Asking Questions

[angelcerv25.livejournal.com]

Sorry, no cartoon here. A thought keeps bugging me.

Isn't bringing out big guns, riot gear, and armored vehicles to a peaceful protest against police brutality indicative of a thirst for violence? Or does it indicate they expect the protest will not be peaceful, meaning they see those they used to serve and protect as enemies? Would the police have brought out all their unnecessary military toys they shouldn't have in the first place if the protest was made up of white people?

Comments

[unnamed525.livejournal.com]

Short answers: Yes. Yes. They did at Kent State.

[angelcerv25.livejournal.com]

I like how concise this is.

[unnamed525.livejournal.com]

I'll leave the long-winded commentary to the man that does it best: oslo.

[angelcerv25.livejournal.com]

He does do it best.

They also did

[lsanderson.livejournal.com]

At the Vietnam war protests. (And there was that one Democratic convention in Chicago that got a little wild.) I seem to remember they also did some similar things when labor unions were forming, but that was a bit before I can remember.

[usekh.livejournal.com]

There was a study recently about the one way to ensure a riot breaks out is to send in the riot police.

[enders-shadow.livejournal.com]

You reap what you sow?

[spamwarrior.livejournal.com]

This is from a comedy website, but it's still a pretty good article that makes several points about your concerns - the most interesting, in my opinion, is that police forces are getting military cast-offs, and having all those fun toys around makes you want to look for a reason to USE them.

http://www.cracked.com/blog/4-reasons-police-are-starting-to-look-like-supervillains/

[hindustar.livejournal.com]

Sometimes Cracked has the most insightful articles.

[hindustar.livejournal.com]

Unnamed answered it quite well. The thing that bothers me more is the fact that the cops in riot gear in Ferguson didn't care about being caught on film saying awful things and being aggressive. I am sure it has happened before, but to not care about it being on tape is disturbing. It doesn't make me think the body cameras will do much to censure their behavior if media cameras didn't.

[enders-shadow.livejournal.com]

Occupy? All Day All Week: watch Tony Bologna pepper spray two non-threatening white women....

They never used, but they brought out the Noise Cannon to Zuccotti Park, to intimidate the OWS folks