Anonymous asked: Why haven't you had anything to say about the Occupy protests? For someone who self-identifies as "radical" and occasionally even "Marxist," your silence is unbecoming.
I haven’t commented on it because:
- I don’t believe I have an obligation to make all my personal views public. This goes for my political beliefs as well as my sex life.
- I don’t identify with the movement, but don’t feel like trashing it either. I do not agree with the methods, goals, or language of occupation, though I empathize with the concerns of the “occupiers”.
- I’ve lately scaled back on blogging current events commentary in favor of independent writing projects, which is why I didn’t cover SlutWalk or DSK either.
Just because I’m not blogging about it, however, doesn’t mean that I haven’t thought about the topic. I don’t think structural change will come out of this. Sure, there might be a couple occupiers who are actually advocating an end to capitalism, but I see far more who are preaching reform, who believe that there’s a way to essentially make capitalism nicer and less unpleasant. That’s a cop-out because in the end, you can’t reform a system that is defined by exploitation. How do you reform that away? Some people will always be owners, while others are workers. Some people will have more private property, which in turn, makes their neighbors worse off. Social inequality is built into capitalism. All you can do with a system like that is to get rid of it and start over it. You can’t make it “better”. Anyway, I can’t possibly offer this topic the nuance it deserves via a blog post, but if you want to know how I feel about Occupy Wall Street, read this article. It’s a perfect summation of my feelings on the topic.
More burning questions? Ask Lena.
