On first reflection, when one considers that the OWS protesters claim to represent the 99%, it is quite surprising how few members of that demographic actually subscribe to the movement. After all, aren’t we all struggling as the economy lags and jobs become ever more elusive?

To better understand this question, I attended the Queens College Occupy Wall Street Teach-In last Thursday. Professor Frances Fox Piven very eloquently enumerated any ill to which a dissatisfied public college student could possibly relate. She had everyone’s attention when, in a deeply passionate doomsday tone, she predicted the utter failure we all will face upon graduation. What caused the world’s greatest superpower’s economy to crash? Well, of course it must be those big bonuses Wall Street CEO’s get. In fact, this argument is essentially the foundation of the entire movement.
Suddenly people began to fiddle with their phones.

Professor Fox Piven launched into a long-winded description of what she has determined to be the fail-proof solution to all of our problems. First of all, we should write off all the debts of those who acquired houses that they never earned with mortgages worth more than their property. After that, we should funnel more money into unsustainable stimulus programs, because the last one burned through trillions, and hardly effected most industries. Inspired by the Greeks, she seeks to do away with any remnants of austerity policy.

While these sentiments obviously fail in the logic department, they did give me a new perspective on the OWS movement. The absence of any value in terms of instigating change that will effectively improve the lives of the 99% brings the movement’s artistic and poetic expression into sharp relief as its only redeeming quality. Street Art Utopia has amassed quite a collection of photos of protestors toting their signage. If only their witty words had some substance, perhaps they would be supported by the real 99%.