Forum Post: OWS Credibility Part 1

I live in decently size town of 50,000 in the quad-cities, Illinois. I've been following OWS for roughly a week now when I first heard about the movement. The lateness of me hearing about it, I believe, reflects that lack of media exposure. For instance, there will be a 30 second "blip" on a news announcement. The powerful message of each individual there deserves much more time in my opinion. Subsequently, I've tried to spread the word by asking people in gas stations, grocery stores, and random locations, "So you've heard about the occupation and protests in wall street and other places?" Surprisingly, I get a lot of, "What? And, what are you talking about?" So I give these people a general overview and encourage each to see for themselves on youtube, here, and simply googling it.

In my conversations, I've noticed that the people that have heard of OWS consider the movement to be, for instance, a "hippy-driven, disorganized, conformist, young-people's rant." And, the people there are trying to simply get publicity and really there for a particular reason. Believe me, I don't feel this way. I think the "small town" opinion is related to lack of media exposure and close mindedness but overall, I do think these people do have some points to consider.

Your wonderful detailed signs have a lot of great ideas. I have seen many videos and read most of them. Although, the goals that are stated here: http://occupycommunity.org/ aren't reflected in what I've seen in the media and what I've seen in videos. A majority of videos that are surfacing are various protesters that are having dealings with the authorities but there are some good interviews. I feel like the credibility of the OWS is jepordized because the availability of quality videos is minimal that express the goals on the website. I think that documentation and video evidence of dealings with brutal authorities is crucial to see your struggle and for subsequent civil suits to bring these authorities to justice.