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Patrick Meighan, a writer on Family Guy, was arrested at the Occupy LA protest, and has written about his experience. It is worth reading. And speaking of politics and civil unrest, don’t forget to vote for who has the coolest J.C. Penny denim outfit in the Delaware Valley!
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This Occupy movement is crazier than the one time .
You think THAT’S bad!? Remember that one time I went on a blind date with Gary Coleman in Mexico?
I had my reservations going into this, based solely on what I expected from a `Family Guy` writer, but that was terrific.
Every report I read about the behavior of the authorities throughout the whole Occupy Movement, I just want to be sick.
I’ve never particularly enjoyed the police. There are some good cops, to be sure. I’m sure a lot of them are all very nice individuals who just happen to know how to twist ankles in case people won’t stop sitting together. We all like a good cop story. But then every time I’ve seen a police officer in action I have been underwhelmed. I know they have a hard job in that it’s very difficult to make sense to irrational people who are violent, legitimate threats to themselves and others, and the training reflects just how important it is to keep a level head in such a scenario.
So when I hear about protests being broken up like this, all I can think is these fucking brutes are just happy to not have to think for once. They have license to go to town on people who aren’t going to fight back, and they are going to turn their shit up to 11 like they are dealing with legitimate threats to people and property, because they have carte blanche and why not?
After all, the reality is they serve as an arm (supposedly for the people). If the head is a corrupt (IT IS), then the police’s actions will also be corrupt. Nice to see our tax dollars at work on all their fancy body armor, police-issue knives, clubs, pepper spray and zipcuffs to oppress non-violent protesters and soon all of us, probably. Fuck.
Happy Thursday, guys!
Sorry guys, first post of the day. Should’ve been a lot shorty. ShortER. I need coffee.
The problem with living on a planet where normal nice peace loving rational pleasant (even just a few of those would be fine) human beings are outnumbered by human garbage 1000 to 1 with an equal distribution pretty much everywhere, is that the odds that the lovable smart minority is going to make up the positions of power and authority is just not great at all.
See: latest Rick Perry ad.
I really don’t like being afraid of cops. When I see them I want to think “Oh good, if something bad happens I know who to ask for help,” not “Are they going to be a dick to because their in a position of authority?” or “just how corrupt are they?” I have relatives who are cops (though not on this side of the pond) so I know most are just ordinary people doing a very hard job to support their families but stuff like this just taints their whole image. Violent tactics against peaceful protesters is heartbreaking and the destruction of personal property just seems mean spirited and pointless.
I watched a lot of this go down — assuming this was the night everything got broken up last week — and I didn’t see anything like this on any of the three streaming feeds, two of which were done by the Occupy protesters.
I do know that the people who linked arms had the option to not get arrested and were warned of the destruction of the tents prior this taking place. And while there’s merit in civil disobedience and I absolutely support what these people are doing, the tone of his account implies that the police just showed up and started ripping everything apart. There absolutely was consent on the behalf of the protestors that remained that they would be arrested. Those who did not want to left. And what he describes *is* the reality of arrests during protests, be it Occupy or animal rights or whatever else I have witnessed.
I do remember hearing one report of police brutality, and I suppose this was that. Gross. Unacceptable. Without a question, wrong.
As far as the destruction of tents? No. Not something to whine about. Sorry. From what I heard from my friends reporting on the scene, there were serious concerns about lice and human waste and various other health issues. I’m certain that the reason the tents were ripped apart and thrown away was because they were considered a biohazard at the time and the police did not know what they would or would not find. (Many cops were in hazmat suits for the same reason.) I don’t necessarily agree with this logic, but I can see how going into a camp of people who had lived there for months at a time would appear to be a very high-risk scenario.
Also, from my sources (reporters and protestors), most cops and protestors *did* get along. Many of the cops, if not the majority, were very sympathetic to the movement and were not given a choice to not disband the protest. One jerk ruins it all. Standard. And there’s one jerk in any movement (usually a plant) that will do something awful to spark violence and discredit everything. It’s a classic tactic on either end and has been since the Civil Rights Movement.
And while his account is absolutely important, very well-written and clever in the framing of this against the asshole from Citibank… it is missing the key detail that he was part of the group that stayed and volunteered to be arrested. (A detail I have read in every other account that mimics this story from other cities or other writers.)
Sorry this was so long. I’m not against what he did. Just against that he’s putting the whole situation into an implied context that he was arrested without consent.
I totally hear what you’re saying, badideajeans, and I do agree that the story was framed in a particular way that you have described. I do want to point out that towards the end of the article he technically did write he consented to being arrested.
“In any event, believe it or not, I’m really not angry that I got arrested. I chose to get arrested.”
I can see how its placement can be construed as manipulative, as it can be read as a sort of “I asked for this” sentiment after the story has unfolded, as opposed to a simple sentence at the start of the story along the lines of he and a bunch of protesters knew they were going to be arrested if they stayed, consented to it, and this is how it went down.
Good point. I reread that and saw it placed well below the main thesis. I didn’t have my gallon of coffee on the first two reads so I missed some stuff.
And it is absolutely one guy’s account, which is totally valid. It’s a narrative and that’s his perspective. I just worry it’s given too much weight because of his day job teaching manatees to push pop culture bubbles from one side of a tank to another.
Plus it’s just interesting to see it done the way that he did after knowing so many activists who protest so many, many things… and to me (as someone who has a crazy number of crazy activist friends and myself a journalist) talk about the harsh realities of what happens when you get arrested for civil disobedience like it was not the standard experience. I’m glad people beyond my hippie friends are getting involved, but this is such not a horror story to me. What was going on in NYC? Oakland? That’s way more shocking than a TV writer’s account of how the plastic tie handcuffs were uncomfortable and they ruined my tent. It absolutely sucks, but that’s what he signed up for.