What have we learned in a year of Occupy Wall Street? When Swiffer has 979k likes on Facebook you know people are brainwashed by branding

Yesterday was a day that both started off and ended with brutal arrests. But it's the arrests during the day that proved to be most telling because often they were of people not intending to get arrested. There were those who linked arms or sat in the street in the morning, or refused to leave Zuccotti in the evening, who knew they were risking violent arrest by the NYPD. But many of the journalists and passers by who were arrested during the day paint the picture of why so many people stay away from the Occupy protests in person. Even observers have a way of being manhandled by the NYPD if they get too close. 


What have we learned in a year of Occupy Wall Street?

We have learned the through brute force you can intimidate people into staying home, especially mass showings of brute force over time.

We have learned that we live in a police state.

We have learned that since 9/11 there has been a severe militarization of police under the guise of our fear of terrorism. 

You are 8 times more likely to be killed by a police officer than by a terrorist. 

I have noticed all the coverage saying "whatever happened to Occupy?" never seems to find the connection between the squelching of the protests and the unwarranted direct acts of violence towards those who have been trying to protest. 

Sometime during the the George W. Bush administration American's were taught to fear. Over time we have learned not to speak out against the federal government or in this case the powerful people of money who control the government. We expect some shady character coming to question us about our revolution. During the years immediately following 9/11 this was common place. We were traumatized by the attack on our country. And then once again by the force used to silence dissent over the war.The Patriot Act instated, our civil liberties erroded all to to "protect us."

We need to start questioning why something so catastrophic was allowed to happen when we live in the country with the best military surveillance and the most monetary resources available to combat attacks. There are so many people arguing about what really happened and accusing one another of having the Wrong conspiracy theory. There are not enough people accepting that we all know the story we were spoon fed by the 9/11 Commission is watered down and untrue. We have been programmed to believe some things will just never have answers, for instance the conspiracy to assassinate J.F.K. These major catastrophic events lead us to the major ways we respond as a society. Hurricane Katrina made many Americans feel that their government is the problem and that no one is coming to save them. All of these things attribute to our every man for himself philosophy culminating in American society. 

We have an entire economy based around competition. Competition between people working for a similar goal has been a way to fuel progress. But there is no fair competition anymore. People at any level above poor lack a genuine personality. We no longer compete for the best solutions to our hardest struggles like solar energy. Instead we let the competitor with the most money and well established business win hands down through oil subsidies. 

The Occupy camps may be dismantled and people may have gone home to their families. But the Occupy movement lives on in everyone that saw that change is not impossible. We may not want to face the NYPD and our own personal physical arrest. But it's going to take all of us to make change happen. You have to find a way to contribute a small part. Even if it's just talking to a handful of people you know, or writing a letter, or taking a personal stand for what you believe in at your job, or in your home, it will make a difference. If we live to see the future we want instead of the future we're headed for we are all going to have to participate in the change.



This article is a perfect articulation of the police brutality seen yesterday at the protests. 
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http://blog.thephoenix.com/BLOGS/phlog/archive/2012/09/18/the-full-story-of-how-a-boston-journalist-got-arrested-on-some-bullshit-at-the-anniversary-of-occupy-wall-street.aspx


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