Hey, “Occupy Wall Street”… Dress With Some Dignity
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A couple days ago I tweeted a link to this Reddit post that said the following:
You Want to Change the World? Dress with Some Fucking Dignity.
“Right here is some sincere guidance to US protesters: dress much better. I’m not kidding. You may possibly think you are paying homage to the peace-loving hippies, but the masses of America–the people whose help you’re going to need–fucking hate hippies. Take a lesson from the protesters of the 20s and 30s. Dress cleanly and neatly. Hell, wear a tie. Bear in mind, our great-grandparents have been the ones who effected true social change, e.g, the forty hour function week. Our pot-smoking mother and father failed in which our suit wearing excellent-grandparents succeeded.”–Some guy on Youtube
I present some pictures from the ongoing “Occupy Wall Street” protest:
Now, let us compare this to Civil Rights protesters in the 1960s, who actually accomplished something:
If you dress up like a dope-smoking hobo, expect to be treated like one and not be taken seriously. Get a haircut. Wear a nice shirt. Carry a sign with a message that makes some kind of sense to an average American.
It might work.
52 Responses to “Hey, “Occupy Wall Street”… Dress With Some Dignity”
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© 2000-2011 Oliver Willis
I agree.
And get off my lawn!
Damned kids.
Thank you 1000 times for posting this. I am so fucking sick of the left wing making out these assholes like they are heroes.
Ever notice whenever there is some kind of protest in a large city, the protesters always look like the biggest bunch of goddamn freaks, with green dreadlocks, piercings all in their faces, tattoos everywhere, all dressed in black with masks, etc etc. And they always have to bring their stupid puppets and guitars and hippie drums, as if that has anything to do with Wall Street.
I agree with their sentiments to a point, but I am completely opposed to their methods. And this is why main street America will never give them the time of day.
I think half of these protesters are probably affluent suburban kids who just hop around the country looking for some action. Who else can just take three weekss off work and sit on their ass in NYC? They’re not really there for any other reason than hoping that some shit goes down, so they can smash out the closest Starbucks window which will add to their pseudo anarchist credibility. Just like the same assholes in Seattle in 1999 at the WTO conferences. What does setting dumpsters on fire and breaking windows have to do with the WTO? All these stupid shits do is totally alienate the very people they should be trying to win over.
They are SO full of their own shit, just like Code Pink and PETA, that they cannot even once ponder that their tactics are the things that turn off the rest of America.
It’s a fucking joke at Dkos, they’re all acting like these protesters are exactly like the people in the Middle East getting shot at. Seriously. And they whine about the media blackout. Well hippies, guess what? There is NO story here.
Go up to any one of these dumbasses and ask them, why are you here?
“Yea, man, like, you know we are here like to rage against the machine, you know?”
“we’re gonna bring down the capitalist machine, like, you know, man!”
Their defenders will claim that they are raising awareness…uh huh. Like the rest of the country wasn’t aware that they got screwed by Wall Street in the last few years? Please.
There’s no leader, there’s no clear vision, there is no nothing other than trust fund anarchists looking to cause trouble.
And these dumb hippies get surprised when the NYPD uses any law on the books to haul their asses off to jail? Again, no planning at all.
That’s why stupid protests like this always are doomed to fail. They wanted to get 20000 people, and they only got what, a few hundred? How lame.
Protests like this are so trite and cliched these days. They really don’t mean shit anymore. I’d see the same group of failed art students do this shit in DC all the time. They put on these silly displays only to jerk themselves off. They will not change anyones mind, other than to make themselves look like idiots.
So what happens when all the protesters run out of food and money and energy? They will leave, and Wall Street will still be there.
And how could I forget?
FREE MUMIA!
In EmoProg world, pictures 4-8 don’t really count. Gee, I wonder why.
It’s true, millions of Americans really hate hippies — for being right over and over.
It’s far easier to forgive someone for being wrong, even if they won’t admit they were wrong, than it is to forgive them for being right, much less to admit they were right.
So please, people, stop reminding us of those despicable hippies. It’s bad enough that we’re going to have to admit that YOU were right, too….
Hipsters gonna hip
Those kids should also get off your lawn too amiright Ollie?
Hippie punching, yay! That’ll show those corporate bastards and their whore politicians. Piercings and dreadlocks, for shame!
So, why the fuck aren’t you uptight douchebags out there in your Sunday Best to represent the real murikans? We desperately need the Asshole Brigade to get our message to The People! And don’t forget your fucking waistcoat, jackass.
Are you afraid someone might mistake you for one of the bad guys and pie you in the face or something?
I half agree. The fact is, even homeless people use to wear ties. I recently watched Gun Grazy (1950 or so) and there was this one scene where they’re rounding up vagrants, and all the vagrants are dressed pretty well. I couldn’t decide whether the movie makers didn’t want to show what a real vagrant would look like on the screen, or whether vagrants really did dress like that. A little later I saw a picture from NYC in the 1940s. One picture was labeled “homeless men smoking cigarettes.” These guys were dressed to kill. So, I half agree. It would be better to not look like a hippie, but everyone dresses more casually nowadays.
OT:
AttackWatch dormant for over a week.
Have Republicans stopped “attacking” the President? Or did the Administration finally buy a clue and realize just what an awful idea it was to begin with?
Thank you.
I hate how supposedly Anonymous and everyone is supposed to be some sort of heroes when they’re nothing more then pests.
Quite frankly, I have to just /facepalm when I saw some of the footage of the people. Way to make yourselves look like asses, people.
Also, Frank – even though you’re blatantly trolling by posting random off-topic things, you do realize that President Obama isn’t the first person to set up a site like that, don’t you? I remember the RNC doing one for Bush – both to “refute attacks” and a “thank you President Bush” site for all the sheep to send love notes.
Know how long those lasted?
I am SO sure that the big wigs who run Wall Street look down from the 90th floor at a few hundred smelly trust fund punks and feel really threatened by their puppets.
This stupid protest will do jack shit to change anything, other than make the idiot hippies look like the ignorant fools that they are.
You have to change the system from within, but that’s something they just don’t get.
Oh please. Does anyone here really think that good grooming is what put the civil rights movement over the top? Did it help? Slim to zero chance.
The bottom line is you’re referencing photos from the past with the naive belief that “suits and ties” meant respectability, seriousness, responsibility etc. But as Jafnhar, inadvertently reveals, you can find old photos of homeless guys wearing suits and ties. Do you think they got treated any better by the rest of society because they were wearing ties? They didn’t. Because from our cultural, historial vantage point, we can only see the signifiers “suit and tie.” In the cultural present of the 40s, 50s, 60s etc. those people who were walking the streets in those moments could read a wide array of other signifiers that accompanied with “suit and tie” that marked the wearers more specifically, by class or education.
Do you think someone in 1940 couldn’t tell who was homeless and who wasn’t because everyone wore ties?
Do you really think it’s the suits and ties of civil rights marchers that made it easier for racists to come around on equal rights? To whatever degree it did, it only did so in the terms of the racist: “Black people wear suits and ties? Hmm. Maybe they aren’t as incapable of being civilized as a I thought.” Which is not exactly a cultural victory, is it?
The lack of activity at AttackWatch doesn’t reflect your feeble efforts to demonize Obama in almost every comment thread here, SF, so I understand your sorrow at your efforts here to seeming be all for naught.
Yes, it does matter fafaroo. Appearances go a LONG way in this country, whether you like it or not. That’s just the way it is.
If there was a gathering of normal, middle class looking people, then the media would take much greater notice. If the protesters were acting with just a shred of decency, rather than screaming at people in business suits and holding idiotic signs that say “Down with Capitalism” and banging on their goddamn hippie drums, then more people would take notice.
But it if it’s the usual group of art kids, vegan anarchists, Che wearing Columbia students and gutter punks, no one is going to give a shit because this is the same clown car that shows up to every other ‘really important’ protest.
There are a couple of significant difference between the two periods/protests — first, people in general do dress differently now. You will see a lot fewer people in suits on the sidewalks of any down town now than you would have in 1940 or 1950.
Then too, there’s a difference in what was being protested. The middle class (actually middle class) turned out then because their rights were being denied, and they were directly affected. So did some young people, and some of them were dressed similarly to present day young people.
By contrast, the present protests are against things that do not affect us quite so directly, or at least people don’t perceive it as so. The “middle class” in particular don’t seem to be as upset about the Wall-Street-mortgage-lending-bailout etc misbehavior of big government’s big business buddies as they really ought to be, because it isn’t apparent to them how much it has affected their own rights.
In closing, I want to point out that my youngest son is multiply pierced, wears mostly black garments with large hand-sewn stitching on them, has very long hair, and is employed in a skilled trade and is banking money. Really, you cannot tell by appearance whether a person is a productive member of society.
Yes, it does matter fafaroo. Appearances go a LONG way in this country, whether you like it or not.
No one would care if the protesters were dressed in their Sunday best and holding signs that said, “Maybe there’s a middle way, maybe?” or “Moderation Now! (If that’s okay with you.)”
When you write, “But it if it’s the usual group of art kids, vegan anarchists, Che wearing Columbia students and gutter punks,” you give the game away. It isn’t that the people protesting are wearing the wrong clothes. What you’re really saying it’s the wrong people protesting in the first place.
That may be the case. Wouldn’t it be great if the white collar middle class realized they’re getting screwed became activist?
What you’re really saying it’s the wrong people protesting in the first place.
Well yes, this isn’t exactly the group of people that Wall Street or the media will pay attention to. These are the same damn hippies that show up to every left wing gathering with their same circus in tow. Like they have nothing better to do. And they aren’t really there to protest, they are there just itching to put on their tough little anarchist masks and to break windows of coffee shops. It always descends into that with these little shits. Some smart mouthed 21 year old punk is going to try and get into a cops face because when you grow up in Greenwich with your whole life handed to you, you’re really tough.
Yes it would be great if white collar middle class people showed up to protest, but we have these things called jobs and obligations and bills to pay.
It’s true, millions of Americans really hate hippies — for being right over and over.
And they show everyone by forming a fucking drum circle.
I remember when chickengeorge Bush had the balls to ask service men in Iraq to pray for HIM.
So I’m supposed to take the Tea Party seriously because they all dress like my dad?
So I’m supposed to take the Tea Party seriously because they all dress like my dad?
A. The media does probably for that reason. Doesn’t matter that they’re totally insane.
2. Am I supposed to take hippies seriously because you whine, “Hippie puncher!” when I don’t?
So I’m supposed to take the Tea Party seriously because they all dress like my dad?
Please tell me he doesn’t wear a Colonial hat around the house.
A. The media does probably for that reason. Doesn’t matter that they’re totally insane.
The Tea Party branded itself as exactly what Burn says he wants: White collar middle class people who showed up to protest, despite having these things called jobs and obligations and bills to pay. And the media swallowed it hook line and sinker.
A bunch of pot smoking, vegan, tree-huggers in crew cuts and three-piece suits will not get you similar results.
2. Am I supposed to take hippies seriously because you whine, “Hippie puncher!” when I don’t?
I don’t give a fuck who you take seriously but don’t expect me to take you seriously if you reject the liberal activist base because they don’t wear penny loafers.
Nobody takes people seriously who don’t look serious. It’s not about wealth or penny loafers; do you really think that the marchers in the Civil Rights era all had money? Most of them didn’t have much money, but they did have one or two outfits for church, which a lot of them wore to these events (many of which were organized in part in those churches.)
It’s not about whether you look like you have money, but whether you look like you have ever had a serious thought in your life. If 70-80% of the marchers were dressed like grown adults, the other 20-30% wouldn’t be a problem.
The other difference between the Civil Rights era marchers and these dirtball-looking losers is that the message of the Civil Rights era was the signs: the Civil Rights marchers wanted something very concrete done – to vote and to end school segregation – while I still have no idea what the tie-dye unwashed at Wall Street wanted. Screw them.
Screw them.
Awesome. You people are idiots.
while I still have no idea what the tie-dye unwashed at Wall Street wanted. Screw them.
They don’t even know what they want. They don’t even know why they are there.
I’d love to go up to any one of them and just ask them that simple question, and let’s see if you get a coherent answer “you know, man, we’re like here and stuff to like bring down the evil capitalist machine, you know man.”
If this is the ‘liberal activist base’ then no wonder people don’t want to be identified with these dummies. No wonder there is no ‘big name’ out there lending their support. Although I am sure Cindy Sheehan and Danny Glover might be available.
Once the free food and weed runs out, these misguided children will just whimper off somewhere else. Meanwhile, big bad Wall Street will still be there doing there thing.
So they made themselves look like fools and they didn’t do a damn thing for their cause other than make most American realize why they hate hippies.
Yeah! Screw those people who actually try to do something while I whine in my cubicle about what they’re wearing. if only I wasn’t such a lazy fucking idiot I’d be out there showing them how real liberals dress!
I won’t support anyone who doesn’t look and talk exactly Ike me because, after all, only I am serious about the issues I do nothing about!
You got that right fafaroo. I wont support a group of smelly sloppy trust fund hippie idiots who want to “End the Fed and Jail Bernanke”.
Neither will 99% of this country. If they did, then there would be a hell of a lot more people out there with thim.
If you want to have an effective protest, then it should be planned better, and the protesters should maintain a better appearance. Simple as that. As long as they look like gutter punk freaks and sound like high school dropout stoners, then no one will take them seriously, rightfully so.
And what are they trying to do, other than to stroke their own egos? Seriously, what are their goals? To bring down capitalism? Fucking please. They’re a joke.
It’s like watching a bunch of children playing on a sugar high, running in circles until it wears off and they all fall down from overexertion.
And your plan of action is? Oh right, you’re just going to sit on your ass and shout grooming tips from the sidelines.
Gawd, this thread is ridiculous.
Really? The problem is their apparel? They are all trust fund babies…’cause Burn says so? The only way to change the system is from the inside…of my house…at my keyboard…ranting on a blog? Seattle ’99!?!? Blaarrrgh!!!!
Pathetic.
Way to avoid the whole “hippies helped stop Vietnam” thing and focus on the civil rights movement, btw. Shall I point out that had Johnson not gone ahead and pushed through the Civil Rights Act in ’64, then all of those marches might have been for nothing, ties or no? I also have to point out that many of the protesters in those pictures are sleeping in a park and protesting over the course of several weeks, not participating in a day or two march. It’s also possible that these pictures are representative of only a portion of the protestors and not necessarily representative of all of them. They may have been cherry picked to generate just this kind of stupid backlash.
Or maybe it’s all meaningless because of the media blackout that keeps 99.99% of Americans in the dark about movements like this while breathlessly offering wall to wall coverage of people dressed in bad colonial outfits, with Lypton teabags on their hats, protesting in the dozens to defend their right to be perpetually stupid.
No way, it’s the clothes, fer shure.
Could these protests have been more effective? Certainly. For starters, protestors could have made some effort to include minorities from around the area who could have gone a long way toward beefing up their numbers and adding multicultural credibility to their anti-Wall Street message. They also could have gone to some effort to try and corral a reluctant media into having to cover them. How? I’m not sure, but with so many media offices in NY, they should have been able to organize something, even if only a mini protest outside CBS or NBC to draw attention to the bigger protests on Wall Street. And yes, I suppose there could have been a suggested dress code and call for better grooming, but without more effective organizing in general, that’s the least of my concerns. Incoherence and a lack of tactical foresight are much more pressing than the misguided ’60s worship of a few conveniently photographed, hygienically challenged youth.
I have no plan of action, this is true. But going to Wall Street and banging on a drum and being incoherent sure as hell isn’t much of a plan of action either.
Alright, looks like they are finally onto something that will win over most American men….tittays!
Warning, NSFW, exposed breasts
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAHiq-Lxs30
When all else fails, bare some flesh, hippies.
Another thing that could have helped them would be to have more people. Right now they look like some people from Berkeley or Code Pink who hold signs with Twitter hashtags. Even if they were dressed better, who would take them seriously? And what about being there for a week and still not having any set of demands?
Gee, OW, you are usually so perceptive about self awareness of prejudices. Major fail, here. They don’t look like you, or what you expect, so disrespect is required? Very surprising, actually very disappointing. Don’t be a douche.
Those damn filthy hippies did a pretty good job stopping Nam and fomenting a cultural revolution that changed America and beyond. It’s a start. Bring it on.
Here’s what gets me – as someone who has worked with college students daily for 20 years: They’ll skip school for a week and protest something – anything – and yet they won’t take the time to research candidates, organize politically (and civilly) and cast a vote in the next election. The point here is that – right or wrong – their appearance and behavior in this no-goal-no-plan-no point exercise hurts their crediblity as a reasonable group of citizens who deserve to be heard. To compare what “occupy wall street” has been doing to the protestors in Egypt is an insult – likewise to compare them to “hippies” and others who protested Vietnam and Civil Rights is also an insult. Those were very clear complaints with a clear goal- this is not. And that’s a basic difference between social movements and anarchy. Encouraging more of this same pointless mob-like behavior isn’t helpful to younger citizens or the very real causes they need to organize and fight about for their futures. And it irritates me to no end that so-called socially responsible adults are fanning these angry flames with no thought to the ultimate consequences of doing so. When the we-have-no-point-but-we’re-really-pissed-off mobs come to your neighborhood and disrupt day-to-day life for you, are you really going to be so excited about it? It might be worth helping youth figure out how to use their democratic powers first before we encourage them to give up on it and drop out and angrily protest whatever comes down the pike.
“When the we-have-no-point-but-we’re-really-pissed-off mobs come to your neighborhood and disrupt day-to-day life for you, are you really going to be so excited about it?”
You make it sound like protesting on Wall Street was a random location that has no bearing on anything. I don’t expect them in my neighborhood. They have no reason to be here.
Need I explain everything?
African Americans dressed in semi-formal wear because they were, by and large, viewed as less than human by the oppressive white power structure. Thus, dressing “up” while being mauled by dogs had a humanizing effect.
But we’re not at that point anymore. This isn’t a race war. It’s a class war. And if you watched the riots in France, London, Syria etc, you’d note that no one was much concerned with attire. And their bloggers and writers weren’t sitting on the sidelines screaming, “wear better clothes!”. The were much more focused on facts than aesthetics. You should be too. You’re wasting your platform with this nonsense.
What they are, are people who realize that the system is rotten at the core, and who are willing to do something about it. Maybe it’s not effective yet, but, what exactly *can* they do?
Seriously: what can they do? Nothing? Well, now they’re doing nothing – but they’re doing it together. Now, relationships can be forged, ideas can be thrown out (and maybe stomped on as stupid, or spread if they’re good), and consciousness can be raised.
And maybe nothing will come of it! But what came of doing nothing? At least if nothing happens, they’ll someday think that they tried something, which is a hell of a lot better than nothing.
But maybe – maybe someone will come up with a spark, an idea, something that, if tended gently, could become a small fire, that can spread.
(NB to brainless people and rightwingers – or is that redundant? – the fire I’m referring to is metaphorical, and not an encouragement to burn anything physical.)
Maybe people will forge relationships that will last long enough to form a more cohesive team with more cohesive plans.
Maybe people will get scared enough to do something pure-D evil to the dirty-fucking-hippies, and there’ll be enough youtube to prove that it wasn’t provoked, and people will start responding.
Maybe.
Or, maybe not.
But working within the system?
It hasn’t done jack shit for anyone. For thirty years, we’ve watched the system grind people down, and the system is self perpetuating. I’m glad there’s some folks who are finally starting to realize that it’s time to try something, even if they’ll be scorned for not dressing up and looking good.
^^
Nice!
[...] Although Robin’s was schooling The Atlantic’s Ta-Nehisi Coates, his comments could just as easily have been directed blogger Oliver Willis who, in a recent blog post, derided “Occupy Wall St.” protesters for -wait for it – not dressing better during their protests. In his blog, Willis writes; If you dress up like a dope-smoking hobo, expect to be treated like one and not be taken seriously. … [...]
[...] scorn, too, suggesting the occupation is not a “Main Street production” or that the protesters aren’t dressed properly and should wear suits cause the civil rights movement would not have won if they hadn’t worn [...]
America: Land of the free (TM)
Limited time offer. Only valid for properly dressed and paying customers and if accompanied with an order. Void where prohibited. Not applicable in airports and other public places. Only one unit per family. Batteries not included. Use only as directed. No other warranty expressed or implied. Subject to approval. No user-serviceable parts inside. All rights reserved. Additional restrictions may apply.
If offer does not apply to you, please, just fuck off.
Good call Oliver. Great post!!!
“But for those who believe that protests are only worthwhile if they translate into quantifiable impact: the lack of organizational sophistication or messaging efficacy on the part of the Wall Street protest is a reason to support it and get involved in it, not turn one’s nose up at it and join in the media demonization. That’s what one actually sympathetic to its messaging (rather than pretending to be in order more effectively to discredit it) would do. Anyone who looks at mostly young citizens marching in the street protesting the corruption of Wall Street and the harm it spawns, and decides that what is warranted is mockery and scorn rather than support, is either not seeing things clearly or is motivated by objectives other than the ones being presented.”
Spot on. Quite disappointed in Mr Willis on this. He should share with all of us the great strides made among the contemporary well-dressed folks, how much they’ve done beyond voting for a presidential candidate. I’m surprise he didn’t admonish the little slobs to be “classy.” Or maybe the irony of that wouldn’t have been able to escape….
Nice strawman you guys have here. Because fashion really is the argument we’re trying to have, right?
[...] think that things are just all wrong with this movement. Where’s the platform? Where are your fancy clothes? Where’s the list of demands? Where are your objectives? Where’s the media outreach? [...]
It’s catching on –
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-15187257