AN EXCELLENT piece in The Cobbles shares why Occupy Vancouver has been so contentious, and the inability of the media to portray it accurately.

They also lay out the types of people who criticize the movement, some who are really just looking for someone to hate, but others who by and large, do not have accurate information.

An excerpt:

What needs to be realized here is that the mainstream media does a very poor job at covering these issues and does a very good job at trying to dissect the Occupy movement into individual issues. This is another reason why those who know, know that issuing a detailed list of demands this early would be detrimental to the movement. The media would have a field day picking the list apart. They’d immediately determine the weakest point and drive that home to the public.

It’s the reason why you’ll only see interviews with occupiers who are often there in support but with a lack of knowledge on most issues, rather than seeing a well informed, well spoken occupier owning a Fox news correspondent. The strength of the movement comes in its ‘non-detail’, which is a difficult concept to grasp for those who are used to the detail rich culture of today. This isn’t to say that Occupy has no idea of what it wants, rather that they don’t feel any list of demands from any one person properly represents the entirety of issues at hand.

We’re sure that by now you’ve seen/read/heard coverage of Occupy movements being evicted from different cities. If you happen to live in one of these cities, you’ve probably even seen the local news coverage leading up to the evictions (if there’s been any).

The one commonality across all media is how they’ve turned a worldwide movement into a local issue. They’ve painted a picture that while it’s ok to support the global issues of the Occupy movement, the local movement itself is a problem that needs to be dealt with promptly. The demonization of individual occupy movements is disgusting. This is a clear case of how slanted the mainstream media is. What these evictions cause is a storm of emotions on either side. They separate the people, pointing out specific instances of by-law infractions, or public property legalities.

These people had no issues with the citizens of the Middle East rising up against their oppressors, and even supported them, but when it’s on home turf? Forget about it.

As for moving forward, they suggest in some ways what we’ve done right here with Occupy Vancouver Voice:

If the Occupy movement is going to progress, it needs to evolve and take full advantage of the technology of today. Taking control of the situation does not infer that there is now, or should be a leadership group in the movement, but rather ensures the correct messages are reaching the right people in a timely and efficient manner.

- HIGHLY RECOMMEND you read the full article