Prelude
The information I’m posting comes second-hand to me, so there may be some inaccuracies in the story… however, the general idea is accurate and I don’t think I’m using any language (quotes, names, etc.) that would actually cause problems with any individuals involved. I’m also writing a blog post and not a piece of journalism – so it’s inherent that I have no integrity anyway.

The story
In the company I work for, a large portion of the business is comprised of a retail element. I’m not directly involved in this part of the business, but the aim of the business generally is to drive customers through the doors of the retail floors. The business sells Apple computers – generally perceived to be higher cost computers than your low-grade tack from other manufacturers.

The other day I had a few meetings in one of the locations, where we have retail space and offices above. I spent most of my day in the offices above other than having a chat with some of the staff downstairs. After I was done myself and one of my colleagues went for a pint. This is where I heard the story…

Keep in mind it wasn’t told with any malice or even slight anger – but more bewilderment. I certainly was blown away by the audacity of the characters involved.

In Dublin we have, like most other major global cities, an “occupy” movement. The aim is to highlight and force change in capitalist regimes with corrupt banking systems, etc. You can read more about that on Wikipedia, if you don’t already know what it is. Here, our version of the movement is a make-shift tent/wood arena outside of the Central Bank of Ireland on Dame Street. Hence the name generally given to it is “Occupy Dame Street“.

Some of the campaigners, who appear generally to be fairly quiet and non-confrontational (it must be pointed out) dropped into the retail store in question. They wanted to know from the manager if it was possible to get a Mac from the store to use during their campaign. The clear answer here is generally going to be “no”, as the company has its own quiet charitable efforts that it does and it’s certainly never donated machines to political efforts. Nor will it ever, I would imagine. This isn’t a huge company with vast coffers of money to throw around, so dropping €900+ (the cheapest Mac price) on the Occupy movement makes no business sense. It’s easier to just have people employed for that price instead.

Instead, the manager decided to see if he could get his hands on a second-hand machine. Sure, it’ll be old, a bit rusty and won’t have up-to-date software – but it’ll do the simple things fine. Word processing, internet, email/browser, etc.

This is where the story gets a bit strange. The manager didn’t manage to release this stock. Probably for the same reasons he couldn’t release a new machine either – because it’s not worth the business risk. The problem here is that no one dropped around to the Occupy movement HQ to tell them. They decided to get angry. And when protestors get angry, they shout.

A few of them decided to take it upon themselves to drop into the retail store (when it was quiet, apparently) and chanted that the company was “part of the problem”. Once they had vented their anger they went off and were never heard of again.

This is where my opinion comes in. These guys went into a place asking for some of the most expensive computer equipment you can buy, and then kicked up a stink when they didn’t get it. In essence, they threw their toys out of the pram when Daddy wouldn’t buy them a new Spiderman outfit. I don’t know how they could justify asking for a Mac from a small business that employes a lot of people (but, remember, is “part of the problem”). Everyone in their is doing their bit to help themselves by earning a wage, paying tax and getting on with it. How they are the problem is ridiculous.

Did these guys consider going to a skip or a huge business that might have old computers waiting to be binned? Was their first port-of-call the fancy Apple stuff? I wouldn’t even mind that they asked. Sometimes when you chance your arm you can be surprised by the reaction… but to demand/expect that you get what you want for free is ridiculous – and symptomatic of the middle class Irish rich-kid attitude that these guys displayed.

I’m no more happy with the Irish banking/political system as anyone else. It irritates me that the super-rich get away with blind murder and rape of the state, but I’m just getting on with it like most other people. Things like this make the Occupy Dame Street movement look more like the children of “the 1%” than anything else. I also find a great sense of irony that their camp on Dame Street is ring-fenced. It’s not an open peoples movement because you can’t just park yourself next to them. I’m sure there are security issues involved, but those issues wouldn’t be there if there were more people behind this movement.

I wasn’t necessarily against this movement before, but I certainly am now. When can we get this shanty-town shut down?