To the editor:
Re: "Occupy Vancouver demonstration gains momentum online," Oct. 14.
Martin Luther King Jr. clearly articulated the Civil Rights protest: that America's promise to its citizens, rooted in the U.S. Constitution, was not being fulfilled for blacks. King articulated that laws needed to be enforced to ensure equality and new laws needed to be created to that same end. King never advocated violence. Violence would have obscured his message. In addition, violence could have then been seen as the real purpose of the protest. Now to the Occupiers. Their messages, muddled and confused, are borne out of envy. One message, "End Corporate Greed" is absurd. First off, are Occupiers implying that all corporations are greedy? How can a logical person ever say that?
It's also absurd because it demands that a corporation from the mom and pop shop to the biggest businesses ceases to do what it is intended to do: make money.
What's really behind the "End Corporate Greed" cry is this: "I'm too lazy to do what you did to be successful so I want what you have and want you to give it to me." Since when in history has it been promised that all will have the same amount of everything? As good stewards of their message, will the Occupiers be the first to give away what they have to those with less?
I assume that with the Occupiers, it will be more of the same dull message with the usual cast of clowns who just must belong to the newest thing. Unless the message is as clear as King's was and the behaviour as focused as King's followers, it's just another train wreck that will keep getting bigger.
Tony Alcantar, Vancouver
