Dear #OWS: This is what a REAL brutal crackdown actually looks like / #OccupyCLT
I read/see horrific stories/pictures/video like this about brutal crackdowns on opposition marchers in Middle Eastern countries and, of course, become enraged. Then I think about how both the pampered college-aged & middle-aged hippies equate their “struggles” to that of militant countries like Egypt and the like just because they’ve been (gasp!) pepper-sprayed to prevent them from continuing to camp overnight in places across the country they aren’t supposed to, and I become even more enraged at their sheer audacity. These willfully ignorant fools actually believe that being pepper sprayed means they live in a “police state.” Maybe they should talk to the young woman in this video to find out what it means to live in a real police state where the authorities don’t give a damn about human rights and liberty and justice and equality.
Assuming she’s still alive, anyway. The Atlantic describes the scene in the photo:
But there is something especially barbaric about this photo. The taboo of violence against unarmed women is unusually strong in the Arab world. But to watch three soldiers beat a defenseless woman with batons, their fists, and for one extraordinarily cruel soldier with his boot, is not even the most provocative part. For these men to pull her black abaya above her head and expose her midriff and chest is, for Egypt, a profound and sexually charged humiliation. And there is a certain awful irony of using that abaya, a symbol of modesty and piety, to cover her face and drag her on the street that, though probably not intentional, will not be lost on Egyptian eyes.
The Occupy “revolutionaries” here are fond of pointing to pictures of protesters locking hands in solidarity against the police as an example of “what democracy looks like.” They’re also fond of shrieking “police state!” every time a cop even looks at them funny. And when they’re told it’s ok to protest at a park, but it’s not ok to camp there overnight due to health/safety concerns & are forcibly removed via pepper spray and sometimes rubber bullets used by police who – most of the time – show remarkable restraint, they liken their “plight” to protesters in countries where police are allowed to do whatever they want to protesters whose paths they cross, including brutally beat, sexually assault, rape, torture, and/or kill.
Next time you come across one of your local Occupiers and they whine to you about alleged “police brutality”, point them to this link, ok? And then tell them that if they’re smart they’ll get some perspective on how they’re treated here in America versus how they’d be treated in other countries for what they’re doing. Chances are, you won’t get through to their tiny, narrow, closed minds but at least later on you can say you tried.