At lunchtime I sometimes wander over to the Occupy Toronto campground just to check on the kids and make sure they’re doing alright, spread a few good vibes around. I must look so out of place walking through there with my splotchy Mowvember mustache, I must look like such a narc that even the police double check my boots to make sure I'm not one of them. As usual, the vibe today was tranquil and optimistic, the campground has grown substantially in size since the first week of their protest, some of the campers have set up on a green space across Jarvis Street. None of the gardens have been trampeled since the people moved in on October 15, the reek of feces and urine is nowhere to be smelt, discarded heroin needles nowhere to be seen. The campground is neat and tidy, dog walkers and businesspeople stroll along the unobstructed paths. But the 1% launched a torpedo today and for a moment the mood turned ugly.

Mass media outlets imply that the occupation is fizzling out and the protesters are a competing mess of hookers, anarchists and drug users but from what I’ve seen first hand nothing could be further from the truth. There are a lot of lost souls in the park but at least they`re asking questions, there are a lot of lost souls out in TV land who never even ask where their news comes from, and what purpose it serves. If citizens actually dropped by to see for themselves then they’d find a steadily growing community of well behaved and well informed people asking question after question and waiting for the penny to drop.

At lunch today I witnessed a sad attempt at a culture jam counterattack. A representative of the 1% was sent in on a mission to demoralize and marginalize the very people sticking up for us, from their headquarters at the Masonic Temple, MTV Canada (owned by parent company Viacom who also owns CBS, which is 80% owned by National Amusements which is privately owned by the Redstone Family) launched a Sheena Snively torpedo at the 99%.

MTV dressed her up as a Security Guard, and sent her to ironically evict protesters from their tents. Ringed by a city block of unmarked police vans and under threat by Mayor Rob Ford, things got more tense than hurricane jokes in New Orleans or tsunami jokes in Japan. A semicircle of unimpressed onlookers watched while Sheena’s jokes fell flatter than a Doc Pickles monologue at a show with an open bar. I enjoyed watching the torpedo and her crew delicately tap dance backwards out of their ugly situation, and as you can tell from the genuine squirm of concern on her face, it was a pleasure to watch the torpedo miss its mark. I am quite sure that the hours of footage can be edited down to a dismissive bon-bon on tonight`s MTV Live, but in real life – real Live life – it was a different thing entirely.

I think, and this is just me reading into the picture, that Sheena Snively was beginning to ask questions about her own role in this dog-and-pony show, and while she usually happily enjoys the chance to go out there and make fun of people at the Toronto International Film Festival or grab a few tourist asses at Nathan Phillips Square, her heart was interfering with her orders, she seemed to be having a genuinely genuine moment when I snapped this picture. Bad television, but a very positive step in her own personal journey.

Long after supporters of the Occupy movement are out of that specific park, the virus will continue to spread, and we will get better and better at asking questions.