Crushing naivete should evict Occupiers

By definition protests usually include specific demands from the targets of the vitriol. Quite often, there will also be evidence of alternate ideas. Occupy Vancouver is rife with the former but lacks any of the latter. As a matter of fact, what characterizes the movement most is the stupendous naivete of the occupiers.

Getting any specifics from this group is like nailing Jell-O to the wall, but the common thread is take, with absolutely no give. Free university tuition, forgiving of student loans, credit card reform (the elimination of all debts), and a commercial free CBC immune from government cuts are some demands that have bubbled to the surface of this steaming kettle of churning murky funk.

The reality that a few people have most of society's wealth is nothing new. It's always been this way. Everyone wants a better life. It's why we chew through the restraints each morning and get out of bed. Unfortunately, the process by which the protesters seek to tear down this system, ironically, would see the curtailment of many personal freedoms and rights.

I'm all for civic protest. After all, it's what killed the HST. It's what responsible citizens do when governments don't listen. Yes, unrestrained capitalism is a bad thing and we need look no further than some of the European countries teetering on the economic brink, but what does the legalization of drugs have to do with any of this? The idea that legalizing and setting up competition with the dealers would only enrich them further. Nobody in the tents gets that. Dummies!

Tear down the corporate structure but who's going to run the factories that employ the workers? Who's going to own the Starbucks that some of these schmucks work at? It's great to smoke dope in public, scream epithets at the rich, and dance on tellers' counters at the bank across the street but when it's time to roll up the sleeves of their flannel shirts and get to work, what will the distribution look like and where will the resources come from? They don't know - or aren't saying.

"Stop the war! The Canadian military are baby killers!" Really? Check the unbridled violence that emanates from the regions using the Qur'an as their manifesto. Set up your tents in Tikrit or Tehran and see what happens.

If the occupiers had focused on one issue like housing, or interest rates or the price of corn in Iowa, their cause would have resonated more with the very people they need to persuade, but this inarticulate belly-aching and inchoate petulance just pisses people off.

If these protesters really want to make a difference they have to first wash their hands, pull up their pants, turn their hats around, field-strip their blunts and join the system they hope to change. Democracy offers options but accessing those options requires discipline and effort.

Hey, you losers! Get off the Art Gallery lawn!