They are not winning friends, and they are not influencing people (at least not in any positive way). Campus police at the University of California-Davis were caught on video pepper-spraying students protesting in support of the Occupy movement. "Spraying" is an understatement. These kids were hosed down like they were on fire.
As the students were completely non-violent and literally just sitting there, the cops tactics have been decried as excessive and unnecessary. Ya think? The two officers involved and the campus police chief have now been put on indefinite leave.
Something's going on here. People are unhappy and are speaking out. In my younger days, it was about civil rights and Viet Nam and the draft. Today, it's about unbridled greed and class strife. And images of both eras include police using overly violent means to "subdue" non-violent crowds. Is this what we want?
It looks like the lessons of the past must be learned all over again.
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