I was asked an interesting question a few days ago, “Why am I not doing more for the Occupy movement?” It was brought up because while I agree with what the movement is all about, I haven’t been convinced to commit. While I have been down there and covered the event, and will continue to do so, frankly I don’t think my services would be welcome or accepted.

To be real, as far as movements go, I’m too much of a radical to fit into a group scene. I do want to believe, but my Scully instinct kicks in, the reporter in me starts the research and I have to tell the truth about what I see, be it good or bad. I’m not good at glossing over inadequacies I see just to move the basic goal of a group or organization or movement forward.

There is another personal reason why don’t do more for the Occupy movement. Apathy, not on my part initially but I tend to get very go go go when I start feeling the need to become involved in a cause. Ideas hit my head and I’m out there trying to get the message across. When a day or two has gone by, and I see nothing done by contacts I have gone to with information, when I see people who were as energized as I was yet haven’t done anything to press the message forward, and the real kicker, which has happened too many times to me, when I make people aware of something then days later I see where they are promoting someone else who is talking about the same issue I brought to their attention, it’s a depressing thing to realize for me.

To get involved in something then to be either ignored or to be shoved to the side because of whatever reason is hard to do over and over again. Yes, the situation has happened recently, and it’s hard to be motivated to help out a cause when the cause doesn’t want to help, when others who I know share the goals of the cause are silent, and like I said, the greatest insult to me is when others are given credit for information I initially brought to the table.

I know many don’t like that I don’t blindly jump in and paint with rosy colors. Frankly I think it’s stupid to ignore the ills in an organization, because the vast majority of people who might want to join a movement have been fed the same tripe we all have. We make protesting and resisting sound glamorous, make it seem grand, but once the police put handcuffs on you, once you realize you have to make a decision between work and ‘the cause,’ that’s when the romance fades. I’m a firm believer in presenting people with the full facts, not some dressed up version of the facts, so when they are hit with accusations and half truths, as will happen, they will have something of a sound foundation to stand on.

So as you can see the reasons are varied as to why I will continue to observe and report but will not go feet first into the Occupy movement. If any in the movement bother to read this, I’m sure it might make you a little uncomfortable, maybe even a bit mad, but before you start to send off the angry emails, think about something for a moment. Someone wandering around, taking video and photos of your event, yet no one feels the need to talk to them for an hour? When the local stations arrive, and you know most of your information will end on the cutting room floor, you still try to clamor to them to get your story out. In a sense your world is so insular it is tough for anyone who doesn’t fit into your clique to come inside.

Some of us want to come inside, we want to help, but if barriers are placed, if help is ignored, if trying to get your message out is faced with obstacles, soon there will not be anyone around, with an open mind, to plead your case. You will be at the mercy of the politicians, the under informed and the corporate controlled mass media who will probably not be a sympathetic as others who at least share some of your feelings.