Prof: pretending to like the flag will advance your argument

  Hey, poopers! You know what you need? You occupiers just need an image makeover to win your argument!
  Just look up in a book what Betsy Ross and what she did, then grab a flag shirt and head out the tent flap!
  To boot, this political science sage Dominic Tierney claims in The Atlantic in reference to Martin Luther King:

Today, even conservatives like Glenn Beck embrace King and the civil rights movement.
Meanwhile, the cautionary tale is the anti-Vietnam War movement. By the late 1960s, the Vietnam War was highly unpopular. But incredibly, the anti-war movement was even less popular than the war. The protesters were widely seen as un-American: rioters, desecrators of the flag, and advocates of amnesty, acid, and abortion. The protesters got a "reputation for being elitist, radical, and unpatriotic." 

  Soooo EVEN conservatives embrace Martin Luther King, notwithstanding MLK's niece Alveda King says he was a Republican, and EVEN though the long history of discrimination was the Democrats' shame and EVEN though the Grand Wizards of Congress were all Democrats.
  Magnanimous of Mr. Tierney, who seems overwhelmed that people didn't like the anti-war movement, which incredibly was unpopular.
  Were the "anti-war protesters" seen as "rioters" and "desecrators of the flag" because they were rioters and desecrators of the flag?

 The author goes on to complain that leftists don't like flags or people acting like they love this country.

And the simplest strategy of all: Occupy Wall Street should wrap itself in the American flag.   

Compare photos of OWS rallies and Tea Party events. From a distance, you can't always tell that the leftwing protests are in the United States. By contrast, the Tea Party is awash with the stars and stripes. 

  See the pictures of the Tea Party? They waved flags, said the Pledge of Allegiance. You want to trick people into thinking you are just as patriotic as them, right? So go buy a flag!

Overt patriotism can make people on the left feel a little nervous. 

  Nervous? Why would a flag make someone nervous? Our political science professor explains this might possibly be because, strangely, the flag actually means something to some people.

  To look like Tea Partiers, then, the occupiers need to appear to like it too! 

But when the nation's symbols have such meaning to so many people, why cede the flag to conservatives? 

  And if you don't know how to do this, occupiers, then look to the heroes you have cited as your inspiration...the Arab Spring! (No mention is made at this point in the article about the murders of Christians and the takeover of the violent Muslim Brotherhood of Egypt.)

OWS should look to the Arab Spring for inspiration. Protest movements in the Middle East are extremely patriotic and flag-waving. The reformers claim to be the true Tunisians, Egyptians, and Libyans.

  And does this mean the occupiers are the true Americans?

  THEN what's funny (haha!) is that Professor Tierney actually reveals that the occupiers are the ONE PERCENT when it comes to a national symbol like the American FLAG.

Unless OWS understands the power of symbols, the American Autumn will be followed by a winter of discontent. And the protesters can start by hanging a hundred flags at Zuccotti Park. One percent of the United States might not care about these symbols--but 99 percent do.

  You might notice there's something missing in this article.
  It's very similar to what's missing in the occupiers' manifesto.
  Content. Purpose. Meaning.
  Ya know. Stuff the 99% say enhances writing.