I'm going to indulge in some solipsism, and assume that many people shared my sentiment - we sympathized with OWS a little because we knew that the bankers made money by screwing people over and then went unpunished for it (read any Matt Taibbi article). We wanted to see the people responsible punished. On top of that, the police were overbearing and prone to punishing harmless protesters (eg, the UC Davis students maced, the women penned up and maced in NYC). For a brief moment, I thought people would realize how flawed law enforcement can be in this country. That didn't happen.
Then OWS didn't accomplish anything, its methods were questionable, its goals non-existent. And people don't want to associate themselves with "those" people. And from the outset, it was so politically charged that people who could have teamed up saw each other as the enemy; mainstream conservatives in this country, generally speaking, are so vapid that nearly anyone who comes under attack from liberals is seen as a hero worthy of conservative support. Meanwhile, the OWS became associated with the radical left, anarchists and marxists - I don't know whether that was true, but it was the perception.
Then OWS didn't accomplish anything, its methods were questionable, its goals non-existent. And people don't want to associate themselves with "those" people. And from the outset, it was so politically charged that people who could have teamed up saw each other as the enemy; mainstream conservatives in this country, generally speaking, are so vapid that nearly anyone who comes under attack from liberals is seen as a hero worthy of conservative support. Meanwhile, the OWS became associated with the radical left, anarchists and marxists - I don't know whether that was true, but it was the perception.