Lost In Translation

Occupy Wall Street

Sometimes ideas are lost in the translation. English is a strange language where words often have multiple meanings. Take the word, welfarian for example. A Welfarian is a World of Warcraft character. Welfarian is also an offensive slang word for a person who receives welfare benefits. There is a third meaning that I've just discovered. A Welfarian is also a total tool who attacks, demeans and insults poor people and advocates violence against members of the Occupy movement. 

The Occupy Wall Street movement is a non-violent, peaceful protest made up of people from every economic, social and cultural element of the American people. They and those of us who support Occupy Wall Street with occupation protests around the country are exercising our First Amendment right to free expression and to peacefully assembly in order to express our concerns. 

The Welfarian apparently believes that Occupy protesters should be killed for their efforts as demonstrated by these postings made on Twitter:

The Welfarian is trolling Twitter ginning up hate and playing on the blame and hatred of the poor expressed by some members of the far right wing in America.  Free speech is not without limitations and should be used responsibly. Advocating violence and murder is not only irresponsible, it is dangerous and some types of speech are criminal. The First Amendment does not protect speech that presents a "clear and present danger" of unlawful or illegal action.  Tensions are running high and there have been more a few violent clashes between protesters and police departments around the country. Advocating electrocution, shooting and tossing grenades at protesters during these emotionally charged times is a dangerous act that if viewed by a disturbed person could result in tragedy.