So, the Occupy Wall Street protests spilled over into New Jersey in a small way last week, after a hundred or so activists turned up in Jersey City, and fewer than 50 showed up in Trenton on Thursday to spread their amorphous message of social discontent. Carrying signs that said everything from “Revoke Corporate Personhood” to “Stop Fracking,” they all had issues, although the Trenton contingent seemed to be more worried about the state’s shift of more pension and health-benefits costs to workers.
Those were pretty civilized demonstrations in front of the Goldman Sachs office in Jersey City and the Statehouse in Trenton. People said what they had to say, and then went home — without anyone getting peppersprayed, thankfully.
There was another rally planned in South Jersey on Sunday afternoon. But since this column was written before that happened, I don’t know how it turned out. I’m betting it was sparsely attended and civil.
I’ve been paying attention to this movement, which has drawn thousands of disenfranchised people into the streets to rally in the last few weeks. But like lots of others, I’ve had trouble getting a handle on exactly what they want. The labor unions are involved, which is interesting, but the agendas of many others are all over the place. Look at the photos from New York last week, and you see signs saying everything from “Money Hungry Fascists Are Dead Inside” to “Globalization Is Murdering Our Earth” to cryptic posters saying “Free!”
Reporters have talked to lots of people who tried to explain what is going on, and almost all of them are quick to point out that the movement is not political per se. Still, the cornucopia of aims and often-disparate goals sounds a lot like what we heard from tea party folks when that movement was gathering steam. Yin and yang.
Republican deep-thinkers have been quick to theorize that the whole thing is either a Democratic plot, a nascent Socialist or Communist takeover, or an outright attempt by anarchists and nihilists to destroy America — which shows you they’re worried about it. The Democrats have been tentatively supportive, but you can tell they’re scheming ways to co-opt the whole thing to their advantage.
I think this movement will eventually surprise everyone, and good will come out of it. If nothing else, it will be nice to listen to people fired up for a while about issues besides tea party staples like the benefits of paralyzing government, and whether Mormons are real Christians.
It won’t surprise anyone when I admit that I make occasional mistakes — and I made one last week when I wrote that the New Jersey sales tax rate is 6 percent, when it’s actually 7, and has been for over five years. It was a brain freeze, and I knew better, but sometimes those things happen. Readers let me know about my blooper, but it was interesting to note the differences in how they approached it. Harley, of Freehold, was fairly forgiving: “Hey Greg: I don’t know if you’ve already been swamped by readers who caught your ‘oops’ in this week’s column on ‘The Little Guy.’ But just to refresh things, the N.J. sales tax jumped from 6 percent to 7 percent on July 15, 2006. Memory loss? Typo?”
I got several more messages like that from folks, including one from Marilyn of Metuchen, who wrote: “As you must know by now, I’m an avid reader of your column in the Sentinel. Is your reference to 6 percent N.J. sales tax another test comment to identify the unwary, or the unadjusted memory storage of past years, or a reflection of a decrease in the 7 percent sales tax under the benevolent dictatorship of our governor?”
I’ll put it down to memory loss. I’m forgetting all kinds of things lately, but that’s fodder for another column.
While most readers ascribed no sinister motive to my gaff, however, there were a few who thought the worst, including Rene, who said: “Please check your facts before printing an article. It leaves your reader with the impression that while you my (sic) have a valid point, your inaccuracy leaves the reader feeling that you really don’t care — certainly not enough to even research you (sic) work. The New Jersey sales tax rate is 7 percent, not 6 percent. This changed back in July of 2006! Obviously, you aren’t too concerned about how much sales tax you pay if you don’t even know what the rate is!”
The typos, by the way, were Rene’s.
There was also Madeline, of Marlboro, who said: “I have read and enjoyed your column for years. But alas! A blaring blunder like a current 6 percent N.J. sales tax instead of the 7 percent (or $7 on $100) we ‘little people’ have endured since the very beginning of the Corzine days? Really, Mr. Bean— I’m shocked!”
Madeline said some nice things too, and I got the impression she was kind of joking around, but the tonal differences in those messages give you some idea why it’s so hard to have a substantive discussion about issues these days. There’s too much anger out there, and it doesn’t take much to set it off. I do care, by the way, and I know that the difference between paying $6 and $7 on a $100 purchase is important to people on a tight budget. I’m sorry about muffing it.
In my own attempt at mitigation, I’ll say this: The mistake was caught by a brilliant person on the copy desk, and changed to the correct percent. However, someone else in charge of actually fixing the mistake in the Word file changed only the first reference, not the second one.
I’m not blaming anyone, because it was my “blaring blunder.” It is fascinating that it made what appeared online and in print (in most of our papers) only 50 percent wrong, or 50 percent right, depending on how you look at it.
I know which side Rene would come down on.
Gregory Bean is the former executive editor of Greater Media Newspapers. You can reach him at [email protected].