OPINION:
Several weeks into the “Occupy Wall Street” movement, sanitation is becoming a problem. It only fitting that the occupiers have staged themselves at Zuccotti Park, a private New York City park, owned by Brookfield Office Properties and named after its chairman, John Zuccotti.
And, mind you, it is companies like Brookfield that the occupiers are protesting. But just as they do not understand the need to clean up after themselves, neither do they understand what they are protesting. As they lie in they own filth, they demand government-assisted help. They are lost in a world that operates sufficiently through human action and ingenuity; the occupiers operate as second-hand users of the instruments of the economy. With their credit cards, smartphones, laptops and lattes, they wander about the city as if the infrastructure of communication and guilty pleasures were a given, all the while reluctant to engage in the simplest of human action, hygiene.
Recently, Apple Inc. surpassed ExxonMobil as the wealthiest American company. The disparity between the two companies’ products could not be greater, and yet unlike the ideas of the occupiers, have integration. You would find very little conflict with Apple’s wealth in the crowd of protesters occupying Wall Street. Many of them are communicating with iPhones and appreciate their value, and rightfully so. Apple is their example of clean, efficient technology. But mention the name Exxon and you will most likely receive looks of revulsion and a speech about why Exxon is the reason for the ills of the world.
The truth is Apple would not have been a Wall Street entity trading at more than $400 without Exxon. In fact, we would not be at this technological point in history without the demonized beast called oil since the whole logistical/supply train is dependent on the power of fossil fuel. This is the bizarre world of the Occupy Wall Street movement. They lash out at the corporate bogeyman, as they themselves are the sons and daughters of corporate leaders. They lash out at Big Oil and other big corporations all the while enjoying the fruits of its labor.
Many of these are affluent college students and young professionals whose ideology’s underlying premise is to take from others rather than earn things. One only needs to review the website of the protesters to see that they advocate the vilest form of discrimination: the majority against the minority.
If greed is the litmus test, as these people suggest, then they have proven a point. They say they are the 99 percent that will no longer tolerate the greed and corruption of the 1 percent. In that case, their “movement” is based on the greediest and most corrupt of all premises: confiscation of the unearned.
JAMES H. HEAD
Aldie, Va.
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