? How is THIS often the lead story on tv national news programs, and it has been for weeks?

- ProfEthan

October 27, 2011 at 6:47am

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Bulbman, don't try to speak for those who love honor, freedom and human decency. You have provided us with too much evidence that you love none of these things.

- Fishpeddler

October 27, 2011 at 8:56am

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ProfEthan - I see it as fairness. Whenever the Koch Brothers astroturf organizations paid to bus people places, the media treated it like the Second Coming. After the cameras turned off, the people in George Washington outfits holding pictures of the President with a bone through his nose - went home. On the contrary, whatever you may feel about OWS, it is a spontaneous, worldwide movement paid for by no whose supporters display a remarkable commitment in this age of miniscule attention spans (although I'd argue that the Tea Party has been much more effective politically so far). Also on the contrary, OWS makes logical sense which I think the media may be partial to, although I could be wrong: the Tea Party only became funded by astroturf organizations when a Democrat was elected, the fact that the debt was created when Republicans had all three branches of government doesn't phase these people. Everyone viscerally gets what 99% means and it just makes sense. The media likes newness. OWS leans left no question, but it is manifestly leery of politicians who are universally ooed when they show up. This feels fundamentally different, at least to me. It's supporters have spent weeks demonstrating a remarkable commitment to their cause - camping out, dealing with police brutality. But most importantly to my case - fifty percent of Americans support what they are saying which makes any component of this legitimately national news. I can see what you're saying, but don't you think there's a good case to be made that the 100 protesters count as national news due to where they fit in to the larger narrative at minimum? The fact that anyone, let alone 100 people, are willing to camp out anywhere, in unity with thousands across the country in 50 cities, to protest the effects of political whoredom in both parties (out of control corporate greed, destruction of the midde class) is worth the coverage.

- WandreyCer

October 27, 2011 at 9:06am

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ooed = booed. My "b" still sticks on this keyboard...it can be amusing sometimes.

- WandreyCer

October 27, 2011 at 9:08am

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Let he who smells of roses cast the first stone. If someone has to tell you he loves honor, freedom, and human decency, you're listening to a fraud. A lot of people on the Right pretend to be holier than thou. It's desperate and it's sad. It sounds like they're trying to convince themselves of something.

- magboy47.

October 27, 2011 at 9:51am

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I would dearly love not to have another thread hijacked by the emotionally troubled rage-o-holic who goes by bulbman. I took the bait in the Vonnegut thread and I regret it, I apologize. Frustration and anger are legitimate components to any response, I've gone too far with that stuff at times myself. But this is not what his responses are. His responses are spewed solely to attack and harm, often with overt misogyny involved, never to advance anything resembling a rational thought or argument. I want to engage with the ideas of this piece and posters of all political persuasions who post in good faith. I am very friendly with many posters who lean right, although not all, so I know I am in no position to dictate who says what or who engages with who and how, I wouldn't dare. My point is not to advocate for any sort of ideological litmus test, which would be an offense to such a sophisticated group of thinkers and writers. This is a free forum, so I'm just stating my wishes. I will take my own advice as well.

- WandreyCer

October 27, 2011 at 10:31am

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One of the things the Desperate Right tries to convince itself of is that today's Left protestors are unwashed, smelly hippies. Not. I read a blurb in Time about 6,000 loads of laundry being done a week for the Occupiers in NYC. And the above article mentions folks in D.C. who join the protesters after getting off work from their white-collar jobs. The Right is terrified of anything but the status quo. Well, the status quo in America is a mess, much more so than the protesters in the street, as misguided as some of them are. The protesters are much less anarchic than the Casino Capitalists, as John McCain called them, who gamble hundreds of billions of dollars of other people's money and then lose all of it--except, of course, the obscene bonus money they get for wrecking their companies and America. Oh, wait--they get their obscene bonuses from the taxpayers. Feeders at the government trough, Casino Capitalists are.

- magboy47.

October 27, 2011 at 10:32am

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magboy - I have yet to meet one person who paints the protesters as a hippies who has actually been to OWS, at least in NY. I've been down there with a group of other white collar families with kids twice now. There's always a crowd so diverse it makes you want to bust out and sing "My Country Tis of Thee." The place is stuffed with American flags too. In addition to the young people the media loves so much (who wouldn't, they are adorable) and old school back-in-the-day hippies who are perfectly entitled to say their piece like everyone else, there are Grammas in lawnchairs knitting, yuppy Dads in comfy pants, lots of working Moms with kids who traipse down before dinner. I saw a whole group of retired folks in rain slickers from Staten Island who were worried for their grandchildren, Iraq vets, retired firefighters - jugglers, cooks, librarians. It's something. One thing it is not is uniform in any way, for better or worse.

- WandreyCer

October 27, 2011 at 10:42am

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WandreyCer, I'm not talking about people who have had experiences in the real world, but folks who get their "information" from Fox News. I have an old friend who associates the present-day protesters with "smelly" Yippees and hippies. I was a protester in Chicago during the 1968 Democratic Convention, and I didn't encounter many "smelly hippies" back then. We protesters were put up in the apartments and houses of sympathizers. And showers were taken. In my case a nice young woman even ironed my clothes. But there are still folks on the Right who associate Left protesters with "smelly hippies." It's what they've "learned" from their culture, even though they weren't on the scene to experience the reality.

- magboy47.

October 27, 2011 at 10:57am

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magboy - what a great post. You're right, so many people ingest Fox News bullet points whole, with not a whit of analysis or independent thought. I tend to forget about those people and I should not! I love that a nice girl ironed your clothes, what a perfect snapshot of the era: 68 convention, innocent gender roles, ironing (who irons anymore?), putting people up in your home so they can protest. Do you remember the TNR story a couple of months back detailing the many Weekly Standard covers with the theme of smelly hippies? This was was before OWS. They feel like they have to keep that ghost alive I guess. I think its a perfect example of the intellectual exhausted, fearful standards of their thinking. Oh to bring back William F. Buckley. He wasn't my cup of tea politically, but he was a rigorous thinker whose mind I thoroughly enjoyed. Not so the numbskulls who have taken over the right completely. I saw a great sign at OWS that said "IT'S ONLY CLASS WARFARE WHEN WE FIGHT BACK." I think that says it all about the right - they used the smelly hippy trope back in the day and now its class warfare. It's all the same idea: to delegitimize an organic movement of people fighting back against a right wing so blinded by a sense of entitlement that they never know what hits them when the other side fights back every now and then.

- WandreyCer

October 27, 2011 at 11:38am

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Wandrey's right, these stories deserve attention, the Tea Party has been handed immense power on a national level, why I don't know, because if you read statistics about what actual Republicans seem to want they don't support the radical Right. Which means, TP congresspeople are off doing their own business and not the people's, which is scary. Meanwhile, this article made me giggle. I can't help it; it reminds me of The Revolution back in the day:)

- Sophia

October 27, 2011 at 12:42pm

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Wandrey, great post(s).

- Tristan

October 27, 2011 at 2:02pm

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Fishpeddler and Magboy - hear, hear. As they say, patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel. In bulbman's case, laying claim to honor, freedom, decency is the knee-jerk wailings of a douchebag. For those of us who have done things like active military service during wartime and have made honor, freedom, and decency hallmarks of that service, I can assure you nothing has been so corrosive to those very ideals than what we witnessed during the last administration. Openly embracing torture, circumventing congressional oversight, crony capitalism of the first order, unprecedented favoritism of the uber-rich to the detriment of the overwhelming majority, islamophobia, homophobia, treasonous betrayal of our own intelligence agents for political gain, fabrication of intelligence to deliver casus belli, no concern for the welfare of troops oin the field or for those returning home with shattered bodies and shattered souls, denial of the damage being done to the environment, denial ofthe damage that could be wrought to the economy by unregulated greed, the purposeful celebration of a lack of intellectual curiosity and demeaning of fancy book learnin' as elitist... the list goes on and on. To degrade the protesters because they seek to at least start a dialogue about fixing just part of this long list of betrayals of everything America stands for is bad enough, but to then claim honor and decency and freedom as parts of your core value system is beyond the pale, even for someone like bulbman.

- Tristan

October 27, 2011 at 2:24pm

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There is really only one word that sums up bulbman...troll. Ok two words. Smelly Troll.

- singlspeed

October 27, 2011 at 2:34pm

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Tristan - youre inherent decency really shines through in all of your lovely and wise posts. Sophia to BTW, always a big heart. singlespeed wins.

- WandreyCer

October 27, 2011 at 2:53pm

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Still..... I love OWS because I love to see the exercise of freedom of speech and assembly, but if you add up all the folks that are out there, it can't come to 10,000 in a nation of 310 million. Don't think that merits all the coverage, oh, excuse me, fawning coverage from the MSM. Can't say how Fox covers it, because I don't watch Fox.

- butchie b

October 27, 2011 at 3:18pm

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Well, a few dozen organized hecklers bussed to various town hall meetings during summer 2009 got nationwide coverage AND the (imo shaky) assumption that they represented "ordinary folks," so I see nothing wrong in covering 100 people who seem to have caught the national mood.

- ironyroad

October 27, 2011 at 3:33pm

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Hey Mr B! Nice to see you. It depends on how you measure it. Heck, there were two thousand in one day in my surfed out but sweet hometown of Long Beach, California - or as my old school Republican father refers to it: The Center of the Universe (not). A range of people camping out for weeks in Long Beach Ca? Atlanta? Pittsburgh? This is very different than anything we've seen in the US in generations - whatever it turns in to. The poster AaronW made a great point that his favorite part of this was the fact that people got their faces out of the damn computer and DID something. My sense is that the unity, the speed with which people jumped on board, the sheer number and range of cities is what makes this a worthy story by any standards - not to mention that the message is absolutely right (the cute hippy chicks can't hurt. My friend sent me a link called something like Hot Chicks of OWS - and he's a winger! He knew there would never be a similiar link for the Tea Party. I cringe at the thought, but welcome being proved wrong). I'm sure Fox News sticks with the dirty hippy/Susan Sarandon/Noam Chomsky/Islamist/Michael Moore/jealous socialist rotation, why bother watching anyway?

- WandreyCer

October 27, 2011 at 3:35pm

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The Tea-Party is and was a worthwhile story because they vote in massive numbers, and handed the House of Representatives to the Republican Party (80 seat shift). But if the T-P's had done ANYTHING like the behavior of OWS, the press would be for lynching them; even as it was, the slightest breach of decorum led to accusations of incipient fascism. But riots? (like at the Air and Space Museum, or in Oakland, or in Chicago). Overt anti-semitism? (in LA and in Chicago) NOT problem for the media, as long as it's OWS! Because the media "knows" that OWS' anti-capitalist heart is in the right place. National news for 100 folks in McPherson Square? NOT a problem, either-- for the same reason.

- ProfEthan

October 27, 2011 at 3:36pm

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Ok Ok - http://hotchicksofoccupywallstreet.tumblr.com/

- WandreyCer

October 27, 2011 at 3:37pm

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Wandrey, thanks for the kind words and for the link. I'll have to wait to leave the office to open it, but I'm sure it won't disappoint. ;)

- Tristan

October 27, 2011 at 3:47pm

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No question the TP is effective politically. But I'm not sure ProfEthan you'd like the media to do? Scold the rioting people? That isn't their job. It is Jon Stewart's job, and he did mock the museum people mercilessly. The anti-semitism is miniscule at best and a very handy trope for the right to latch on to - they do neglect to mention that the real OWS protesters are always the ones who give those people the most grief. Jewish people are major players in this movement and held services right on the grunds for their high holidays in NY, Chicago AND LA. Can you say the same for the Tea Party rallies? Please, let's not have any sort of contest on despicable behavior from the Tea Party (see the cheering at death and suffering at every debate so far). How about the hundreds of signs with Obama with a bone through his nose at every rally? Global warming is a socialist scam? Obama's plan = white slavery? Always Confederate flags? Impeach the Muslim Marxist? Please - the unashamed bigtory was disgusting and not just thematic, but the whole point of these things: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S38VioxnBaI

- WandreyCer

October 27, 2011 at 3:55pm

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make that "Jewish people ARE major players..."

- WandreyCer

October 27, 2011 at 3:56pm

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Riots? ProfEthan? Riots? You apparently have a low bar to clear to deem the police crackdowns in Oakland and Atlanta as riots. Or maybe it's just the media pump-up of RIOT police showing up to move Occupy folks out the parks under the "cleanliness act" pretense used by Oakland and Atlanta's mayors. Here are some actual riots that you can compare to before bloviating here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoWj-6NR4O0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRKcPZt61SQ&feature=relmfu http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tf-pGuRDkcQ&feature=relmfu http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGHIfeVmASY&feature=relmfu http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3onSuqX-VA I could go on. But I think you get the point that the OWS/Occupy has not even reached this level and it won't. The only thing that would is by provocation by over-zealous city mayors.

- singlspeed

October 27, 2011 at 3:59pm

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The air and space museum was a riot. I've a friend who's a major organizer at McPherson Sq and he says he has to spend a lot of time combating such people. What I'd like from the media is for the major media not to show on tv images of people who are obviously NOT "peacefully demonstrating" and then call it "a peaceful demonstration" as a way of explaining to viewers they must think are morons, as happened on "Morning Joe" this morning. This doesn't mean the Oakland Police aren't bad. I'm from the Bay Area, so I know.

- ProfEthan

October 27, 2011 at 4:16pm

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And I guarantee you that if the TP's had had anti-semitic signs, and anti-semitic speakers (like Hatem in Chicago), it would have been ALL OVER the media--not suppressed and ignored as it is. What we have from folks here is: "OH all right, there are a few anti-semitic signs, and a few anti-semites in the crowd, and a few anti-semitic speakers. So what? The OWS' hearts are in the right place!" The TP's would never have been cut that kind of slack.

- ProfEthan

October 27, 2011 at 4:19pm

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I think there's a sense that the OWS has caught a certain public/national mood in a different way than the TP did. It may last a much shorter time, but it's a different phenomenon. The atmosphere and problems have more to do with the general youthfulness and open-endedness of OWS, in contrast to the noticeably over-45 vibe of the Tea Party. Also, despite the OWS's conspiracy fringe that's unavoidable like the flu, the TP was just a lot more negative, defensive, and myopic -- they aren't especially appealing attributes.

- ironyroad

October 27, 2011 at 5:14pm

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ProfEthan....is this kind of anti-Semitic behavior you claim didn't exist in the Tea Party? http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2010/11/17/130880/texas-tea-antisemitic/ http://www.adl.org/main_Extremism/White_Supremacists_July_4_Tea_Parties.htm http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2009/11/05/67970/holocaust-sign/ http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dc/2010/03/make-that-the-nas-tea-party.html As for cutting them slack, the GOP just sweeps it under the rug. Ain't no big thing.

- singlspeed

October 27, 2011 at 5:25pm

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What singlespeed cites are various emails. We're talking about overt anti-semitic signs in the crowds, and even invited anti-semitic speakers (Hatem Abudayyah in Chicago) in front of the crowds.

- ProfEthan

October 27, 2011 at 6:44pm

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I do like that hotchicks of OWS link. Imagine, a hot, politically active, intellectualy engaging woman who doesn't shite on about X Factor all fucking day every fucking day! Be still my beating heart, brain and...

- IggyPop

October 27, 2011 at 7:00pm

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Tristan, Igster - I posted that hotchick link for you two. PfEthan, I must have missed the Jewish religious services at Tea Party ralllies, excuse me - can you show me one? And I mean ONE? Because services are conducted every night at OWS NY and LA! EVERY NIGHT. So much for the anti-semitism dodge, because that is what it is becoming when you studiously avoid the substance of everything I've posted. When you acknowledge, let alone voice your disgust, at the truly ubiquitous TP bigotry, as opposed the irrelevant anti-semitism stuff you're pitching, your credibility will quardruple with me. I await your explanation for the major Jewish presence in OWS if its is so riddled with anti-semitism. I await your response the fact that the few nitwits anyone can dig up displaying this stuff are openly disdained by the masses around them. The pass the TP got on ts racism was disgusting! They bullied the MSM to death about it - when it was out loud and proud at every meeting! I mean PLEASE. Please respond to both the major Jewish presence in this movement and the content of the video I posted.

- WandreyCer

October 27, 2011 at 7:47pm

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Well, Wandrey, you might try this: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0910/42068.html Or this: http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/09/tea-party-group-wants-jews-african-americans.php Or this: http://www.teapartypatriots.org/GroupNew/69cdf4e9-1cb1-4747-9b55-ee6e680bb120/Pittsburgh_Area_Jewish_Tea_Party This all took about two minutes to find. You might want to google image: anti-semitic placards + Tea Party Rally, and see what you find. I'm not saying that the TP is filled with Jews. But if ANY TP rally had the kind of overt material one can see from OWS (e.g., in LA and in Chicago), the media would have been screaming. It's not there.

- ProfEthan

October 27, 2011 at 9:13pm

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OK, I think antisemitism has been a problem among progressives, or should I say "progressives" for awhile now, it was an issue in the antiwar movement. I think it should be addressed. However, I don't think it's representative of the vast majority of OWS movement, of Americans who are left or liberal, of normal Republicans or independents. In Britain, I think it IS a major issue. Tea Party bigotry though - as Wandrey says, well it's not a small part of the movement. The whole movement to get Obama is at least partially fueled by the fact that he was born in Kenya. Right? Of course right. Explain why that won't go away.

- Sophia

October 27, 2011 at 11:43pm

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OK ProfEthan - there has been one story on Jewish "outreach" (whatever happened?) and a small group in Pittsburgh, thank you. It's not nothing, but nothing remotely like the front and center spot Jewish people have held in OWS frm Day 1. The New York movement would never have happened without them, from Conservative to Reform. I find it telling that you constantly ignore the elephant in the room of TP bigotry - I guess its inconvenient to your need to paint OWS as bad people. It's really a shame because it really does not speak well of you I'm afraid. I grew up with a conservative Republican father who also marched with Martin Luther King Jr. Most Republicans are not bigots by any stretch, you'd think good people would be the most outraged, rather than remaining consistently silent, as you have here. It's galling. Are you against the message of OWS? Do you think the campaign finance/bank and coporate sector cha-cha is working for America? My take is that OWS isn't anti-capitalist because we haven't had capitalism in this country for many years. Most of us would prefer to live in a real capitalist society and bag the spoiled, utterly corrupt plutocracy that passes for a system we have now. Its come close to ruining us and its both party's fault.

- WandreyCer

October 28, 2011 at 6:47am

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Obama may well be a victim of anti-black racism on the Right, and racism may well be part of the dynamo behind the TP, and the "birthers." And this has been covered plenty in the media. But the issue I brought up on this thread is anti-semitism in the OWS demos. There is no visible anti-semitism in the TP. By contrast, as sophia says, "I think anti-semitism has been a problem among progressives, or should I say 'progressives' for a while now. It was an issue in the anti-war movement." And it is visible and overt in OWS--in LA, in Chicago. My point is that if there had been visible signs of anti-semitism in the TP, this would have been major major news. But it is ignored in the major media regarding OWS, even though it is overt and visible--in placards, and in invited speakers before the crowds. This is the same media that we saw on "Morning Joe" yesterday: when the OWS rioters in Oakland were presented to the viewers as a peaceful demonstration set upon by vicious police. But we now know--from the Mother Jones correspondent James West, who was there--that bottles, paint-bombs, vinegar, etc--were thrown by extremists in the OWS crowd before the Oakland police responded. West's article is easily found on Salon. The OWS supporters on Salon were reduced to arguing that these extremists who engaged in attacking the police with thown bottles, etc., must have been paid agents provocateurs. Sure. Now--can you IMAGINE what the coverage would have been like if a TP crowd had ever acted like that?? The difference in media approach is well explained by ironyroad: " I think there's a sense that the OWS has caught a certain public/national mood in a different way than the TP did. The atmosphere and problems have more to do with the general youthfulness and open-endedness of OWS, in contrast to the noticeably over-45 vibe of the Tea Party." Ironyroad, above, explains the media's gentle approach to OWS as a result of the "general youthfulness and open-endedness" of OWS as opposed to the sour negativity of the over-45's in the TP. Maybe so. What I do know is that media approval of these alleged characteristics of OWS should NOT win OWS a pass in the media on anti-semitic placards and even speakers, and violence. But it has indeed won them a pass. The performance of the "reporters" on "Morning Joe" yesterday was just the most disgraceful (or incompetent) example.

- ProfEthan

October 28, 2011 at 7:02am

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I keep asking people about this alleged TP racism, because I don't see it. if the TPers are racist, how do we explain their votes for Herman Cain in the FL straw poll, in a caucus chock-full of TPers? I believe they oppose Obama based on his policies, not his race. A 1 or 2 bigots, sure. But not many.

- butchie b

October 28, 2011 at 11:07am

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So based on ProfEthan's statements we could assume the following: OWS - some overt anti-Semitic signs shown by fringe elements of the Occupy protestors is undeniable proof that ALL OWS is an anti-Semitic front, while the large majority of participating Jews and religious ceremonies performed at some OWS protests is just proof of Jew-hating Jews. Tea Party - Holocaust equivocation signs, white supremacist recruitment using anti-semitic propaganda, email harassment tactics by Tea Pary people is not anti-Semitic and therefore the entire TP movement should not be painted as such. An form of anti-Semitic propaganda or harassment is not as serious unless you hold a sign up at a protest. Secondly the statement that "My point is that if there had been visible signs of anti-semitism in the TP, this would have been major major news. But it is ignored in the major media regarding OWS, even though it is overt and visible--in placards, and in invited speakers before the crowds." is patently false. There have been signs of anti-Semitism in the TP but because it's done so quietly and ignored by the MSM (which includes Fox btw) is not proof of absence of anti-Semitism in the TP. Meanwhile, we've seen numerous reports on FOX, CNN and MSNBC regarding the anti-Semitic signs in the OWS protests. In fact FOX took great pains to paint all of OWS as anti-Semitic, yet because the TP is the darling of FOX, we see network paper over the propaganda tactics of the TP as "mistakes, misunderstood jokes, bad apples." ProfEthan...let's be honest here. Anti-Semitism exists (at the fringes) of both the TP and OWS. But you don't see much mea-culpa on the TP with regards to their exclusionary tactics and overt racial comments that were made in emails. letter campaigns, fliers, etc. I see the OWS at least recognizing the issue and trying to counter it. Short of beating the culprits with lead pipes.

- singlspeed

October 28, 2011 at 3:14pm

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Nope: overt anti-Semitic signs at most OWS, plus an Islamist anti-semite invited to SPEAK at OWS in Chicago, raises serious issues. If there are overt SIGNS, and invited SPEAKERS, then the problem likely running deeper; it is the problem that sophia, above, pointed to with the anti-war movement. The riposte about the Tea Party is a classic "tu quoque" argument--except you haven't proven the "quoque" yet, singlespeed. This is your opportunity. Show us those anti-semitic signs from TP rallies; show us those anti-semitic speakers. I'm not a member of the TP, nor even a Republican; I voted for (and gave money to) Obama in 2008. So don't even go down THAT road. But I do like some straightforward reporting now and then.

- ProfEthan

October 28, 2011 at 3:45pm

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Sophia writes: "OK, I think antisemitism has been a problem among progressives, or should I say "progressives" for awhile now, it was an issue in the antiwar movement. " The very far left actually wraps around to the very far right (and vice versa) and dragons be there on both sides.

- seattleeng

October 28, 2011 at 4:06pm

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True enough. But at any given moment there can be a heavy convergence of dragons on the one or the other side, which kind of pulls the picture into imbalance.

- ironyroad

October 29, 2011 at 3:07am

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The TP's have been accused of racism, and one can understand why. On the other hand, Herman Cain beats Romney among the TP's three-to-one. This is a strong counter-argument, it seems to me. The OWS has been accused of being tolerant of anti-semitism, and one can understand why as well. It's part and parcel of the far Left's increasing tolerance of anti-semitism--an issue that no one wishes to discuss. But as sophia pointed out, this was already apparent in the anti-war movement last decade.

- ProfEthan

October 29, 2011 at 10:11am

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The author neglects to note that the extremist leading the break into the air and space museum was a right-wing infiltrator (shocker) http://spectator.org/blog/2011/10/08/standoff-in-dc

- ahlesa4

October 30, 2011 at 12:36am

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This is false. The reporter for the right-wing Spectator was just that, a reporter, not an ideological participant, let alone a leader! And he makes clear that although he was among those who went up into the Air and Space the LEADERS and mass of those who went up were LEFT-wing extremists.

- ProfEthan

October 30, 2011 at 7:42pm

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