I guess it is a stupid way to get your idea across... and it does tend to alienate people.

[MADem]

139. I invite your attention to the OP, once again.

The OP is creating a direct equivalence between Rosa Parks and a bunch of nitwits who stole and burned a flag in Oakland.

As I have said elsewhere, let's not "drag out the black people" and use them and decades of history to move those goalposts to try to make the case. It is a bit offensive, frankly.

The OP's comparison was very specific--two protests, under the auspices of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, and they are being directly compared to a bunch of jerks lighting up Ole Glory. That's the subject here--let's not go far afield from that claim.

OWS has already become violent--certainly, it's the conduct of "The One Percent of the 99 Percent," perhaps, but that kind of childish crap has staying power and makes the movement look bad. You know, we had a saying in the military "One Aw Shit wipes out a hundred Atta Boys." There's truth in that comment, and this stunt was an Aw Shit moment for OWS.

The unfocused nature of the effort and shenanigans like this latest stunt, without any definable or obvious purpose, are things that are turning away people who would otherwise be their most ardent supporters. I just don't see any "social justice" or "economic parity" in stealing and burning a flag. It's making me think that this movement isn't what I thought it was, and instead is just an attention-seeking exercise. Way too much camping and yelling, and not much sustainable direct action that I've seen. That saddens me. I don't know who to look to--the unions, maybe?

Someone needs to harness this feeling of dissatisfaction that people are feeling and actually focus on actions that make CHANGE. Flag burning, camping, running around protesting Scientologists in Warner Brothers masks, and shutting down websites for two minutes is just chickenshit stuff. It may be "popular" and "cool" right now...but so's Justin Frigging Beiber, and that boy can't sing for shit.

Boycotting a bus line, day, after, day, after day, walking, sacrificing, working together, maintaining focus, through fair weather and foul, enduring, for over a year, and not giving those bastards a damn dime, and forcing them to change a policy? That's some serious shit. That's courage. That's RESOLVE. That impressed me. I have yet to be impressed by OWS, and the thing is, I want to be.