Occupy Toronto, a local smelly nuisance

I hadn’t checked out the Occupy Toronto crowd since the first day that it started. So last Saturday I figured I’d stop by for a peek. What I saw there was pretty underwhelming if you consider this movement is being touted as the source of revolutionary change. In fact the only thing that they appear to be achieving is earning sympathy for the people who live around St. James Park.

The first thing I noticed about the tent city is the smell. It absolutely stinks. I feel sorry for anyone who has to walk past it on their way to work.

The second thing I noticed is that the place was incredibly dirty.

The third thing I noticed was that the few people who were there were also incredibly dirty.

A friend of mine told me that his colleagues at work had, charitably, gotten together the week before the Occupation began and cleaned the park. Their good works had been completely thrown out the window because I have never seen St. James Park look so disgusting.

The most attractive feature of what is otherwise a rather plain looking neighbourhood has been turned into what smells like a garbage dump and looks like the worst kept camping site in Canada.

Keep in mind that the park is next door to a church, a very popular church to hold weddings. I shutter to think of the poor couple that thinks they had paid for a beautiful wedding at one of Toronto’s nicest churches, but instead are getting married at an open air homeless shelter.

All of this is pretty benign (unless you are the poor sucker that has to clean the place up) but their only achievement is being a nuisance. After a month of not showering the movement continues to be pretty vague and dominated by those that are shouting ideas that have been discredited for decades. There is no plan on how to achieve any ends beyond, “starting a conversation.”

So even if you are sympathetic to the goals of the movement, you have to wonder if all this is nothing but sound and fury, and stink. Mostly stink.