Can you imagine how the majority of people felt when African-Americans marched in Selma and integrated lunch counters. The majority of white Southerners were frightened and angry. To avoid having to take responsibility for their own terrible conduct, they blamed what was happening on outside agitators.
African-Americans of course supported the movement but they were nervous and worried about what would happen if the movement failed. People, both white and African-American were killed and jailed.
The civil rights movement made people feel very uncomfortable. And the race riots in big cities? Do you think they were popular. They were much more violent than anything OWS has done.
OWS is about issues just as important as civil rights, but when people demonstrate, point out injustice and fight for change and simple fairness, it frightens most people.
The lower approval scores are the sign that the Occupy movement is crossing into the comfort zones of a lot of people. This is OK.
The important thing is that the ideas and language of the OWS movement are becoming mainstream. Without crediting the movement, politicians and newscasters are having to deal with the issues that have been raised by OWS.
That was precisely the way it worked with the civil rights movement. First the majority of people reacted with curiosity, then fear, then vehement disapproval of the "extremists." Then gradually people acknowledged that maybe the civil rights protesters had a point.
And of course then legislation was passed that started real change for the better. It took years to get as far as we are today, and we have by no means achieved a truly colorblind society.
And so, the OWS has met with approval among the majority of Americans faster than did the civil rights movement in the South. The grievances that OWS is dealing with are nearly universal, and the ideas of the movement are becoming part of our national vocabulary. They are being absorbed into our national consciousness.
The approval statistics are exactly what we should expect. No one should worry.
= new reply since forum marked as read