Jonathan Zimmerman: Exaggeration Springs Eternal

Jonathan Zimmerman teaches history at New York University and lives in Narberth. He is the author of "Small Wonder: The Little Red Schoolhouse in History and Memory" (Yale University Press).

Last week, I bumped into one of my students on her way to the "Occupy America" protest near Wall Street. I told her I was glad she was participating in the most exciting political development I'd seen in years. "You're right," she replied cheerily. "It's like our own Arab Spring."

No, it isn't. Such analogies demean demonstrators in the Middle East, who have risked torture and death. And they discount America's rich tradition of free speech, which has been on vibrant display since the Occupy America movement began.

...By every measure - income, home ownership, education - the gap between our haves and have-nots has widened. That's why I'm a fan of the Occupy America demonstrators, who have shone a bright light on these facts.

But it's also why I deplore facile comparisons to the Arab Spring, which harm the credibility of anyone who makes them. Consider that an estimated 2,900 people have already lost their lives in Syria alone, according to the United Nations' human rights office. More than 800 died in the protests in Egypt, and nearly 500 in the demonstrations in Tunisia, Yemen, and Bahrain....