I visited the "Occupy Wall Street" protest today in Liberty Plaza and left with no more of a sense of the movement's purpose as when I arrived (I only had a vague idea of what the protest was attempting to accomplish before this afternoon.). A key problem I see is that the message is too diffuse and not focused enough and is generally centered on money and how policy has handled wealth leading up to and after the financial collapse. I am not sure what the group intends the endpoint to be but it appears that it will mostly be awareness (probably no actual policy change). To me, the most interesting aspect of all of this is how social media and technology has shaped organized gatherings for cause - O.W.S. began and continues to survive through a large online presence, not dissimilar to the successful Arab Spring revolution (just not as radical).
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