So what's it all about?

The Occupy movement isn't really grabbing headlines. It makes the news only when the police bust up a protest and the coverage is uniformly in favour of the police or government authorising the bust-up of the protest. Despite this, online, Occupy is big news. Alternative news feeds are going crazy over it. Solidarity sites and groups are springing up everywhere, spreading every bit of news they can.

So here's a random cross-section of attitudes and stuff that's happening, after the jump.

Co-opt and profit. Famous rapper Jay-Z has started making his own line of Occupy t-shirts, which he is of course selling for personal profit. He has no plans to donate any profit to the Occupy Wall Street protestors, who are hunkered down in Zuccotti Park with winter settling in. Read.

The police are just doing their duty. Read some of the personal accounts of arrestees. The media will tell you that 'the protest turned violent' or that 'the police were forced to contain the protest'. That's all bullshit. Read any of the personal accounts and you'll see that any kind of adherence to the law has been thrown out the window. The disconnect between what our media is telling us and what a protestor with broken bones is telling us, is massive. Switch off the TV. Read.

Selective Focus. The clean-up will cost x. Members of the protest did y. What else happened? What was it about? You are not being told. Instead your outrage buttons are being carefully and selectively pressed. You are being goaded into a reaction. Does the accused side get a right of reply? No, that would interfere in the manipulation of your opinion. What about if you reply to an article, and provide a link back to a refutation? Better delete it off the site before readers can see it. Read. and Look.

Revealing the ugly side. Celebrities get involved. The most surprising people offer the most sage and compassionate opinions. People you've liked or looked up to stand revealed as absolute fucking monsters. What do you do? It sets you thinking, disconnected from rote admiration, and stunned by surprise sympathy from an unexpected quarter, you become emboldened. This is your life, these are your decisions. Don't go looking to emulate your heroes, they will disappoint you. Stand up to them, and reject their views and you have conquered your own hero. Read. and Read.

Disagree with the movement if you wish. Ask questions. Clarify your doubts. Seek out information. See if there's anything in it you could identify with. Defend the parts of it you feel comfortable doing so with. But watch, read and look. This movement could transform the world. We are seeing people we've thought of as apathetic for generations showing an interest in real democracy. This is only dangerous if there is an element that opposes transparent, egalitarian democracy. There is either no such element, and this movement may do good anyway before it peters out, or there is such an element, and this movement is more than important, it's vital. Either way, we need this right now.