Ultimate fail for Wall Street protest

More than 5,000 self-proclaimed “over-educated and under-employed” protestors swarmed Wall Street last Saturday.

The march against corporate influence in United States politics was organized by Canadian anti-consumerist magazine Adbusters. If you’re questioning how a Canadian magazine was able to stir up that many Americans, you aren’t alone.

Who do they think they are, telling another country’s citizens to rise up? Luckily, Adbusters wasn’t alone either; the hacktivist organization Anonymous also backed the protest, which is probably what drew many participants.

Phew, I was starting to think Canada might have actually influenced Americans.
Members of the protest said they were inspired by the Egyptian protests that began in

January this year. A major difference between the two protests is the diversity of people marching.

The Egyptian protests featured people of almost every socio-economic and religious background. On the other hand, the Wall Street protestors were mostly younger people with college debt who are angry about lack of employment.

While I commend the protestors for attempting to make their voices heard by the giants of American business, they don’t have the numbers to warrant action.

Not only that, but their numbers were roughly 1,000 by Monday and the initial enthusiasm won’t return.

Sure, they pissed off some Wall Street employees on Monday, but starting on Saturday was probably the most obvious mistake they made.

It seems basic, if you’re trying to get in the way of productivity, that you do it when the most people are trying to work. In this case, the aim should be to disrupt employees when the market is opening for the week, not when all the Wall Street employees are watching college football.

Initial mistakes aside, I can’t see the Wall Street protestors having enough hate in their veins to last long enough to make a difference.

I understand you have debt, everyone knows that, but college students are far from oppressed. Let’s face it, you probably knew the major you chose doesn’t make any money, but you did it anyway. It isn’t always a bad thing — people should do what they love and not worry about getting paid.  

Another issue that seems to be highlighted most in the pictures of the protest is that not everyone looks serious about the protest. Some seem as if they’re just there to hold up their cardboard sign with their favorite Internet meme.

I’m all for using humor to make a point, but not when protesting Wall Street.
If you want to be taken seriously by politicians, cool it with the jokes. No self-respecting person of power will listen to the chants of people who are making light of the situation they want to change.

In the end, the only people talking about this in a few months will be employees reminiscing at the company Christmas party.

­— agreiner@gmail.com