Friday, November 18, 2011

Outrage (and a Warm Fuzzy)

My old friend Kenny Ketner, who writes at Lubbock Left, posted a picture this morning of a protester getting pepper sprayed in the face at point blank range by a Portland cop. There is no evidence in the picture that she or the people around her were being violent in any way. From what I can tell, they may or may not have been blocking the road and/or the MAX railroad tracks.

Call me radical but I don't think it's appropriate to respond to civil disobedience with violence. In no other aspect of our lives do we find it reasonable to bend others to our will with physical force. Now, I realize that the police are tasked with keeping order. Which is why we grant them the ability to arrest people, using force only when arrest is being resisted, or when the arrestee (is that a word?) is being violent.

When there are too many people to arrest, that's a sign that there's some underlying problem, not that it's time to start using weaponry against the populace. Sheesh.

So, now that I've got everyone outraged (I hope), let me make up for it by also offering warm fuzzies! Another friend posted this article (it's a good day on the Facebook) about sex-positive sex education in a Quaker prep school in Philadelphia. If only we could get this kind of sex ed for all teenagers.

6 comments:

  1. "When there are too many people to arrest, that's a sign that there's some underlying problem"...YES! That's all I can say is YES!

    ReplyDelete
  2. On yesterday's Democracy Now, the dude who was police chief during the Battle of Seattle said he regrets the way he handled it and that the cops shouldn't be using military tactics on civilians. I recommend listening to/watching that.

    Fun fact: Various Wall Street-types have donated LOTS of money to the NYPD. I'll bet this is true of other cities as well. Might be interesting to see what happens if that well runs dry in terms of police loyalties.

    Finally, speaking of New York, which we weren't: Could Bloomberg be MORE of a cartoonishly evil villain if he tried?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Did I get the city wrong? Is this Seattle rather than Portland?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Oh I have no idea. This shit is happening in all the major cities with Occupy movements.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Jess, yes he could. He could be Rudy Guliani

    ReplyDelete
  6. That's true to the extent that Guiliani is willing to kick puppies in gutters and Bloomberg has his puppies brought into his penthouse to kick. MUCH more genteel to kick one's puppies out of the public eye.

    ReplyDelete