It was about two years ago when there was a racial protest at UCSD in San Diego. I was so willing to jump into my car and show the young ones how to protest. One thing I was disappointed about was the lack of action I saw in people. We have grown conditioned to think we can sit at a computer, click a like button and all will be better. I have said this many times on this site.

At the beginning of this year, there were protests in Wisconsin and other states about government budget cuts. Workers such as fire, police, hospital and teachers, people who are praised often, especially during 9/11, were demonized by elected officials who care more about getting money from multimillionaires and corporations so they can get reelected, and live a privileged lifestyle, than doing what a politician's mandate is which is helping out the people, the little folks. It took some time before the national media covered the events however, to be fair, only one network that I can think of did what could be considered extensive coverage, while the others gave quick information on the event and another (and I think we know what station that was) distorted the protests.

In the end the protesters left, promises were made and when it came time to vote the bums out, there wasn't as much of a revolutionary drive as many had hoped for. While a good spin was placed on the election, honesty in what happened and why it happened wasn't forthcoming.

To have democracy, to put the feet of politicians to the fire takes work. We have a tendency of thinking the story ends when the Death Star blows up or when the Ewoks sing their song. There is a rebuilding process and, this is most important, you aren't going to have everyone feeling happy about the freedom. Some will feel the freedom is a fraud, they are afraid of the new power structure, and they will do anything to dismantle it. You will have others who participated in the revolution who will become corrupted just like those before them. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. Others will feel the work is done and will refuse or feel it isn't necessary to continue fighting for freedom. Still others believe the victory is a magical moment when everything will change, and when they find out all of their hopes and dreams haven't been met, they want to take their ball and go home.

A few minutes ago I saw a tweet that said the media volunteers that set up a live feed from the Wall Street protest had been arrested and the feed was shut down, or hampered. It may come as quite a surprise to some that there was a protest on Wall Street or that there was a 'takeover' of a square. Many have argued the press has suppressed information about the event. I will say it has been difficult to get information on the protest, but after hearing a lengthy interview on a progressive radio station with one of the protesters, someone who was 'in the circle' of the people who set up the event, I was a bit disappointed. The protest, which originally had the message of young people protesting the greed and corruption of Wall Street and it's practices, morphed into a hodgepodge of ideas and beliefs. It was a protest to protest anything and everything. While I will admit the police brutality some have talked about is very disturbing, the complaint of not getting their message out seems a bit off in the age of twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

Don't think I'm being harsh here, because what I'm concerned about, and what I'm trying to get people to wake up about, is this notion you can have something happen organically in the digital age. Just like all the other examples I mentioned you can't hope to have a revolution by pushing a like button. One thing that happened during the protest was people with Yahoo email accounts saw their messages getting blocked if they put in certain key words. I saw this demonstrated both on a video posted on YouTube and with a live demonstration. When I heard and saw this my first question was 'why would you go through Yahoo for email?' I don't mean you couldn't use Yahoo but the first thing you should do if you are going to plan some sort of email communication would be to not have the messages go through a system that is of the size of a Yahoo or Google, precisely because they are large entities and could cut you off without warning. My suspicions are this Occupy Wall Street protest is being set up by meaningful yet naive individuals who think of this the way someone would a hobby and not as a serious project.

From the site I saw to the comments I have read in articles to the YouTube videos I have watched everything reminds me of the quaint college protest that eventually happened at UCSD those few years ago. At the time it got a lot of press in the San Diego paper, but ultimately the students felt a day of protest would get their point across, the press lost interest in the story, and less than six months later all the promises and talk of cooperation evaporated.

Look, I admit I'm sitting on the sidelines in a sense. I have this forum to voice my opinions but I'm not on the front lines. When I saw the start of this protest I thought there might be a chance I could do something but the execution only reminds me of UCSD. Lots of people with a legitimate gripe yet not willing to do the planning and execution to really get their point across. I sincerely hope the group that organized Occupy Wall Street and groups who develop protests in the future, will hold true to their convictions, focus on the goal and make the endeavor worthwhile.

Just one more thing, and this is me putting on my angry hat. For those of you who foolishly are putting on the Guy Fawkes masks, thinking you understand the meaning of V for Vendetta, I would suggest you stop modeling yourself off the MOVIE and actually READ THE BLOODY COMIC BOOK!!!!!! The movie was a distortion of the meaning of the comic. Why do you think Alan Moore refused to endorse it or any of the movies made from his material? If you know the reason for that, you will begin to understand the real meaning of V.