Reading through previous self defense articles on Occupy Wall Street (OWS), one would notice a rather lighthearted tone. One had a headline out of a comic book, one focused on the irony of those desiring the redistribution of wealth object to having their stuff redistributed, and when they were stupid enough to attack the police, they can't be taken too seriously. Even at the most serious, OWS was looked at as probably more dangerous as a lure to criminals than it is itself.
Now, alas, there are pockets of anti-Semitism flaring up amongst the populace. This isn't funny anymore.
Signs of anti-Jewish and anti-Israel persuasion continually pop up all over the place in Zuccotti park, and other places the "Occupiers" dwell. This has been reported in a range of newspapers, from The New York Post, Jewish news sites, the blogosphere in general, etc, so it's not a left/right issue or a matter of "media bias." It just is.
One can object that they are a small, small minority. However, there's only about 300 of them in Zuccotti park, so even two dozen idiots is almost 10% of them.
However, even if there is only one of them, this could be a problem. Why? Because in situations like this, tensions run high. People get stressed. Continual stress over long periods of time make people more irritable than usual -- think of it as road rage for pedestrians.
Now, if you start with one person -- and one is usually enough -- who started as crazy, and wandered into Zuccotti park, let simmer for a few weeks, you have the formula for some Very Bad Things.
And, a quick search of google image will reveal that there are at least several people who started crazy when they got there.
The worrying thing is that the crowd doesn't gather around them, and invite these obviously disturbed people to leave
The problem to be focused on in this case is the following -- 43% of the OWS crowd are pro-violence. That's almost 150 people. If they ever get organized, that might be a bit of a problem. As mentioned, all one needs is one crazy, which is enough for a group to coalesce around. And then, you have a mob, and mobs are always easily swayed by some random idiot.
Thankfully, it's not a concern for now. More analysis as it occurs.
Be safe.
Comments