OWS–Creating Conservatives

The party in Manhattan may just have the opposite intended effect. Rather than giving voice to the people, or creating a culture of awareness, my guess is that it will create a whole bunch of conservatives.

The kids who started this misguided movement did so out of frustration that they chose to spend tens of thousands of dollars on an education that it is of little value in the Obama economy. I was reminded of a lecture I attended while in college, during which the speaker asked the audience a series of political questions. When challenged to describe a policy change that would benefit society, an audience member suggested that higher education should be free. The speaker said dismissively, “all students believe college should be free,” and moved on to a more substantive thought.

Of course debt ridden, spoiled children want their debt excused. It is no different than an individual buried in credit card debt wishing to win the lottery. I can forgive them this naivete, even if they don’t see the glaring hypocrisy of calling others greedy while asking for absolution of an expensive choice made freely. They chose poorly, and simply don’t want to pay for it.

The change in their world view, may be a lesson learned that wasn’t intended. The theme of the OWS movement has morphed, and because of the idealistic nature of those who began it, a little army of conservative just might be created. OWS now features free food, condoms, readily available drugs, music, and easy girls. As Matt Labash points out in an excellent article:

When I arrive at Occupy Wall Street (OWS) ground zero at Zuccotti Park, only a few blocks over from the World Trade Center ground zero, the first revolutionaries I encounter are two masked-up anarchists named Spooky and Newport…“We’re travelers, we’ve got to capitalize on the whole thing,” he admits. “A lot of these guys are taking advantage of the situation.” Including him, I suggest. “Exactly,” he smiles. Or at least I think he smiles, since he won’t unmask. “I ain’t gonna lie about it. I’m homeless. I’m gonna take advantage of something like this. Not gonna pretend like I’m some huge political rocker ‘f— the government!’ when I know I’m not.” Don’t get Spooky wrong, he does believe in “f— the government,” he hastens to add, since he is, after all, an anarchist. “But I’ve already had a few people tell me this is a homeless man’s dream camp…You get all the food you want, you get all the clothes you want. These gloves, this scarf, and all this sh—? I got it all from here,” Spooky brags.

Patience is a wonderful quality, and tends to grow with age.  The children of OWS undoubtedly have little patience for the economic climate which surrounds them.  The question I keep coming back to is: when will their patience with the less savory, more opportunistic members of the OWS crowd grow thin?  When is the moment, the exact moment that some of the kids will realize there is no free lunch?  In a completely unintended way, they will be teaching themselves something they should have learned long, long ago.

If you are looking to trap a OWS hipster, try this: