Forum Post: Any ideas? Help!
Posted 12 years ago on Dec. 18, 2011, 11:54 a.m. EST by xodanc3ralox
(0)
from New York, NY
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
So I'm writing a paper for school on the Occupy Wall Street movement and I have to write about if the occupy wall street protesters should be allowed to protest in front of peoples homes, what do you guys think?
anyone has a right to protest anytime, anywhere for anything, this is America land of the FREE!
It is not that simple. Anyone has a right to protest as long as it does not infringe on someone else's rights. Free speech does not trump all other laws and rights.
For example I cannot protest by putting giant speakers blasting sound and a 10,000 watt light in my front yard pointing at my neighbor’s house to protest my right to light and sound. By doing so I am violating my neighbor’s rights.
The difficult situation with the OWS strategy is the concept of occupation. Some would claim the first amendment guarantees the right to occupy when in fact there are no camping laws in place in the parks they chose to occupy. Not allowing people to camp does not infringe upon their right to free speech or to peacefully assemble.
I believe the reason that the occupation method is chosen is to make it appear that the movement is larger than it is. When a few hundred people occupy a park and fight with police, they get media coverage. They may even get the same media coverage that 200,000 people would get assembling in the Washington Mall.
The problem with the strategy in the long term is that Americans, and people in general have a short attention span, especially when it comes to recurring stories in the news. When we hear there were devastating tornados in Alabama we pay attention. When there are more a few days later we pay attention a little bit. When there are more a few days later we tend to ignore the news, even if they were much stronger than the first tornados.