Native Americans Say "Occupy" Terminology Is Offensive

[MADem]

92. I never heard "occupy" used in that context, ever.

Maybe I need to get out more?

I've heard "overrun" and "pushed off their land" and "exterminated" and "displaced" and "forced onto reservations"....but I've never heard "occupied." Not once, ever. Conquerors don't "occupy." They TAKE. They OWN. To the victor belongs the spoils, and all that. Doesn't mean it is right, or fair, but it is what it is.

The only time "occupy" works is when the locals rise up and push the "occupiers" off the land. Like, say "The Nazis occupied Paris." They aren't occupying it anymore, as we all well know. If the Germans had won WW2 and were flying a swastika from the Tour Eiffel, they wouldn't be called occupiers--they'd be called conquerors.

I am going to say something cynical--I have no first-hand knowledge of any of this brouhaha, but the VERY first thought that came to my mind is which fatcat bank wrote the check to pay this guy to make this tempest in this teapot?

If you see this angry Native American strutting into the Bank of America with a check, and strutting out quite happily with a bag o' cash, well....

I am going to say something else very cynical--so many OWS enthusiasts got bullshit pissed-off (to the "how DARE you" level) at anyone who dared to talk about the movement in terms of "branding"--as in "Get out of those tents and take the OWS brand to the next level." I saw more than a little excoriation on that topic over at DU2 (it's not a brand, it is an organic movement, etc. and so forth)...but the fact of the matter is, the "Occupy" word IS a "brand name"--it's the "coke not cola" identifier of the movement. Even the little Truthout article quoted in the OP uses that 'awful' word. It is a one-word term that defines what's going on re: the anti-Wall Street movement.

If the word really didn't matter, everyone would say "Yeah, sure, fine, whatever--call it Sidewalk Cement for all I care!" That's not happening, though--people are getting very proprietary about the "Occupy" brand, because they've invested a lot of their personal time and energy in creating it.

I think "recolonize" is an idiotic word, frankly. It does not trip easily off the tongue, it sure as hell wouldn't resonate in London or Berlin, it is just one more thing to take the group further away from its stated goals of fighting against usurious bankers, for social justice, on behalf of a safety net for all, etc.

The more you get a group of people pissing and moaning about stupid shit, the less time they'll spend doing anything that matters.

Maybe that's the goal behind this latest "affront."

JMO.