Occupy Wall Street? What's That?

The Occupy Wall Street movement has spread across the country and across the globe. Rallying against social and economic inequality, corporate greed, and the top 1% of earners, the protesters have taken to the streets in metropolitan areas including New York City, NY, Seattle, WA and Portland, OR. It has also spread to smaller cities in Middle America, like Cumberland, MD, where protesters can be seen on street corners holding homemade signs.
To find out more about the public perception of the movement, I took to the streets (the FSU campus). I approached several young ladies as I walked across campus. The question I posed to them: “What do you think of the Occupy Wall Street movement?” Heather Buchanan, a Liberal Studies major at FSU and resident of Preston County, MD, said, “I think it’s great because we’re the future. We need to be taken seriously and it’s ridiculous what’s going on.”
Heather’s friend, Mikayla Young, was next. I posed the same question to the Glen Bernie native and music education major. Her response left something to be desired, because she first explained that she didn’t know what they were protesting for. After informing her that the protesters were protesting against economic inequality and corporate greed, she said, “I don’t really know much about it, but it sounds like a great thing.”
I then walked into the Lane Center cafeteria, where I found Kyle Gonzalez, a Law and Society major here at FSU. The Cumberland, MD, native said, “I’ve been watching some news of the protests, and I think that the protesters are fighting for a just cause, but I don’t think that it will ever really make a difference.”
Although some students here at FSU possess knowledge of the Wall Street Protests, there is a fairly high level of ignorance as well. Considering the importance and national coverage of the events taking place on Wall Street, as well as streets all across the country, you would think that the majority of Americans, especially college students, would be informed on the Occupy movement. I think this ignorance speaks to the lack of interest in the news by college students at FSU, even when it comes to an issue that should interest our younger generation.