I'm being repressed!

All the Occupy talk of the past months has made me uncomfortable. You see, based on our yearly income-- i.e. the fact that we are not billionaires-- I'm pretty sure that the Occupiers would place us in the oppressed 99%. But honestly? I feel more like that evil, privileged 1%.

Here's why. We own two cars. I've never wondered where my next meal was coming from . . . ever. We live in a stone farmhouse with beautiful wood floors and more cabinets than I know what to do with. Though we will be moving soon and our next house won't be as nice as this, it sure won't be a shack by the tracks.  My husband has a good job and for that matter, so do I. We wear clothes with tags that say Eddie Bauer and Banana Republic. As evidenced by my writing this post, I have a computer, access to the internet, and enough free time to play around on said internet.

And I'm being oppressed?

I guess my beef with the Occupiers is that they take their (quite real) misfortunes and try drag everyone else into it.  They assume that because they have wrongs to address, the vast majority of America is likewise suffering beneath the crushing thumb of nefarious financiers. "We are getting kicked out of our homes. We are forced to choose between groceries and rent," they say. "We are the 99 percent." The first part of that statement, I won't argue. There are genuinely poor families in America, people are getting kicked out of homes and jobs, those in power can take cruel advantage of those weaker than they. All true. Such victims indeed have something to protest, something to demand. But not everyone does! So that's what I object to-- the claiming that "we" are the 99 percent. Occupiers have set up an artificial dichotomy, claiming that America is sharply divided into fat cats and slum dwellers, with nary a middle-class citizen between.

I sometimes wonder why these protesters feel the need to pit the extremely wealthy against . . . everyone else. As if every American without an overflowing bank account is duty-bound to hate and envy those with one.

I do hope that any reforms needed for honest business dealings are enacted. I hope that wrongdoers are brought to justice. Hey, I might even agree with taxing the rich more than the poor. And I am all for reasoned protest. It's extremism like this, so much of it smacking of victimhood, that raises my eyebrows. Exaggeration only cheapens an argument.

What do you think? Should I go occupy something?