Occupy this!

Jeff Vinnick for the Globe and Mail

I've had plenty of time now to come to some understanding of the "Occupy XXX (fill in name of city here)" demonstrations over the last several weeks.

At first, although I sympathized with the demonstrators, they didn't have a single, cohesive theme to grab me with. Something I could latch on to. Kind of like the Tea Party. Although they (the Tea Party) had a simplistic, easy-to-understand, uninformed theme - at least it stuck. Seems that the right wing in the USA has a distinct advantage of being able to stay on message.

But the more I listened and read, the clearer it became to me. There isn't a clear message because there can't be one. We're past the days of 'easy solutions for easy problems'. There is no single thing - or even several things - we could do to meet their needs.

What I think they're calling for - and this is just my interpretation - is an entire restructuring of the way we do things. The system we have now is 'winner take all'. There is no long term view - either in the business world or in our individual lives. The rules have been rigged to support this idea. Here are several examples of what I'm thinking of:

• Corporations have person-hood.  Corporations have all the privileges of being a person, with very few of the responsibilities. And none of the downside. Being beholden to shareholders first, second and third is lunacy. And most every corporation that says their employees, customers, or social responsibility is high on their list - is lying to you. Shareholders trump all.
• Young adults today have a much reduced chance of finding real, rewarding work. Unemployment is very high, and the 'under-employed' is a huge class (across all age groups).
• We've been fed the 'you must go to University to get a good job' line for decades now. Today we know that's foolish and stupid.
• We export everything we can export - jobs, water, oil - without regard for the repercussions (like huge unemployment). We reward the people who do the exporting. 
• People who add no value are rewarded excessively (banking).
• People who add huge value are not rewarded at all (teachers, cops, firemen, social workers).
• We have lived way beyond our means in the West for decades. Now it's coming home to roost.
• We're very quick to promote democracy when it suits us (Egypt, Libya), but not so quick when it doesn't (Greece, Occupy XXX).

When I see in the news today that the City of Vancouver is trying to shut down the Occupy site downtown, I can't help but think that 'if you want to really inflame the situation and bolster the movement, that's how to do it'.  They're inconveniencing nobody. The cries of 'but someone died there' are hollow - go to the Downtown East Side and see how many die there every week. But we never see or hear about those deaths. The site is at most an eyesore for those who live by the Art Gallery (nobody). It's a shame that all the people working in downtown Vancouver might have to look at the site for a few minutes a day. And a shame that they had to re-route the Santa Clause Parade - hardship, I know.

So that's my rant of the moment - I'd like to hear from anyone who's over the age of 30 and agrees (or disagrees) with me!