Occupy Wall Street

The far left and the far right in this country have demonstrated renewed vigor in the last couple of years. First the right produced the Tea Party movement; now the left has Occupy Wall Street. Both groups are responding to many of the same economic and political issues — the recession, bailing out the banks, and Obama (though one group is reacting to his election and the other to his disappointing performance).

But these two movements are being talked about, by the activists themselves, in very different ways. In particular, they have chosen very different memes with which to frame the movements. And these different choices reflect ongoing differences in the way the right and the left in this country generally approach activism. (more…)