Letter to the Editor
Appeared in Jackson Hole News&Guide
December 7, 2011
Occupy Jackson Hole
As a member of Occupy Jackson Hole, I’d like to clear something up about our group.
There is a perception that we don’t have jobs and that we’re just looking for handouts or welfare. Last Saturday, for example, while protesting on a street corner, a girl who looked about 12 yelled “Get a job!” from the passenger seat of a passing truck. And this really stuck with me for a lot of reasons. What kind of parent teaches their child to do things like that? Why would anyone assume that a person protesting on a Saturday doesn’t have a job?
And do we really believe the unemployed have no right to be heard, anyway?
I consider myself lucky. I make a decent living. I live in paradise. I realize this. In fact, most of the issues I’m concerned with don’t affect me directly. But ignoring widespread injustice and suffering because I’m not affected seems to me a pathetic way to go about living.
When I see someone give me the finger while I’m on the street, or hear someone tell me to get a job, I know they are really trying to say, “I got mine, and that’s all I care about. Stop making me uncomfortable. I don’t want to be reminded of injustice, because I would rather pretend that everything is ok. You’re making it hard for me to sustain this belief, which allows me to remain comfortably ignorant, and because of that, I’m angry. I don’t have any rational response to your protest, so I can’t engage you in a dialogue. I will, however, make angry and obscene gestures towards you, or make jokes about Occupiers that will reveal my ignorance and callousness, or instruct my child to accuse you – who are standing on a street corner on your day off in order to protest injustice – of being lazy.”
Having said that, I want to thank all those who’ve stopped to talk, who’ve honked their horns, who’ve dropped off coffee, and who have supported us. You are many, and you’ve made a difference. To those that are thinking about joining us, I want to say: You will not be disappointed. This is quite literally the most rewarding thing I’ve ever done. It turns out there is a lot more to life than making one more powder turn.
A fine letter.
We took a quick survey at the last GA. All have at least one job, some two or three jobs.
IOW, average employment rate of OccupyJHers is around 180%.
Yesterday in Driggs, I held a sign that said ‘The love of money is the root of all evil.’ It was interesting to watch the faces of people as they tried to process scripture with which they were familiar, with their deeply held conservative beliefs and the propaganda being fed them by mainstream media. How can a protestor, a dirty hippy, also believe in the tenets of Christianity? Absolutely confounding…
This provides welcome encouragement for Occupy Teton Valley. Thank you.