Has OWS been mainstreamed...or minimized?

[brooklynite]

Walking home last night, I saw an ad for people to join a local Gym:

"Occupy" protestors, outrun pepper spray
$0 to join...A deal no one will protest!

[TwilightGardener]

1. I would think being mainstream is desirable. Means it's becoming part of culture and history.

[valerief]

2. That's a good sign! People are so aware that they're using OWS for their ads.

[Selatius]

3. It's still in the process, I believe.

If it turns out a couple protesters get killed by thug police officers in the coming weeks, it'll grow even bigger in size. Scott Olsen was a warning to police departments everywhere. If they don't heed it, they will reap a whirlwind.

[quinnox]

4. Im kinda shocked at how this thing has taken off

People are talking about it on the radio, on tv, in stores when I go shopping, basically everywhere. This is getting rather interesting, I must say.

[Bluenorthwest]

5. Uh, that sign proves OWS is in the air

People selling things make use of that which is popular to sell their products. Many used Obama' image to sell things as well. Being exploited by exploiters is part of the public image game, such ads as you saw are desirable to the movement. To enter the pop culture is to gain power, people pay to get what you think is a negative...

[RKP5637]

6. I think it's good, it shows IMO that "OWS" is becoming an immediately

recognizable branded image. Just OWS now carries a lot of meaning.

[Aerows]

7. It's becoming part of our culture

And heaven knows, political awareness has NEEDED to be for quite a while. Social justice has just about become a fiction, and this is part of what OWS is all about. Maybe people are finally fed up with the 1% not being accountable, while the 99% suffer under authoritarianism.

[leveymg]

8. I recall "Join the Dodge Revolution":

How This>
Detroit, 1968

Turned into That>
Detroit, 1978

[dtexdem]

9. Neither yet.

But both are being tried.

[siligut]

10. Bloomberg News' Margaret Brennan was just down there with the OWS finance guy

He emphasized that it is an homogenized group and that he wasn't talking with her for the recognition for himself, but for everybody. He said that some of the $500,000 that OWS has raised, mostly through the Internet, is going to get media attention. Not what he says is currently being said in the media, but the reality of what the group is doing and is about. He is a tattoo artist, with a finance background, so he has taken on the responsibility of handling the money. Very good interview.