The 5 Most Popular PolicyMic Stories This Week

Impact

This week's stories ranged from the return of Occupy Wall Street to the controversy over red meat. Here are the top five stories people were reading, sharing, Tweeting, Facebooking, and commenting on this week:

Occupy Wall Street is back, baby! OWS marked its six month anniversary on Saturday by storming Zuccotti Park, aka “Liberty Square," in downtown Manhattan. The 33,000 square foot park was the epicenter of the 2011 OWS movement. Within hours, the group had retaken the park, with protesters surging in after sporadic clashes with New York City police. NYPD meanwhile raced to send in reinforcements and crowd control, immediately shipping in metal barriers to surround and contain the park. 

This is the start of Occupy Wall Street 2012, and we have a lot to look forward to this year. Chris Miles reports from the scene.

 

Cameron English says a new study released this week suggesting that eating red meat may cause cancer and cardiovascular disease is probably not accurate.  This study was based on shaky science, and the authors did little to consider any alternative explanation.  

Ron Paul is every hipster’s dream. He hated the Federal Reserve before it was acceptable to hate. He is the “fringe” candidate, the real, authentic knight in shining armor come to stand against the “man” that is establishment Washington. 

Danielle Bianculli's theory: "the worse Paul seems to be doing – the more my intellectual friend adores him. My theory is that if in some bizarro freak occurrence Ron Paul were to actually win the Republican primary he would most certainly lose the general election because his die-hard followers would consider him a mainstream sell out and abandon ship. ... The man won the “popular vote” in the Virgin Island’s caucus on Saturday, my god, if that’s not out of the mainstream I don’t know what is, but don’t worry he still didn’t get more delegates than Romney, so he is still safe from any sort of popularity."

 

William Bauer says for Europeans, Obama is the very embodiement of über cool. Even the French would invite him for a dinner party. Not so for the Republican candidates. "Mitt Romney looks about as real as the Ken Doll for the Barbie set; the fact that he frequently changes policies and accuses Obama of wanting to enact ‘European Socialism’ is absurd.  Rick Santorum has religious views that for many of us that harken back to the days of the Spanish Inquisition.  As for Newt Gingrich, Europeans think he’s categorically mad (when they've heard of him at all)."

Carmen Paun says abortion should not be a matter of debate in a country like the U.S., given its image as a stalwart supporter and even enforcer of human rights and democratic values in some parts of the world. "In fact, abortion should not be a controversial issue for any government; it should be a private discussion between couples who are in this situation, plain and simple."

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