After having spent a little time at Occupy Wall Street and some more time at Occupy D.C., I felt obligated to share a few comparisons between the two based purely on cursory experiences. These comparisons are in no way fully-baked or well-formulated. I’m going to have to rely on something completely unrelated to the subject itself to keep you reading. Also, I have a few preliminary warnings: first, let me say that I’m not as passionate about the movement as much as other people of my socioeconomic background/age are. This comes more from being misanthropic than being pro-capitalism. In fact, I may go so far as to say that capitalism itself has had a hand in making me hate people. I support #occupy and the overthrow of the ideological system that has created the insufferable wastes of human flesh that make up the living, breathing, bars of my prison. This makes it difficult for me to organize with them. The problem seems intractable. Secondly, I hate drum circles. I’d like to think that most people do. If you enjoy drum circles, I hope you get maced and beaten. This obviously relates to the first point.
Now that you know sort of where I’m coming from, here are some observations:
Occupy D.C. is more sedate than Occupy Wall Street.
There’s a real intensity in New York that’s missing in D.C. I guess that applies to the two cities in general, but this disparity has a special resonance when it comes to the movement. I think it signals that the real source of power emanates from Capital and the manipulators of it, and that the political class IN the capitol are secondary.
There are more religious people at Occupy D.C. than at Occupy Wall Street.
I can’t verify this with statistics. This is purely based on the signs I saw. And the nearly seven-foot-tall guy who tried to convince me that since he found his hoodie, God must have blessed him.
Occupy D.C. doesn’t have as active a drum circle as Occupy Wall Street.
Which, obviously, I support. I’m convinced that the drum circle on Wall Street is a plant from Bank of America.
“Ketchup” is not at Occupy D.C.
Which I also support, since I think the “petite 22-year old from Chicago with wavy red hair and glasses with bright red frames” is a plant from Goldman Sachs. I mean, come on: obviously. She scheduled her “woman safe space” meetings at the same time as the General Assembly…
Occupy D.C. looks more like a Phish Concert, Occupy Wall Street looks more like a European protest
I’ve hovered around the periphery of both, so, yeah.
Occupy Wall Street has a better book selection.
I found bell hooks at Occupy D.C. and Theodor Adorno at Occupy Wall Street.
Police are nicer at Occupy D.C.
Some reasons for this might be that Occupy D.C. has less people, the police in D.C. are more used to political protests, and the protests in D.C. are so much farther removed from the true centers of power… which are all finance companies, which are all in New York.
I know we’re not keeping score here, but if I were forced to choose between spaces to physically occupy, I would have to go with Occupy Wall Street. Sure, the drum circle is more prevalent and “Ketchup” is there, but at least you feel like you’re participating in something dangerous and exciting. Plus, I mean, you just can’t beat the food downtown.
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