Phony Downtrodden in Zuccotti Park
The self-professed dispossessed camped out in Zuccotti Park reminds one of the Hoovervilles of the Great Depression. The difference, of course, was that there were real poor in the Hoovervilles while the OWS activists in today's Obamavilles are faux poor. A recent article in the New York Post describes what happens when the real poor show up.
The high class cuisine served by the OWS chefs have attracted the city's poor. The cooks aren't pleased. "The Occupy Wall Street volunteer kitchen staff launched a 'counter' revolution yesterday -- because they're angry about working 18-hour days to provide food for 'professional homeless' people and ex-cons masquerading as protesters."
Life is tough when you're trying to prove you're the downtrodden. Take the cuisine. "For three days beginning tomorrow, the cooks will serve only brown rice and other spartan grub instead of the usual menu of organic chicken and vegetables, spaghetti bolognese, and roasted beet and sheep's-milk-cheese salad."
Who knows? They may have to occupy the local Marriott if this continues.
Perhaps the occupation will be taken over by real poor. "Organizers took other steps to police the squatters, who they said were lured in from other parks with the promise of free meals." Aren't the OWS people squatters? When did Zuccotti Park become theirs? How can they reject the homeless as squatters on land that isn't even theirs?
What's a middle-class guerilla to do? Oh, the indignity of sharing the park with real homeless!
Jason Pappas is retired and writes on cultural issues at his blog www.libertyandculture.blogspot.com.