James Melton

After initially getting big play on liberal websites and almost nowhere else, the Occupy Wall Street movement is finally getting attention from the mainstream media – which is what its organizers wanted. Good for them, right? Not really.

When Oscar Wilde said “the only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about,” he could not have known about today’s cable news, talk radio and social media. These days, when those doing the talking misrepresent and mock you in front of a national audience, that’s a problem. And, oh boy… OWS, which is just now getting started in metro Detroit, has trouble on its hands.

Fox News, predictably, has been apoplectic. Sean Hannity recently had Ann Coulter on his show to talk about “the destructive Occupy Wall Street protests.” Coulter, true to form, was more than happy to describe OWS as a “classic mob uprising.”

Rush Limbaugh has not given the protesters even that much credit. “Parasites” is a word he has used to describe them. Recently, CNN’s Alison Kosik used her Twitter feed to describe the purpose of OWS as “bang on the bongos, smoke weed.”

To some extent, this isn’t entirely the fault of the media. I have been part of enough liberal protests to know they can attract some colorful people. Aging hippies still exist and, God love ‘em, you will find them at events like this. Almost invariably, somebody will show up to sell communist newspapers. Bongos really might be part of the festivities. If that’s all you see (or all you are looking for) when you arrive, it can leave a bad impression.

Look beyond the surface, though, and it’s clear that OWS (aka the 99 percent movement) is about a lot more than bongos, weed and the latest edition of Worker’s Vanguard. It’s about pain and insecurity. It’s about disappointment. It’s about people who were wiped out because they were laid off in middle age or got sick and lost health insurance. It’s not a joke. Any policymaker or politician who treats it that way does so at his or her own career peril.

Presidential hopeful Herman Cain, in particular, does not get that. “I don’t have the facts to back this up,” he told the Wall Street Journal, “but I happen to believe that these demonstrations are planned and orchestrated to distract from the failed policies of the Obama Administration.”

He then went on to accuse the protesters of being just a bunch of complainers. His advice to the protesters was “blame yourself” for not being rich or for being unemployed. “It’s not someone’s fault if they succeeded,” Cain said, so resenting them doesn’t help anyone. That is true, and Cain would have a point if unfocused, primeval envy of the rich was a key motivator among OWA protestors. Based on statements I have read on OWA-connected websites, it isn’t.

Like most Americans, what grinds their gears isn’t wealth – it’s the scheming, fraud and manipulation of the system some people use to get it. In the case of Wall Street executives, the problem is not that they are rich – it’s how they got rich. More than that, it’s about how they managed to stay rich after their recklessness crashed the economy in 2008. So, yes, OWA folks resent some specific rich people. But that does not make them class warriors.

They also are not bunch of stupid, lazy, welfare-sucking losers. Largely, they are people who have gotten an education, worked hard and did their jobs before having the rug pulled out from under them. The last thing they want is a welfare check or endless extensions of unemployment benefits. They want to work and they want their work to be valued. They want their dignity back.

Cain wants the OWS protestors to stop complaining and help themselves. Well, with all due respect, Mr. Cain. I think that is what they are doing. They are getting organized. They are sharing ideas. They are, maybe, becoming a political force to be reckoned with.

I don’t know what will come of these protests. But I know where those folks are coming from. I have been where they are and I know how it feels. For that reason, I’m going to spend some time hanging with the OWS crowd, just to find out more. If Mr. Cain would like to join me, that would be great.

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