Why You Shouldn't Compare Occupy Wall Street to the Tea Party (Try not to puke)

Time Magazine's Global Spin ^ | October 18, 2011 | Ishaan Tharoor

[2ndDivisionVet]

With the Occupy Wall Street protests gaining steam in the U.S., it seems obvious to link the movement with the other grassroots movement that recently shook up American politics: the Tea Party. President Barack Obama did it this morning, telling ABC that the protesters in downtown New York are "not that different" from the Tea Party: both the right and the left feel "that their institutions aren't looking out for them."

My colleagues' pieces number among a flurry of others pondering the parallel. Michael Scherer recast Occupy Wall Street as the Tea Party of the American left. Roya Wolverson suggested how the two movements, coming from diametrically opposed sides of the political spectrum, could find common ground (and perhaps policy influence) in their mutual distaste for a Washington dominated by the vested interests of corporations. But while the similarities are noteworthy, they obscure more relevant truths about Occupy Wall Street, the supposedly inchoate movement that has transfixed the American media in recent weeks. I enumerate these truths after the jump.

1. Occupy Wall Street is an expression of a global phenomenon. A cursory glimpse at newspapers over the weekend would have shown scenes of mass protest across European capitals and cities elsewhere in the world, all in solidarity with the antigreed protesters in New York City. The Tea Party, for all its early brio, commands no such solidarity, nor does it care for it. It's a hyper-nationalist movement in the U.S., lofting the totems of the Constitution and the flag. Few viable political factions across the Atlantic advocate the Tea Party's anti–Big Bovernment, libertarian agenda (though the xenophobic, culturally conservative wing of the Tea Party would perhaps see eye to eye with Europe's Islamophobic far right)...

[2ndDivisionVet]

Ishaan Tharoor is a writer-reporter at TIME's headquarters in New York and editor of the Global Spin blog. After graduating from Yale, he joined TIME in 2006 at its Asia headquarters in Hong Kong and went on to report extensively on Asian geopolitics, traveling to, among other places, Maoist camps in Nepal, election rallies in the far south of the Philippines and to Mumbai in the aftermath of the 2008 terror attacks. He is an Indian by citizenship and a New Yorker by upbringing.

[Bringbackthedraft]

“not that different” from the Tea Party................................. Of course not, one has to only look at the rallies. One Party arrives with signs, makes speeches , then cleans up and leaves. Just like the Flea Party. s/

[sodpoodle]

Imitation is the highest form of flattery.

Seems the TEA movement caused fear and trembling in the bowels of the leftist organizations. This contrived OWSer protest is intended to replace the news cycle of the TEA successes.

Not gonna work. TEA party people have principle and patriotism in their souls as they work quietly and effectively at electing candidates with the right stuff - not trying to get free stuff.

[Tenacious 1]

I would love to see Tea Party movements start popping up in every city that gets coverage for the OWS movements. Make sure Tea Party Attendees are all made aware that no one is to comment to the media about OWS. Just answer, “Who? What’s that?”

I would bet the numbers of folks showing up for Tea Pary Rallies dwarfs the OWS members. Then the world could see the contrast first hand. That is, if the media covered it at all.

[chris_bdba]

Gee except for the big fact that we are the producers in this country and if we all decided one day to not feed the beast (federal government) and kept at it for a month it would be an all out collapse.