Occupy Ignorance

photo courtesy of larry rippel

In today's editorial titled "Occupy Elsewhere", the PIttsburgh Post-Gazette unwittingly demonstrates exactly why OccupyPittsburgh ought not and will not vacate the public space that BNY/Mellon claims dominion over. They manage to completely undermine their own claim by the simple expedient of having no idea at all about the core issue underlying the worldwide Occupy movement and the reasons why peaceful protest and a functional free press is essential to the operation of a democratic republic.

The specific ignorance shown by the Post-Gazette pervades the editorial but is highlighted in a single sentence:

The movement's fight against economic inequality and corporate greed is laudable and justified, but there is little to suggest that the Pittsburgh group's continued presence in Mellon Green will advance its agenda.

If the movement were fighting against inequality and greed, it is possible that this claim by the editors could be true. Unfortunately, given a brief three months in which to study the movement, the Post-Gazette has somehow failed to understand the purpose and meaning of Occupy. It would be easy to claim that the last remaining newspaper of daily circulation in the city was deliberately playing the fool regarding their public duty, but I'm going to afford them the greatest possible charity and assume that their specific ignorance is a result of the editors having watched too much television.
OccupyPittsburgh is insufficiently entertaining and therefore must be irrelevant. Ironically, this same cause has largely been blamed for the impending death of the American newspaper.

In other parts of the world, the Occupy protests make lead stories: moderately violent clashes between the police and the people are always good for front pages. Here in Pittsburgh, the peaceable assembly of the people to petition their government for redress of grievance isn't selling any newspapers.

By any measure, OccupyPittsburgh has been a model of peaceable protest. They are tidy, maintain a cordial relationship with the police and BNY/Mellon security staff, and have gone to great effort to be good citizens. Exactly one month prior to today's editorial, the Pittsburgh City Council had unanimously resolved to support and declared their solidarity with OccupyPittsburgh. Certainly, such pleasant display of public and city cooperation is noteworthy, but the Editors probably don't consider it "newsworthy" and that is their defect.

At the core of the Occupy movement is the simple fact that the government of the United States has ceased to be a government of the people as it was originally chartered, but a government beholden to corporations. There are many ways to demonstrate that, but I'll use one of the more dramatic. As noted by Lawrence Lessig, with only about 10% of Americans currently expressing confidence in our Congress, "there were more [American] people who believed in the British Crown at the time of the Revolution than who believe in our Congress today".

Unfortunately, no matter how profound Mr. Lessig might be, he isn't what one would call "overtly sexy". Less sexy still is perhaps Jerry Sandusky whose salacious sex scandal trial was what the Post-Gazette editors considered to be the most important news of today. But to be fair, the Editors do know their market and the un-news of Sandusky waiving his right to a preliminary hearing is certainly more entertaining and digestible to their readers than the complicated failure of US society.

And this is precisely where the Post-Gazette abrogates its responsibility. As we are fond of teaching our elementary students, a free, inquisitive press is the implied fourth branch of the US government, adding the external check upon the operation of government for the people. If the claim of Occupy and its various predecessors and contemporary scholars is true, that the people have effectively lost their voice within our government, then how are we to reclaim it?

Through my entire life I have heard the continual call for meaningful campaign finance reform as a necessity to retain our status as vibrant representative democracy; also over the same time, the problem has gotten ever more worse. Prior to the Occupy movement, this issue wasn't even part of the national conversation. Now, in part because of some tents placed in a public space in downtown Pittsburgh, the conversation has at least begun again.

I am doing what I can to educate myself, my peers, my associates, and my child regarding the single most important issue of our day. I ask that the Editors of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette endeavor to give the matter sufficient consideration to be slightly better informed than their customers. I consider the time I've spent understanding the movement to be my civic duty; I would like to think that the Post-Gazette considers themselves to have at least as much duty as does one ordinary citizen.