The occupiers on Wall Street are busy occupying a street they don't own, demanding benefits they didn't work for, and are determined to pilfer the coffers of the rich to implement what they have determined is an acceptable standard of economic justice.
Yet a group of people who feel comfortable stealing from the rich and redistributing the spoils to those they deem less fortunate seem stunned and disappointed when "brazen crooks within their ranks...[robbed]...fellow demonstrators blind, making off with pricey cameras, phones and laptops - even a hefty bundle of donated cash and food."
Apparently filth, stench, and sex on the street with strangers aren't Occupy Wall Street's biggest problems; according to Nan Terrie, a volunteer from Florida, "at the moment...stealing is." Ms. Terrie shared, "I had my Mac stolen -- that was like $5,500. Every night, something else is gone. Last night, our entire [kitchen] budget for the day was stolen, so the first thing I had to do was . . . get the message out to our supporters that we needed food!"
Wait, someone steals from the kitchen budget and the response from a person who can afford a $5,000 computer is to solicit more freebies from supporters who provided the food in the first place? Moreover, is Nan saying that a person who brings an Apple computer to an anti-capitalist event is still free to whine when a fellow protester relieves them of the symbol of the corporate America they purportedly reject?
Earth to Nan: Isn't 'stealing' sort of like 'sharing' without asking? It could be that what one perceives to be stealing is just a collective spirit of communal property-sharing where demonstrators believe that, all things being equal, Nan having an expensive Mac when others don't really isn't fair - so they took it.
One would think Occupy Wall Street protesters would: 1) be more than willing, no questions asked, to relinquish any and all of their personal property; and 2) be more than understanding of those who have less stuffing into a stolen backpack anything they can filch from those who have more.
It gets better. For the more astute occupier, free food just isn't enough to make an uneven playing field level. In the socialist spirit of reallocation of funds, "Crafty cat burglars ...swiped as much as $2,500 in donated greenbacks from right under the noses of volunteers who'd fallen asleep after a long day whipping up meals for the hundreds of hungry protesters."
Predator/security volunteer Harry Wyman, 22, of Brooklyn, remains "furious about the thievery -- and vowed to get tough with the predatory perps." While Wyman is all for pinching the rich, he believes it's time to crack down on anyone who might try to steal from him.
Sounding like a man in need of a job, Mr. Wyman angrily shared that "I'm not getting paid, but I'm not gonna stand for it." Expressing himself in a way that will surely open the door to a paying position, a puzzled Harry questioned "Why people got to come here and do stupid stuff? All it does is make people not wanna come here anymore." Hasn't Harry noticed that people like him are the ones who are there?
In fact, while marching in one accord, Wyman and "other volunteers briefly scuffled with a man ... standing near a park entrance with a pail calling out: 'Donations! Donations!' -- and pocketing the cash people tossed in the bucket." Sorry Harry, but isn't that what Occupy Wall Street is all about? People in a park with their hands out asking for donations in hopes of pocketing whatever cash people can be cajoled into tossing into the big bureaucratic bucket? So what's the problem?
The problem is Occupy Wall Street is turning out to be nothing more than a throng of whiney, insatiable children complaining about being subjected to the same level of thievery they promote and acting out with the approval of a social-engineering president who stands as a symbol of economic fairness while living a life of selfish over-indulgence.
One frustrated occupier, who had umbrellas and a fold-up bed stolen, noted that "there are some really smart and sneaky thieves here." Precisely! Just like the really smart and sneaky thieves in Washington DC who are fooling naïve marchers into believing that corporate America is the evil entity while furtively positioning themselves to be a corporate empire larger, richer, and more wicked than any bank on Wall Street.
Nevertheless, based on the horrified reaction to being robbed, the protesters are proving they've gathered in support of a cause whose ramifications have not been completely thought through. Otherwise, losing one's personal property wouldn't be considered theft, and letting people take money and belongings without asking would be just another opportunity to express the benevolent core of the movement's equitable vision.
The truth is, the immaturity level is so high that those participating fail to recognize that stealing is the end product of the message they promote.
As a result, demonstrations across America are morphing into an eye-opening experience. Cities are becoming asphalt laboratories where spoiled, idealistic college kids, after being ripped off while working toward a more evenhanded world, may be forced to put down the peace pipe, emerge from the cardboard hovel, and rethink what it is they really believe.
Ultimately, the situation in Zuccotti Park is successfully proving on a micro level precisely why socialism never works on a macro level. What Marxist-minded idealists can't seem to grasp is that utopia has never been and will never be achieved through the efforts of fatally flawed human beings who covet what belongs to others.
Jeannie DeAngelis
Jeannie DeAngelis writes almost exclusively for American Thinker and has been published on the conservative website Pajamas Media, as well as hosting a blog. See Jeannie's Blog
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