What Do They Want?

With few exceptions, major corporate outlets, networks, national newspapers and the like, have treated the month-long protests such as Occupy Wall Street as something akin to a UFO: odd, alien and inscrutable. From microphones nationwide come questions: “What do they want?”; “What are their demands?” or, “Why are they doing this?” By so doing, they have spread more confusion than information, and performed a serious disservice to their listeners, viewers and readers.

They have become purveyors of misinformation, and are, at the very least, disingenuous. For, the Occupation movement could not be more clear about their goals and objectives. Indeed, within days of the demonstration’s debut, they published a 4-page, full-color newspaper, called The Occupied Wall Street Journal, with a statement on page 3 announcing exactly what brought them together, and why. It’s titled: “Declaration of the Occupation”, which in language and tone rings with similarities to the Declaration of Independence. It speaks of “solidarity” with others, and seeks an end to the “mass injustice” being faced by millions of Americans (and others) who “feel wronged by the corporate forces of the world.”

In a nutshell, they speak out against corporate greed, illegal foreclosures, bailouts for Wall St., discrimination, exorbitant student loans, political corruption, environmental degradation, the wars abroad–and the corporate control of the media which “keeps people misinformed and fearful.

Huh.

There it is.

It ain’t rocket science. It couldn’t be clearer. It’s given away freely.

If media couldn’t take the time to travel to downtown Manhattan (or their own down towns in over a thousand cities!) to pick up a copy, they could see it on their computer, at: www.occupywallst.com.

Seriously.

Now, I don’t have computer access. It’s not only disallowed on Death Row–it ain’t in Pennsylvania prisons period. Yet, a fellow mailed me a copy of The Occupied Wall Street Journal. And I read it.

Why couldn’t reporters for major media outlets have done so? Unless they wanted to “keep people misinformed?”