Your are reading the blog Random Observations from Dallas.

only search RandomObservationsFromDallas

It has taken me a while to determine my true feelings about the Occupy Movement in general and the Occupy Dallas actions and public reactions.  This is almost certainly due to my left-leaning empathy for disenfranchised individuals who are so motivated to participate in some way in the public debate.  There are far too many outlets for both the "liberal" and "conservative" opinions and too much talk about the "right" and "wrong" of what is the equivalent of driving our economy and government off a cliff.  There is far too much Aristotelian, situational "right" asserted by the Occupy Movement and, in equal measure, far too much of the Emmanuel Kant view that what is "right" is empirically provable through observation of the reality of what can see and hear with our senses.


Neither is correct and for similar reasons.  The "right" thing to do may be the moral high-road, but the "correct" thing to do often requires a great deal of individual sacrifice required by meeting the needs of one's conscious at the expense of personal comfort available to people such as Penn State assistant coach McQueary, who some say was in a no win position.


So, what is wrong with the Occupy Movement in general. First and foremost your chosen moniker "Occupy" which all too often brings to mind the idea of take up position in a place that is not exclusively yours.  Nazi Germany did a lot of "occupying" of places that were not theres to control.  Those who finally opposed them waited to late to act, to the serious detriment of all involved.


Second, the constitution of this great nation guarantees the right of the people to peaceably assemble.  Unprejudiced and even people sympathetic to the movement can not escape that the movement is not always peaceful and no matter how you twist and turn your grammar, one can not make the word "assemble" a synonym of "occupy."


Your movement has made to little of the resources available in abundance in every place you "occupy" - self-policing by and self-censuring from those many in the movement who do have a clear view of their cause.  The reason the worst of the movement has become it's personal persona is the inability of the "true" members of the movement to separate itself geographically and politically from your "camp followers."  Step up and remove yourselves from these undesirables and someone with a microphone might stick a microphone and news camera in your face. 


The Dallas City Council, and the city attorney's office, in general conducted themselves in such a manner as to reflect well on our city; which, to no one's surprise is not viewed as a city known for it's tolerance.  My sole objection to the City's response has been the direction and actions of the Police Department which has not acted as the impartial authority required from those that enforce the laws, regardless of their political purpose or reason for assembly.


Each and every day the homeless, drug addicts and drug dealers and criminals engaged in the black-market resulting from the dealings in which these criminal occupiers engage for their continued existence.  

One can see these groups every single day from windows at City Hall and Police Department headquarters.  The police department can hardly be views with impartiality in it's daily failure to confront these "occupiers" in force and with such supreme execution as they did in response to members of the Occupy Dallas movement.  There is something mean and low in the police department's moving against the protesters in the middle of the night.  It brings to mind one of Adolph Hitler's favorite phrases - "Nacht und Nebel".  A truly frightening practice used by the Nazi movement against those who even remotely attracted their attention through any activity that reflected views which did not meet their party's political dogma.  Because of the nature of the DPD's actions the entire police department leaves their ultimate controllers, City Manager and staff, with a lingering smell that won't quite go away.




As to those who dismiss the Occupy Movement out-of-hand, without attempting to understand the source of the Occupy Movement's feelings of having been used by those who's job it is to prevent it, I can only quote, with absolute disgust, Newt Gingrich's comment that they should get a job and take a bath before they come back.  I'm say to those of you who sympathize with Mr. Gingrich and find justification in his comments for your own views that the Constitution protects "the people" of this country - not just the well-groomed, well-dressed, well-expressed, or well within the stereotype of those you from whom you draw courage because they only speak and act in a manner that matches your own.


When I first heard news of the Occupy Movement on the national evening news I said to my partner "this is not going to go away."  I repeat that now for the reason that great movements succeed because of the unspoken recognition that something must be wrong in our community to cause these people to act so vehemently in support of their feelings.  


You could use the cover of Hustler magazine as a book-wrapper for the Bible and in doing so, not reduce the messages contained therein by one iota.


To those on both sides I say this.  Take efforts so that your words and deeds reflect that which is the best of you and not take the easy outs available to you of absolute acceptance or rejection.  The underlying message of the Occupy Movement has not yet clearly been heard.  But, it will be, once distilled through reasonable public commentary.  Then, watch out.  Because their is truth in the assertion that special interests have high-jacked our government to the special benefit of the very few while spreading the cost and misery of their success among the many.

Please support the advertisers whose fees for making using of my blog page make it possible for my blog, and blogs by anyone else, to contribute to public debate. I do not need the minimal income generated by your "clicking through" these ads to support myself. However, I could never afford the expense of supporting such a blog site on my own and your viewing those advertising sponsors' messages does make this forum available to all. These ads are no security risk to your computer or your privacy for multiple reasons. First, I have absolute and total control over what ads and advertisers appear on my blog. I have nothing to gain from your visiting an advertisers site and finding as a result that your computer is infected or your privacy infringed upon. Second, these ads are placed and serviced by a reputable sales organization - AdSense. They would quickly go out of business if readers who click through the ads they place on this blog became the least bit dissatisfied by the results. Finally, Google and Blogspot.com have nothing to gain from damaging your computer or infringing on your privacy and everything to lose if they do.

Enter your email address:


Delivered by FeedBurner

Enter your email address:


Delivered by FeedBurner