Oct
2
Misguided Revolutionaries
Posted by: Paul Dhaliwal | October 2, 2011 | Leave a Comment
“An estimated 2,000 people have gathered in Lower Manhattan, New York, for the largest protest yet under the banner Occupy Wall Street.”-BBC
This headline caught my eye as I surfed the web without a particular thought in mind; no more than two paragraphs into the article, I found myself seething with frustration.
Occupy Wall Street protester- Courtesy of Europe News Blog
Demonstrators protested against “corporate greed, politics and inequality” by camping out in the financial district of New York City, most commonly known as Wall Street.
What gave these protesters the inclination to protest against corporate greed and inequality? These are citizens of a nation that has rigorously enforced commercial laws and a judicial system with unparalleled accessibility. As for the question of inequality; the protesters’ argument is that the wealthiest 25% of Americans posses 87% of American wealth, with the bottom 40% owning about 1%. However, the reality is that the 1% of wealth owned by the bottom 40% of Americans is still a princely sum when compared to most nations of Asia and Africa. Perhaps these protestors should keep this humbling fact in mind while attempting to provide their nations’ economy with a solution by shutting down its’ financial hub.
In the end my thoughts were best summarized by the words of Anthony D’Angelo, “Realize that if you have time to whine and complain about something then you have the time to do something about it.”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-15143509