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Bloomberg’s visiting Zuccotti Park, and an unseen man is heard to say, “We’re gonna provide extra security.” Hizzoner replies, “We have plenty of security, thanks.” And of course, in front of him, behind him, there it is—Security—there they are: not just cops, designer cops. I can’t stop parsing this sentiment: Is this man, who’s almost certainly a protestor, promising to keep the mayor safe from fellow protestors? Or am I being too generous by proposing that the man means to keep the mayor safe from those whose job it is to keep the mayor safe? Which is to say, which is the correct equation: man + mayor + cops ≥ protestors who might not be so civil? Or: protestors (incl. man) + mayor ≥ cops (who’ve already so expertly demonstrated their incivility)? These equality problems can both be reduced to, Who does this unidentified man identify as “the 99%”? (Which is the same question suggested by the mayor’s response, though its immediacy seems to discredit polysemy.) This fall, every day Downtown has felt like the first day at a strange new school—where “We” have to solve for plural pronoun before attacking the darker math.

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