Written by Valerie Leventhal   

Having spent many hours in the last two months following (with an open mind) what the Occupy Wallstreet and other protesters are saying, and understanding the issues of the day, I just have to note that the disconnect between the "mainstream" media (and of course, the right wing noise machine) and the reality of all of our lives is still firmly in place.

Even those commentators who should know better (and I include some among my personal group of friends and acquaintances) are continuing to complain that things aren't happening FAST enough in the change we are working toward, or that violence is inevitable, or that all the things that have always happened before to impede the will of the people will/must happen again, or that Obama is too weak to fight the Republicans, or that he's in the pocket of big corporations, etc., etc., etc.

I am trying not to be frustrated by what I see as a childish inability to see what is actually happening on the ground in the country and the world. I say childish because of the expectation of immediate change, and the need to have that change happen in a certain way, and the blindness to the amazing change that has already happened since at least the Wisconsin fight against Scott Walker began, and probably back to before the "Arab Spring" began - back to Obama's election in 2008.

The world is changing right before people's eyes, and they are having a hard time believing in it. It's understandable. People generally think things will always be the way they are at the moment - we don't really believe in change. Change is, in fact, scary for most people. But here we are with the first black American president in the history of our country; a real populist movement based on common purpose; a global uprising by citizens seeking peace and economic and environmental justice, and all people in the media want to talk about is how in 2010 the conservative point of view received some kind of mandate and how people on the left are angry at Obama etc., etc., etc.

Change takes time. Complaining that change is happening incrementally is like complaining that a baby takes 8 or 9 months to develop - useless, unproductive and actually not rational. The big media marketing machine has trained Americans to be unable to really think - overstimulation and short sound bites with the story changing every few seconds and nothing discussed in depth creates people who are cognitively dysfunctional. We have to remind people that things don't happen overnight and that anything worth doing will require time. Also, by the way, true democratic action is messy and noisy and will bother the status quo. You can't have even a peaceful revolution without getting in someone's way. The point is to get in the way of the machine that's devouring us all. My favorite sign from the OWS protest so far is: "Sorry about the mess, we're trying to change the world."

What gives me hope personally is watching the real people talking about their real lives. A lot of them understand the issues better than the so called experts in the media. We have to get off the talking points and read some history to put this movement in context. Whenever people have banded together and made serious demands, progress has happened - not without some pain and work, but it has happened and it will happen again if we don't lose heart or get confused by the ignorance of most of the media. Remember that the so-called wisdom of the insiders is not only self-serving, but is usually years behind reality. Remember how the recession was over a while back according to the mainstream talkers?

And don't forget the universal wisdom of the way things really work: What do you get, for example, when you propagandize everyone to want the latest electronic devices and BUY, BUY, BUY, and then send all the jobs overseas and refuse to fix infrastructure or spend money on teachers or cops, and allow college tuition to become so high that young people graduate with huge debt and no future prospects? You get alot of young people in the streets with cell phones and cameras. Big corporations actually set this movement up without realizing it.

In conclusion, I guess I'm just saying that we all need to do our research (not just on the web, but in the library where the bias is just your own), follow the news (from VARIOUS sources), and have some faith in one another and in the truth at the heart of this movement that will eventually win the day. Oh, and get off the couch and help. Criticism has its uses, but complaining about things not happening fast enough doesn't really get you anywhere. Go out and help make it happen faster.

Good luck and keep it moving!