The Best Occupy Philly Signs

Love it or hate it, you have to admit: The Occupiers really know how to advertise their protest

I don’t get the hate for Occupy Philly. People are living in tents and having sex outside City Hall. Even if you’re a member of the 1%, that’s pretty hilarious. I’ve been wandering around the Occupy Philly campsite for a little bit every day, and I really enjoy all the protest signs. This is a gallery of my favorites.
 

Above: In early Robin Hood ballads, Robin is “a violent yeoman who steals from the dishonest and helps those whom he pleases.” This is pretty much how government works, so whoever made this sign is more on message than he or she thought.

Above: One of the things I enjoy about the signs at Occupy Philly is how they delightfully run the entire gamut of causes one could even possibly think of. There’s a general homeless sign, an anti-corporation joke and a birthday wish to a deceased Beatle. There’s also an amazingly drawn question mark on the “What about us?” sign (and yes, I’m aware I probably just made fun of a child’s artwork).

Above: Seriously! Look at all these issues: Anti-war, anti-fracking, anti-bailout, anti-racism (in the Occupy movement), pro-love, pro-election reform. There’s even bunting like the kind you’d see at baseball’s opening day, only much cheaper. One sign even wants to raise NASA funding, hardly what one would think of as a cornerstone issue of the protesters. And there is one thing all Americans can get behind: “Don’t drone me bro” is a terrible, terrible joke.

Above: Here’s a sign calling for Andrew Jackson to be removed from the $20 bill! I know we all hold grudges against the presidents of the past, like that twerp John Adams, but I love the idea of someone going to Occupy Philly, incredibly exited they get to remind people the president on our $20 bill supported the forced relocation Native Americans from the Southeast U.S. so we could one day build Disney World. You know what? I support this. And they say the Occupy movement doesn’t have clear, persuasive messages.

Above: Um, so this picture is just pretty.

Above: What would a protest be without Ron Paul supporters? What’s fun about Paul is his Christian, libertarian and anti-war beliefs give pretty much everyone something to support him for, even if they completely loathe the other half of his politics. So his supporters are everywhere! What’s also fun is this re-purposed sign from 2008, showing prudent fiscal sense since the price of gold could plummet at any time.

Above: Here’s another thing I support: Saving a pretzel for the gas jets! Real Talk Rick P. for president!

Above: I like to think unemployed people made both of these signs, and these are the opposite ends of the spectrum on how to go about getting a job.

Above: If any part of the Occupy Philly movement deserves wider attention, it’s this one.

Above: Okay, the sign is clearly a joke. But it’s also the first argument against the existence of the Federal Reserve I’ve ever been able to understand

Above: Hmm, I had never seen all three of these together before. I wonder what inspires people with theories not accepted by the mainstream to put up stickers on poles (say, the 9/11 truth movement) or make giant, kind of ambiguous, signs. Does it work?

Above: I understand why some people dislike the Occupy protesters’s more frivolous activities like 1980s proms and drum circles. They’re competing in the same capitalist society they denounce! They have to hold proms and flash dances in order to keep people interested. The reformers of the 1960s did the same. Remember when Stokley Carmichael and Martin Luther King danced the Batusi to protest the Vietnam War?

Above: T-shirts with political messages can also be a protest sign, and whoever owns this t-shirt decided to mock the “This is what a feminist looks like” shirts and the clumsy “This is what democracy looks like” chant. This is my favorite guy at Occupy Philly.

Above: This is seriously my favorite sign, and not just because it’s clearly been run over by a car. I’m not entirely sure what “Wake up, Ol’ Clueless!” means, but I’m moved to contribute something now. It’s so incredibly convincing it won’t be long until corporations are using it to sell us crap.