Does the global “Occupy” movement reflect the very best of Western dedication to social and economic justice – or is it just a craven reflection of a civilization in moral decline? Columnist Iulian Leca of Romania’s Voxpublica writes that juxtaposing the mad rush for Black Friday shopping bargains against images of the protests exposes the ‘Occupiers’ as no better than the adolescent vandals that ravaged London just a few months ago for lack of the latest audio and hi-tech products.
For Voxpublica, Iulian Leca writes in part:
It’s already hard to recall how many times the “occupation” movement has been invoked alongside images of young and old across the world storming supermarkets on Black Friday as if it were their last. Retirees standing in line to buy plasma and HD TVs because they have become considerably cheaper – from 1000-1490 lei [$306-$457]! In America, millions of people are actually trampling over one another to grab the most products at the lowest prices. Not free, but at a discount …
There is a basic hypocrisy in these images. It is a bigger hypocrisy than that which characterizes man in general. They betray the frivolousness of every anti-capitalist slogan. And they reflect the paradox through which the West is living. It is the product of a consumer society that indulges every whim. How to revolt against a system that has created democratized luxury?
Westerners no longer have reason to fight revolutions. All of their great pains have passed, their injustices have been resolved, their freedoms won and their ideals lost. All that is left are frustrations, but these are ephemeral and within the context of the moment. “Occupy” is an expression of these and perfectly expresses the hypocrisy: a wish to bring down the banks and major corporations, but to secretly run to the shopping mall and buy products at half price!
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