Then I went to have coffee with the graduate student president (a PhD student in rhet/comp) and in between gossiping about departmental sexual liaisons we bashed on the Dems SO HARD. Because it is bitter and because it is my heart.

On the other hand Kent State, Emmit Till (sp?), Birmingham, Abu Gharib. A culture creates these terrible events. They are incidents crystallized in our minds because we know that the powerful became so frightened of the weak or the many that they turned to violence to silence what was too loud for their ears, too bright for their eyes.

This culture needs to be changed. I don’t condone what the cop did, but to believe he is acting on direct orders from a Gestapo is naive. Naive and less overt, but perhaps more insidious.

I’m talking about things like CIA rendition tactics and abuse of prisoners at Guantanamo. A culture of fear creates these things.

Police brutality is a product of this culture, albeit a lesser one. To call this state a Police State is a misnomer. It is a culture that allows brutal acts of violence to go on unseen.

The government has learned from KState. The revolution may not be televised, but neither will the violence. The violence that goes on in our name, to ostensibly protect us.

So, yes, we should get mad about cop beatings. I’ve worked on a few cases at a certain agency (begins with A, ends with LU) involving them. But, we should also not keep our eyes off the ball.

These things are going on and we’re paying attention to the small fry.

//rant over//

Nilsa — You are so right re: And I’d hate for the actions of one person to be sensationalized by our media and lead to mass hysteria over the (non) state of our union. It’s a good point that I hadn’t considered.

UnNarrator — Ah, my dear. You are full of crazy stories from past lives that I can never quite believe. As for your question, what did *I* think about Obama’s speech last night…I first read some of it on the NYTimes and then watched it on t.v. (Yes, backwards, I know. I’m in LA visiting my dad. He Tivo’d it, or whatever fancy shmancy mechanism he has). Although I am entirely aware of its historical significance, I have to say I believe I’ve heard better from Obama. It was a good speech, but not great. In fact, and I’m sure many will disagree with me, I wasn’t that impressed with his statements. However, I certainly respect the comments he made regarding, and to, his opponent, as well as to President Bush himself. I didn’t walk away thinking, YES WE CAN! But I do hope we can.

Rachel Eden — I appreciate you pointing this out. It remains astonishing, to me, that United States police continue to beat people up at protests or throw tear gas. I completely agree with you regarding the media and the fact that issues like these are essentially avoided. That is exactly the point I wanted to make with this post.

I was similarly manhandled once, in Britain of all places, by a bobby (just typed “booby,” ar ar) who thought I was protesting against veal trucks in Dover. When actually it was a rag-hitch to Paris for charity (a weird thing UK uni students do)…he saw but did not read my little cardboard sign and shoved me into a ditch. Really sent me flying.

I can’t even tell you how outraged I was, just sputtering impotently with fury. It was hilarious in retrospect because for various horrifying colonial reasons the first thing that came into my mind to say, which I immediately said, was, and I quote: YOU CAN’T DO THAT TO ME, I’M AN AMERICAN!

And then I fell over and died of shame.

So ANYway…yeah, coppers all over the world have some problems with being punchy. My personal belief is that only mothers over the age of forty should be allowed to train as police officers.

But no one cares what I think. Or whether I’m an American.

What did *you* think about Obama’s speech last night?

It appears the arrests were based on prior testament of the Mayor that if people were told they were in the way and didn’t move, permits or not, they would be physically moved or arrested. Something like that.

The major media is only interested in making drama of a rather dull convention.