This comment was included in a long list of responses following a news story on the UC Davis pepper spray incident; “I have seen these in Burma a lot. I am sorry to see America is going down the road like Burma. Shame on YOU.”
Sometimes it takes an outsider to point out the obvious. Countering peaceful protest with violence is, at least since the Civil Rights and Vietnam eras, something America has avoided. The lessons learned from Selma and Kent State seemingly gave America the moral high ground from which to point at the human rights abuses in places like Myanmar (Burma) and shout “Shame on You.”
To those who feel so threatened by the peaceful Occupiers across this county that they must pepper spray the protesters in their mouths and beat them with batons, I wonder what is more important when the eyes of the world are upon you – moving the peaceful protestors by whatever means you find necessary or maintaining at least the semblance of an enlightened position in the world that allows America to exercise some control over human rights abuses elsewhere? Your activities since the beginning of the Occupy movement in general and those at UC Davis in particular make my question rhetorical. And for that, Shame on You.
Sometimes it takes an outsider to point out the obvious. Countering peaceful protest with violence is, at least since the Civil Rights and Vietnam eras, something America has avoided. The lessons learned from Selma and Kent State seemingly gave America the moral high ground from which to point at the human rights abuses in places like Myanmar (Burma) and shout “Shame on You.”
To those who feel so threatened by the peaceful Occupiers across this county that they must pepper spray the protesters in their mouths and beat them with batons, I wonder what is more important when the eyes of the world are upon you – moving the peaceful protestors by whatever means you find necessary or maintaining at least the semblance of an enlightened position in the world that allows America to exercise some control over human rights abuses elsewhere? Your activities since the beginning of the Occupy movement in general and those at UC Davis in particular make my question rhetorical. And for that, Shame on You.
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