Sanctimony = Occupy Wall Street Criticism

Sanctimony: Feigned piety or righteousness; hypocritical high-mindedness.

This word more than any other I can think of describes virtually every criticism I have seen of the Occupy Wall Street movement. All of a sudden, everyone is an economist and is absolutely certain that the Wall Street protesters cannot possibly have a valid point. It can’t possibly be that corporate interests have become too powerful in this country. It can’t possibly be that far too much control over far too many people’s lives has been seized by a privileged few. No, it has to be just a bunch of naïve, lazy, irresponsible hippies who just want everything handed to them.

I don’t know about you, but if the extent of my knowledge about economics came from the Rush Limbaugh show, I would keep my criticism to my self. Of course I would know deep down that I was right, but I would also know that more than likely one of those liberal college hippies would probably make me look pretty silly in debate. You know, with all that book learnin’ and everything. But, these are the first ones to speak up, and I am finding it hard to imagine why. I’ll take a stab at it though.

It has always seemed to me that one of humankind’s favorite things is to feel superior to others. I find it usually goes something like this. I may not be… fill in the blank, rich, educated, good looking etc., but at least I’m not…fill in another blank, on welfare, in bankruptcy etc. etc. This, it seems to me, is a game anyone can play–always good for a nice self-esteem boost. No matter your circumstances, you can always point to someone not thriving as well as you are.

No one wants to believe good fortune has anything to do with his or her situation. More than anything else, I think people want to believe they deserve to be where they are, and have what they have. The Occupy Wall Street movement is just another opportunity for that same old wise-dumb, call-it-like-I-see-it crowd to spout off about things of which they haven’t the foggiest understanding.

The reality is many of these people are hurting too. They’re just too proud or too simple to realize what has happened to them. Sad really.