Occupy Wall Street is Like the Internet

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An Internet-Era Protest: The Atlantic’s Conor Friedersdorf shares some interesting insights into the Occupy Wall Street protests that have been sweeping the globe. While many have criticized the protest movement as being a disorganized, unfocused, mixed-message jumble, Friedesdorft, citing Douglas Rushkoff’s article for CNN, says that Occupy Wall Street is a protest movement without a traditional narrative arc, but that doesn’t mean it’s not meaningful or that it’s disorganized. It’s like the Internet, as Rushkoff proposes:

We are witnessing America’s first true Internet-era movement, which does not take its cue from a charismatic leader, express itself in bumper-sticker-length goals and understand itself as having a particular endpoint. … Unlike a political campaign designed to get some person in office and then close up shop, this is not a movement with a traditional narrative arc. As the product of the decentralized networked-era culture, it is less about victory than sustainability. It is not about one-pointedness, but inclusion and groping toward consensus. It is not like a book; it is like the Internet.

As Friedersdorf concludes, while it is still unclear what a protest without a traditional, focused narrative arc will amount to, the movement is indeed much like the Internet in that it involves all kinds of information sources, sharing and reapprorpiating that information and different messages. And, of course, as Friedersdorf also points out, the Internet itself is an invaluable resource for the protesters. The Atlantic