Matt Taibbi: UC Davis Pepper-Spray Crystalized In One Image The Weakness In Our Principles Up Top

[Hissyspit]

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/taibblog/uc-davis-pepper-spray-incident-reveals-weakness-up-top-20111122

- snip -

Then finally it became this: “We are defending ourselves, against the citizens who insist on keeping their rights and their principles.”

What happened at UC Davis was the inevitable result of our failure to make sure our government stayed in the business of defending our principles. When we stopped insisting on that relationship with our government, they became something separate from us.

- snip -

Not to belabor the point, but the person who commits fraud to obtain food stamps goes to jail, while the banker who commits fraud for a million-dollar bonus does not. Or if you accept aid in the form of Section-8 housing the state may insist on its right to conduct warrantless "compliance check" searches of your home at any time – but if you take billions in bailout aid, you do not even have to open your books to the taxpayer who is the de facto owner of your company.

- snip-

The UC Davis instant crystallized all of this in one horrifying image. Anyone who commits violence against a defenseless person is lost. And the powers that be in this country are lost. They’ve been going down this road for years now, and they no longer stand for anything.

MORE

[aquamarina]

1. As per usual Matt Taibbi is Spot. On.

[trumad]

6. Spaceballs---exactly

[Uncle Joe]

2. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, Hissyspit.:thumbsup:

Edit to add, The U.C. Police lost the moral high ground after the spraying and you could see it in their faces as the crowd started chanting.

[myrna minx]

3. K&R n/t

[LuckyLib]

4. The same "dehumanization of students" that occurred at Kent State and other

locations where military and/or police mowed down protesting students and bystanders alike.

[Carolina]

5. K&R

"the powers that be in this country are lost. They’ve been going down this road for years now, and they no longer stand for anything."

So true and how appropriate to post this on November 22nd since it was 48 years ago today that this country started on this downward, losing path and became lost.

[truth2power]

17. Yes, November 22, 1963, it was all over but the shouting....

People should read, "Barry and the Boys" if they can put their hands on a copy at a reasonable price.

Several years ago, I had to obtain a copy from a library far, far away through interlibrary loan. I am determined.

[nadinbrzezinski]

7. Chickens come to mind...

[Scruffy1]

23. Perfect. n/t

[Gold Metal Flake]

8. This.

[qb]

9. K&R I think Rolling Stone vs. FAUX NEWS explains a lot of the generational differences

in political polling.

[Hissyspit]

10. Kick nt

[shanti]

11. thanks for posting

matt taibbi is always on the money.

[mmonk]

12. Excellent read. I know it is because today, I feel like a stranger in a strange land.

[rhett o rick]

13. k&r

[Hissyspit]

14. Morning kick. Read the whole thing! nt

[freshwest]

27. Thanks for kicking it so I could see this. Excellent, a must read for the turning of the tide.

[Enthusiast]

15. Kicked and recommended! Right on, Taibbi! N/T

[Hissyspit]

16. Another kick.

Read the whole thing. It's not too lengthy.

[barbtries]

18. great article.

everybody should read it.

[Uncle Joe]

20. And check out the video, most all of the hoopla has been about the spraying. I thought the reactions

of both the protesters shouting "Shame on you! shame on you! shame on you!" and the police backing down, knowing they lost the moral high ground, was equally noteworthy and should be remembered as a rallying event.

[defendandprotect]

19. Basically, using violence to "defend themselves against democracy" which they hate -- !!

“We are defending ourselves, against the citizens who insist on keeping their rights and their principles.”


Huge truth telling there -- !!

[russspeakeasy]

21. How can anyone not like Matt ? Thanks Hissy.

[DeSwiss]

22. We didn't just wake up here.....

...we started down this path a while back.

- K&R

The US Government - in the name of Terrorism - has aggressively para-militarized the nation's domestic police forces by lavishing them with countless military-style weapons and other war-like technologies, training them in war-zone military tactics, and generally imposing a war mentality on them. Arming domestic police forces with para-military weaponry will ensure their systematic use even in the absence of a Terrorist attack on US soil ... It's a very small step to go from supporting the abuse of defenseless detainees (including one's fellow citizens) to supporting the pepper-spraying and tasering of non-violent political protesters. - http://www.salon.com/2011/11/20/the_roots_of_the_uc_davis_pepper_spraying/">Glenn Greenwald

Why did that step turn out to be so small? Because of the countless decisions we made in years past to undermine our own attitudes toward the rule of law and individual rights. Every time we looked the other way when the president asked for the right to detain people without trials, to engage in warrantless searches, to eavesdrop on private citizens without even a judge knowing about it, we made it harder to answer the question: What is it we're actually defending?

In another time, maybe, we might have been able to argue that we were using force to defend the principles of modern Western civilization, that we were "spreading democracy." Instead, we completely shat upon every principle we ever stood for, stooping to torture and assassination and extrajudicial detention. ~Matt Taibbi

http://www.readersupportednews.org/opinion2/275-42/8540-pepper-spray-incident-reveals-weakness-up-top">MORE

[awoke_in_2003]

24. Ceiling Cat approves this message...

K&R

[Moostache]

25. AWESOME! K&R in full throat!

The best sentiment - there is no strength without principle!

PLEASE President Obama, PLEASE, take heed of what is happening...take the long view of history and plant your flag with those who are on the right side, the moral side, the principled side.

There is no honor in victory if to "win" you have to sacrifice everything that defines you.

[SemperEadem]

26. my sentiments exactly...

I said this on Sunday in another thread:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=439&topic_id=2344818&mesg_id=2349425


because there were a lot of folks who thought it was a good idea to give up freedoms and liberty for security. This is where that road led. They didn't think that the police here would do this to unarmed, peaceful protesters--they thought they would do this to those brown skinned people with funny names who pray to the east.

This is what happens when you allow yourself to get hoodwinked into thinking that giving up your constitutional rights means that you will be safe, because the thugs who will beat your ass are those who are sworn to serve and protect you.

And the "you" in this are the legion of fox news watching nimrods out there during the past 12 years who saw no problem with the erosion of everyone's civil liberties and freedoms in exchange for a nanny state where the Constitution has been usurped by the protecters and servers of the 1%.

[Bluenorthwest]

28. I love this guy....

He's both correct and a good writer....