Occupy Unmasked

Occupy Unmasked was a very interesting film. It screams propaganda but there are multiple points that were put into perspective for me. In my last post I made an argument in support of the Wall Street Occupiers. After viewing this film it influenced my opinion in the opposite direction. Before viewing this film I was familiar with the Occupy Wall Street movement, however I wasn’t too familiar with the Occupy movements across the country. After covering multiple riots/protests through the semester, I find the Occupy movement to be comical. However something I take away from it, is the true power we the people hold when in numbers.
This movement had no organization and more then half the people involved were not even aware of what they were protesting for. Most protestors were just infatuated with being apart of a rebellion. How can you have a meaningful movement when the people taking part in the protest are uneducated in the goals of the protest? In the film, protestors are interviewed and can not answer simple questions as to what the sign they are holding even means. This was a perfect example of how clueless the people involved were. The protestors couldn’t even read the sign they were holding and elaborate vaguely on what the sign means or why they are protesting.
What makes the Occupy movement even more comical is how a small group lured in a massive number of supporters by putting people under the false impression that their was going to be a live performance by RadioHead. This isn’t the way you build support for your movement. It demonstrates how meaningless the protest maybe in the first place. The protestors were almost brain washed into taking part of this movement. It was clear that these young protestors were being used. The film tries to paint a picture of the protestors being Anarchists. When you look at the violence that was taking place in Seattle it supports their argument. Vandalizing buildings and fighting against police is the total opposite of what was occurring in lower Manhattan. This type of behavior gives the protest a bad name. When you see the drug use that was occurring and the rapes that were taking place, it only displays what kind of low lives were involved. The media had a big part in this movement as well, it was almost a media driven protest when you look at it. Liberals were in full support and were only broadcasting what was favorable. Meanwhile what was actually happening at these Occupy zones was definitely unfavorable to the public eye.