Press: Greater Enemy Is Apathy

The “Occupy Wall Street” phenomenon that has swept into some of our nation’s largest cities will be whisked into downtown Coeur d’Alene from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday. Our feelings on this foray into public demonstration are mixed. First, the initial site of the planned gathering was on the Hagadone Corp. lawn. Hagadone Corp. owns this newspaper, The Coeur d’Alene Resort and numerous other entities. When told that the Hagadone Corp. headquarters is private property, the event organizer, a 17-year-old North Idaho College student, immediately decided to shift the location elsewhere in the downtown area because “We really don’t want to get into trouble over this” and “The point of this is to peacefully protest the way that our country is being run.” That’s a good call, and not just because we feel defensive about our corporate headquarters being targeted. It’s a good call because it shows the real intent of the local movement: To protest what they perceive as corporate greed but in a respectful, law-abiding manner/ Mike Patrick , Coeur d’Alene Press. More here. (Jesse L. Bonner’s AP photo, of Occupy Boise Oct. 5)

Question: The Coeur d’Alene Press makes an interesting point here. Isn’t it better to care about something enough to protest — than simply to sit back and complain or be apathetic?