San Pedro, CA - The viral video of Lt John Pike casually pepper-spraying a line of peacefully seated student protesters has deep resonance for the Civil Rights generation. It's impossible to escape comparisons to Bull Connor ordering the use of fire hoses on the black youth of Birmingham on May 3, 1963. Pike sprays the students' faces as if they were cockroaches, many have said. The youth of Birmingham were sprayed with such force that some were knocked over like paper dolls. But it was segregation that was about to fall. The UC Davis students face a much more formidable foe, not least because it is harder to define. But their sacrificial courage holds the promise of helping to change that.
The details may differ between Davis and Cairo, but the underlying struggle is fundamentally the same: It is not just youth against age, freedom against repression, innocence against cynicism, hope against fear, dreams against nightmares - it is all that and more. But it is also something historically much more specific. It is the neo-liberal promise against its own grim reality, represented in the street battles in and around Tahrir Square, as well as the pepper-spraying of docile students at UC Davis.
The details may differ between Davis and Cairo, but the underlying struggle is fundamentally the same: It is not just youth against age, freedom against repression, innocence against cynicism, hope against fear, dreams against nightmares - it is all that and more. But it is also something historically much more specific. It is the neo-liberal promise against its own grim reality, represented in the street battles in and around Tahrir Square, as well as the pepper-spraying of docile students at UC Davis.
Typical leftists the law applies to everyone but them. Keep spraying officers America is behind you!
ReplyDeleteTypical leftists the law applies to everyone but them. Keep spraying officers America is behind you!
ReplyDeleteNovember 25, 2011 3:41 PM
Only the few misguided ones.
Incidents such as these will increase with officer burnout.Imagine dealing with this day after day,week after week.Putting their families on hold & working double shifts because they have no choice.That's their job.Mob control plain and simple.I guess the average citizen thinks they actually want to be there,babysitting in riot gear.When they do have an occasional day off they get to read or see on TV how god awful they're treating those poor protestors.3:41 is dead on.
ReplyDeleteSince when is pepper spraying considered police brutality? No wonder we're considered by many foreigners to be soft these days.
ReplyDeleteAll they showed was the protesters being spryed. We don 't know what preceded that. They were probably told to leave the area or be arrested. And when the refused to obey a legitimate order by a police officer. What do you think he should have done. Should he shoot them, or maybe crack their skulls open with a billy club. No he sprayed them with pepper spray to make them comply. Sounds like he chose the best way to make them comply without hurting them or causing permament damage. Next time mayber they will listen to the police.
ReplyDeleteNo he sprayed them with pepper spray to make them comply. Sounds like he chose the best way to make them comply without hurting them or causing permament damage. Next time mayber they will listen to the police.
ReplyDeleteNovember 25, 2011 7:10 PM
They didn't comply and the cops left with their tails between their legs.
Guess you don't read much or you would know what the 'cops' did was illegal. Nobody, and that includes cops, can spray anyone with pepper spray on a whim.
Guess you unaware of cops being punished for spraying people as well.
You and the rest that think like you can get on your farm tractors and go park in the middle of the field. Let them surround you and take all your rights away.
Obviously you don't appreciate, want or understand them anyway.
The rest of us will keep ours thank you very much.
BTW, we are required to do what the cops say, when it is a LAWFUL order. And even then there is no guarantee of compliance.
As for any other 'order', they can go suck an egg.
They students wanted an incident so the left wing Marxist media could run with the slanted story making police the enemy for doing their job.
ReplyDeleteThat's just it, it wasn't their job and they were breaking the law.
ReplyDeleteThe students surrounded the police and cut off their exit by sitting down after repeated warnings and orders to move they were sprayed clearly the students got what they deserved and wanted.
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