theindependenteye
11-19-2011, 03:15 PM
To me, the only thing more shameful than the blunt brutality seen daily in the "cleansing" of the Occupy sites is the cruelty and cowardice of mayors, public officials, police chiefs and university presidents in forcing policemen and policewomen into the choice of disobeying orders or behaving like forces in a remake of The Empire Strikes Back.
There are cops who are violent to the core, as well as leftwing/rightwing crazies who are violent to the core. Most cops are normal people who restrain themselves even in the face of great provocation, as they should rightly do. Seeing videos of the police on the Davis campus with pepper spray, batons, and yes, automatic weapons at half-mast, standing against a crowd chanting Shame! Shame! Shame! — as they're totally justified in doing — I'm astonished that some cops didn't riot and kill. It's going to happen.
But to me the true shame is upon the people in charge who agree to put these guys in that position. If students sitting with linked arms blocking a utility road are a threat to Higher Education, then it's only right that the UC/Davis President, Chancellor, Chief of Security, and the Academic Deans be equipped with those orange spray cans of pepper spray and personally scald the eyes of their students.
Meantime, give the cops the day off at full pay and let'em watch on YouTube. Probably a few would hate to miss out on the action, but I'll bet most of'em would breathe a sigh of relief.
And with some degree of shame for funding this show with my taxes—
Conrad
There are cops who are violent to the core, as well as leftwing/rightwing crazies who are violent to the core. Most cops are normal people who restrain themselves even in the face of great provocation, as they should rightly do. Seeing videos of the police on the Davis campus with pepper spray, batons, and yes, automatic weapons at half-mast, standing against a crowd chanting Shame! Shame! Shame! — as they're totally justified in doing — I'm astonished that some cops didn't riot and kill. It's going to happen.
But to me the true shame is upon the people in charge who agree to put these guys in that position. If students sitting with linked arms blocking a utility road are a threat to Higher Education, then it's only right that the UC/Davis President, Chancellor, Chief of Security, and the Academic Deans be equipped with those orange spray cans of pepper spray and personally scald the eyes of their students.
Meantime, give the cops the day off at full pay and let'em watch on YouTube. Probably a few would hate to miss out on the action, but I'll bet most of'em would breathe a sigh of relief.
And with some degree of shame for funding this show with my taxes—
Conrad