As video spread of an officer in riot gear blasting pepper spray into the faces of seated protesters at a northern California university, outrage came quickly — followed almost as quickly by defense from police and calls for the chancellor's resignation.
Apparently, this is standard procedure. But it shouldn't be standard.
Non-lethal weapons (which are really just almost-always-not-lethal weapons that can actually kill) should be used instead of lethal force such as firearms or night sticks when the threshold of response could have called for potentially lethal force in the past. Now police have an option of using force less than lethal.
But too often, non-lethal weapons like pepper spray or stun guns are just a lower threshold of force where you wouldn't dream of using a night stick or firearm. Would you shoot or beat a protester sitting on the ground like that? Of course not. Not here. So you shouldn't pepper spray them or stun them. By all means, drag their scummy butts off to jail.
I just don't understand why we militarize our police to deal with our citizens and try to turn our military into an international police force out to cuff our enemies.
And if you think I'm a bleeding heart, consider that it is worse than wrong--it is stupid, giving these anarchist and communist scum some sympathetic coverage by our press that is eager to have something other than their filth and crimes to cover.
Hey, at least grant me that I don't understand why it is bad for the banks to publicize who the Occupiers are when the OWS types have basically declared war on the banks:
The Occupy Wall Street movement is a big enough problem for U.S. banks that they should pay for opposition research into the political motives of protesters, said a firm that lobbies for the industry.
Why is it bad for people to know just who those losers really are? Unless you are trying to hide who those people are even as you want them to succeed.
