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May 25, 2013
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Time Romanticizes ‘Occupy Wall Street’ Crowd That ‘Stares Down the NYPD’

By Ken Shepherd | October 14, 2011 | 13:23

A  A
Ken Shepherd's picture

Time magazine’s Ishaan Tharoor and Nate Rawlings romanticized the Occupy Wall Street crowd in an October 14 news story wrought with melodrama about the left-wing crowd’s tensions with New York City police.

Tharoor and Rawlings opened their article by painting the OWS folks as anxious and the NYPD as practically itching for a confrontation. The trespassing squatters in the privately-owned park were painted as conscientious “activists” and “protesters” whose efforts at cleaning the park were unappreciated by corporate goons who were attempting an "eviction" (emphasis mine):

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At 5 a.m. Friday morning, an air of menace and anxiety gripped Zuccotti Park, the epicenter of the Occupy Wall Street protests. Police officers stalked its periphery, some with bundles of white plastic handcuffs strapped to their belts. Inside the park, parts of it resembled a panicked scene from a bustling Indian railway station: activists, many of whom have camped out in the plaza since the occupation began a month ago, lofted on their heads giant plastic sacks stuffed with their sleeping bags and personal effects. As they had been doing all night, protesters continued to scrub and sweep, their response to a mandate from the park's private owners, Brookfield Properties, to leave the site in order for it to be cleaned. One man stood atop a bench, shouting over and over again at those around him to "move your shit or we'll dispose of it."

The catch, as all were aware,was that those who followed the Friday morning evacuation order would not be allowed to return with sleeping bags or tarps or even lie down in the park. "This was never about sanitation, it was about a pretext for eviction," said Senia Barragan, a graduate student at Columbia University who is part of Occupy Wall Street's press team. Over the course of Thursday night into Friday morning, hundreds squeezed into the park in support of Occupy Wall Street, not knowing what would happen come dawn. Tucker Mowatt, one of the protesters, blinked bleary-eyed when asked if he was willing to risk arrest. "Of course I am," he said. "The whole world is watching."


Tharoor and Rawlings went on to enthuse that “in the early morning half-light, in the presence of a veritable army of journalists, Occupy Wall Street got to declare its first momentous victory,” the postponement of a scheduled cleaning of the park by its private owners.

“The crowd erupted in euphoria” upon hearing the news, the Time reporters noted, adding that “Raucous chants of ‘This is what democracy looks like’ echoed off nearby buildings.”

Actually, this is what rowdy mobs look like, but Tharoor and Rawlings failed to find any Occupy Wall Street detractors to quote for their story. What's more, they insisted that the movement is twice as popular “among average Americans as the right-wing Tea Party.” Of course the labels “liberal,” “leftist,” “socialist,” and “Marxist” were nowhere to be found in the 11-paragraph article.

About the Author

Ken Shepherd is Managing Editor of NewsBusters. Click here to follow Ken Shepherd on Twitter.
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Comments

Maybe after the next

Submitted by LAM SON 719 on Fri, 10/14/2011 - 2:35pm.

Maybe after the next terrorist attack the police and fireman should just stay home and watch old nazi movies. These protesters are and will always be public parasites sucking the blood from the government.

Non, je ne regrette rien. "You aren't angry because I might be a racist, you're angry because you know I'm right".
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Sing along with me

Submitted by CobraMan on Fri, 10/14/2011 - 2:44pm.

Ok, OWS, sing along with me: We don't need no Sanitation. It's a form of crowd control. A fascist plot formed in the Boardroom. Hay, Mayor, leave us OWS alone! All and all the trash is - better left on the ground.

If you don't leave your trash, you can't have any protest. How can you have any protest if you don't leave your trash?

The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States. The US Constitution

Unless you're a fetus. The US Supreme Court

Or Anwar al-Awlaki.

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Pink Cobra -- that's great!

Submitted by Jack Bauer on Fri, 10/14/2011 - 3:19pm.

Pink Cobra -- that's great! ha.


All of the above Mr Obama? --- How about ALL OF THE BELOW, instead.
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So now we know

Submitted by CobraMan on Fri, 10/14/2011 - 3:58pm.

I guess we know now which one is Pink.

The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States. The US Constitution

Unless you're a fetus. The US Supreme Court

Or Anwar al-Awlaki.

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If I where a betting man I'd

Submitted by ForeverOnTheRight on Fri, 10/14/2011 - 5:34pm.

If I where a betting man I'd bet this was written buy a member of one of those "journalist" union members. There is a high possibility that I am right. No partiality at all here. This is propaganda!

Right is never wrong, Left is never right.
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The whole world's yawning.

Submitted by Jack Bauer on Fri, 10/14/2011 - 3:18pm.

The whole world's yawning.  The whole world's yawning.., The whole world's holding its nose...

GET A SHOWER STINKIN' HIPPIES


All of the above Mr Obama? --- How about ALL OF THE BELOW, instead.
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Stop Censoring The Gosnell Trial!

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