If Occupy is to have a positive impact

When I was a teenager, I sat around a kitchen table with a group of people who were drafting a flyer.  There was going to be an anti-war rally at the local college campus, and we were discussing the text.  I submitted a draft text, and so did several others.  I learned a lesson that day.

The text that was overwhelmingly approved (not mine) was designed to appeal only to the most radical members of the movement.  Instead of reaching out to mothers who's children had been drafted and sent to Viet Nam, this was talking about solidarity with their Viet Cong brethren.  This was the left wing version of the Tea Party, and they were all patting themselves on the back for being so radical.

The anti-war and civil rights movements were successful when they evoked sympathy from the public at large.  When four anti-war protestors were killed by National Guard troops in Ohio, it served as a stark contrast between those protestors and the entrenched opposition.  When the network news showed the inhumanity of the police in response to black Americans who simply wanted to vote, that was also something that the American public at large could identify with.

Planning actions is the right thing to do.  They call attention to the movement, keep it in people's minds.  But if they do not want to be relegated to the lunatic fridge by the majority of Americans, then they need to adhere to three simple concepts.

• The purpose of an action is to focus the public's eye on both the Occupy movement, and the response of the establishment.  Getting the press there is important.
• Remember who your audience is.  You are on a stage.  You are trying to do three things.  Wake people up.  Highlight injustice.  Make them feel that you are standing up for them.
•  Avoid actions that are the political equivalent of public masturbation.  You are not there to please yourself, you are there to make a point that most of the 99 percent would understand and sympathize with.  Note I did not say agree with, there is almost nothing in this country that most people would agree with.  There were many people in America who did not want to sit next to a black man at a lunch counter, but sympathized with the desire of black Americans to be treated equally under the law, and to not have fire hoses set on them when they tried to protest.

Right now, I am not seeing that.  It makes me sad that a movement that could have been an important force for good in this country is marginalizing itself.