#OccupyWallStreet and today's (Egyptian) KFC

Hey, remember one of my first blog posts about Occupy Wall Street (of course you do) when I said I'll bet the Egyptian press made fun of the folks in Tahrir Square, too. For once I was right:

Occupy Wall Street's supporters have continually criticized both the dearth of media coverage of their movement and its dismissive tone. "The media has begun dismissing the protesters, calling them delusional, childish hippies," Elshamy says. "This is actually very similar to here in Egypt when the media portrayed protesters as thugs or foreign agents who were getting paid and had other agendas." At one point, Egypt's state media even suggested that the demonstrators were being brought out to the square by the promise of free buckets of KFC.

The crowd took the charges in stride. Vendors began selling T-shirts reading "I am a thug" and fake pamphlets featuring "foreign agendas." The square's makeshift medical tent was renamed "KFC hospital."

Most importantly, Elshamy says, is to be as "neutral and friendly as possible with whatever journalist, no matter where he is from."

Important takeway: Be friendly to journalists! Meanwhile, here's a good report on Occupy Philadelphia from the Inquirer's Monica Yant Kinney, who seems less cynical coming out of the protest than she was going in. Typical reaction.

And if you want to see what a good non-hack writer comes up with after spending some time in Zuccotti Park, check out Charles Pierce (who's just launched a fantastic new blog for Esquire):