[quote name='MSI Magus']Again you only look at things through your own narrow world view. And again you put words in my mouth and judged me(something you again do a lot).[/QUOTE]
Hey, if you say that it's really on point, I have to disagree that their portrayal is accurate.
Does it bug me very much perosnally? Not really. But does it bug a lot of other people? Hell yes! My mother in law asked me about it(she like most of my friends and family now sees me as the be all end all on political matters which depresses me)and when I told her more about it her response was that she just cant take them seriously because of all the hippy/goofy BS.
Look they can beat bongos all they want for all I care. Thing is that when you do shit like that the majority of blue collar hard working Americans are going to write you off as a clown. My wife said the subject has come up once or twice in her office and peoples responses are by and large the exact same thing. They are either openly hostile(she actually had one coworker call them lazy communists)or they are unsure what to think/supportive of the ideal but flat out state they cant get behind them because of all the goofy stuff.
Look protesting is like turning up for a job interview. You are trying to make an impression on people and if you show up looking aloof and goofy you aint getting the job/people are less likely to join your movement. They can do and dress however they want, but then they cant complain when they are stereotyped that way or their movement does not grow past a certain type of person. Can you imagine if in the civil rights era Martin Luther King would have shown up dressed as a zombie and instead of giving his I have a dream speech quoted some crappy song? Impressions count if you like it or not.
But you see, this is what I'm talking about: who exactly is shaping the narrative and to what purpose? And it looks like that narrative is winning despite the facts of who is really participating in the Occupy movements.
I think you tend to look at things through a vacuum. I know we all do, but as iv said before sometimes I think of you as the Knoell of the left. Even when we are in agreement on an issue when someone doesnt state things exactly 100% as you want them you nit pick. In an ideal world small stuff like this wouldn't matter, and maybe in your world it doesn't....but personally I want to reach people not just argue online.
Here's the thing homie: In order to practice, you NEED to know the theory. This is called
praxis and there are NO shortcuts. I'm sure you're a swell guy IRL, but you show a very elementary understanding of a lot of deeper concepts that go on behind the scenes to the point of being dismissive. I'm not implying that you're dumb, but that you have a lot to learn. Despite my know it all asshole-ish attitude, everything I've learned has told me that even I still have a lot to learn as well.
Also quick note(but no need to get deep in to it)you again took my Marxism comment way too far and just wrong in general. Point was that not many people talk about Marxism regardless of if its right or wrong and are taken seriously. IN general if you even bring it up your seen as some kind of a communist by many people. I think we need some extremes, but with a movement like this if you start off on that foot you will turn people off. Again I want to branch out and get as many people involved as possible and to do that you need to keep the message simple. You need to talk about the basics, corruption, corporate power, money in politics. Things that average person can understand and appreciate. Not force through the narrow ultra liberal views people like me or you may hold down peoples throats. We can try and do that slowly once people have opened their mind to more then their own view.
The thing is that the movement really isn't that extreme. A valid critique is that there's actually too much talking and not enough "doing." The problem is that they're using a direct democracy model and the process is VERY slow. That's why there's no leader or concrete demands as they're still hashing out the organizational structure. This is why it's different from the teabaggers because it had corporate funding, sponsorship, and organization.
Edit - Wanted to add too that id be curious to see how people here reacted when the Tea Party people were dressing up as Captain American or dangling Tea Bags from their heads. Iv heard people on the right that defended that critize people on the left for basically doing the same. I imagine if I went back and looked at what people on the left here said about those tea baggers it would largly be what their now upset people are saying about these OWS people.
You know, I've actually been thinking about the teabagger movement and my strong distaste, no matter how deserved, and how their anger is valid, but they are totally going in the wrong direction. Should the few interviewees be representative of the entire movement? Of course not, but when your rationale comes down to
Obama, there are some serious problems. Now if there was a hint of anti-corporatocratic authoritarianism, I'd be a lot more forgiving.
Even in my own critiques, I'll make fun of the crazies, but I'll also examine their message. I'm not going to dismiss their movement just because they're carrying guns to rallies or dress up in inaccurate period costumes.
In my field itself the excuses are the same; you need years more worth of college education or training to qualify for an entry-level position. So yeah, 
