| fordy said:
On the flip side, I could say the ravenous Tea Party movement had no clear goal because it consisted of conservatives, religious nuts, pro lifers, gun fanatics, no-government anarchists and people with racial intolerance. |
Actually you couldn't make those claims ... The Tea-Party's message was fairly clear because it was an organized protest with well defined points and clear leadership; and it communicated its points at rallies and to the media through intelligent, well informed and (for the most part) well respected speakers.
The Tea-Party didn't start out with this structure, initially it was made up of dozens of small groups holding protests against "Big Government" and the death of the constitution but as it grew structure was added to make their message more clear; and (to a certain extent) individuals and groups co-opted the movement for their own gains.
The same cannot be said about Occupy Wall Street and, has been demonstrated countless times by the media and bloggers, if you go down to one of these protests and ask what it is about you’re far more likely to run into someone from the Tinfoil Hat Brigade than anyone who has a well-defined message; and you can’t even look for an official statement from the group because they want their group to have no leadership, and the movement makes decisions through consensus (which is the equivalent of not making any meaningful decisions).
