Reply #7: I don't think OWS needs an icon, but they do need spokespeople and coordination.

[MADem]

That's the problem to this point. Even in the 60s, while there was no "one" leader, there were leaders or leader-like operatives with varying perspectives, spokespeople who could give a quote or a reliable piece of information to the media, coordinators who could tell you what time the march was starting and where everyone should meet--that kind of thing. They do need some focus around which to provide rallying points. It doesn't have to be a top-down thing; it can be organic and still be organized.

I don't like seeing this effort being all about feces piled up and rats in parks and sex in sleeping bags. I don't like it being all about fighting the "evil" police. That's all just too cartoonish.

There comes a point when the attention-seeking behavior no longer offers the rewards it did when it was a novelty. That's the point where things need to get serious and focused, and I think the time has come for that sort of effort.

I know I'm in the minority here, but that's life. I'm not going to pretend I think everything is swell out of fear of some keyboard commando calling me "unliberal" or some other "meanie" name!