I quote Ferris Beuller,

“-ism’s in my opinion are not good. A person should not believe in an -ism, he should believe in himself. I quote John Lennon, ‘I don’t believe in Beatles, I just believe in me.’ Good point there. After all, he was the walrus.”

Good point there.

When I first heard of the Occupy Wall Street movement, I sympathized with the plight of their being marginalized by a mainstream media that suckles at the teet of the status quo.

When I heard that their chief complaint stemmed from the TARP bailouts, I applauded their disgust.

But when I saw signs demonizing capitalism and asking for various forms of wealth distribution, I shook my head.

Yet it doesn’t really help to argue “capitalism” vs “socialism” vs “neo-liberalism” vs “communism”. -ism’s are ugly polarizing things that do not convey the same meaning to every person. If you really want to communicate with someone on these issues, you have to define the system without naming it…you have to show your work.

Dear 99%, I am the 1.475963411870675 E -8 %. I am only one person out of the entire population of the world. My name is Jason. I would like to work with you to foster a governmental/economic system that uses the individual as its measuring stick for equality, each of us free of any and all forceful coercion to attempt whatever endeavors we desire granted that they are not insured by the forceful coercion of other individuals.

If you agree to help develop such a system, I don’t care what you call it. Communism? Capitalism? Supercalifragilisticexpialidociousism?

Although there seems to be a lot of different beliefs amongst the protestors, I don’t think there is majority support for such liberty from the Occupy Wall Street crowd and I tend to look at the following image and picture myself as the little guy under the fist.

There is a tissue thin line between “the greater good” and mob rule ? and that 99% might just be so big and abstract that they can’t even see who they are crushing.

The John Lennon quote is funny. Apparently he wrote the song “I Am the Walrus” thinking that the Walrus was the good guy in Lewis Carrol’s poem and only learned years later that it was a metaphor for a villainous capitalist…or an evil religious figure…or a crooked government official…or the clueless leader of a pop-band…or it wasn’t even a metaphor at all…

Hey, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.

And sometimes the talking walrus who eats anthropomorphic oysters is just a talking walrus who eats anthropomorphic oysters.

But whether the Walrus was or wasn’t a metaphor for any real societal monster, I still think the moral of the poem stands: “Do Not Be Swayed by Poetry and Follow a Bunch of Stupid Oysters”

I am the 1.475963411870675 E -8 %

Watch where you step.