Friday, October 14, 2011

Occupy SF? Meh.

In the abstract, I sort of support the amorphous Occupy Wall Street movement.  So I thought I'd check out the Occupy SF encampment.

I smelled the protestors camped out in front of the Federal Reserve in San Francisco before I saw them.  Grungy sleeping bags and mats covered half the sidewalk.  The other half was enclosed by metal barriers set up by the SFPD to protect the Federal Reserve.  A narrow walkway between the encampment and barriers became a virtual gauntlet for the poor office drones who had to get to and from work.  A pale, dreadlocked, and angry young man sat on his sleeping bag and taunted the employed passers-by in a menacing tone: Smile everyone, you are making money.  The harassed did their best to ignore him.

It was not an uplifting scene.  There were only about two dozen lethargic protestors camping out.  And it stunk!  Maybe it's different in other cities, but Occupy SF was a disappointment.  The protestors are not winning over any hearts and minds, that's for sure.

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