HERE's my two cents on the Occupy Wall Street protests: Woo!

Maybe that's one cent. Anyway, I am not by disposition a joiner, but I'm nevertheless inclined to smile upon attempts to stick it to the man, even if the attempt is quixotic or confused and the man in the end remains unstuck. The Burkean horror of social upheaval is fine in its place, but there is no apparent danger of upheaval. And who among us doubts that the man deserves a good sticking to? So why not try?

Set aside for a moment the question of the efficacy of protests and mass demonstrations as engines of social and political change. Isn't the efflorescence of spontaneous, meaningful community cheering in itself? Generally, I think it's a mistake to see phenomena like Occupy Wall Street or the tea-party movement as immediate inputs to reform. If one insists that this sort of thing must "make a difference" in order to justify one's support, it is possible to see protests, rallies, gatherings, be-ins and so forth—with or without intellectual or strategic cohesion—as investment in "social networking" and the inculcation of ideology and activist identity that may eventually pay dividends through conventional channels of reform. But that's boring, and life is too boring already, which brings me to my point. When life is both boring and lived within a matrix of maddening institutions, why not get together with thousands of like-minded folks, scream about it, screw up traffic, get arrested, whip one another into a frenzy of self-righteous indignation, spit on some people, provoke the jackboots, and maybe even wreck some stuff? Why is thatnot a good idea?

D.H. Lawrence, in one of his less sexy productions, had the right general idea:

A Sane Revolution



If you make a revolution, make it for fun,

don't make it in ghastly seriousness,

don't do it in deadly earnest,

do it for fun.



Don't do it because you hate people,

do it just to spit in their eye.



Don't do it for the money,

do it and be damned to the money.



Don't do it for equality,

do it because we've got too much equality

and it would be fun to upset the apple-cart

and see which way the apples would go a-rolling.



Don't do it for the working classes.

Do it so that we can all of us be little aristocracies on our own

and kick our heels like jolly escaped asses.



Don't do it, anyhow, for international Labour.

Labour is the one thing a man has had too much of.

Let's abolish labour, let's have done with labouring!

Work can be fun, and men can enjoy it; then it's not labour.

Let's have it so! Let's make a revolution for fun!



(Tip of the hat to Jim Henley.)

Or do do it for money, equality, the working classes, and international labour. Whatever. Do or don't make yourself useful, but don't waste life clucking at the internet and waiting around til "Parks and Recreation" comes on. Get out there and and stick it to the plutocrats. Stick it to the socialists. Stick it to the fall prime-time lineup. Stick it to not sticking it. Go ahead. Occupy Wall Street. Occupy yourself. Live a little. Woo!