This is not wartime.
Cops ARE civilians. Cops are not soldiers. Who would the enemy be?
Cops exist to protect people, not protect themselves from people.
A soldier defends himself and his mission against all threats. A cop defends the people, and expends himself if need be.
Cops are not an army in occupation against an enemy – us.

Americans have accepted the idea that they are at war with liberals, and that the occasional beating or death is fun and fully warranted.

“The United States of America has Gone Insane”. Indeed.

An excellent post, but I’d like to take exception to one point. Many of these protesters are further left than the New York Times– thus, not liberals… as the Gray Lady is the “this far and no further” line in the sand of the mainstream, as Chomsky has written about at great length.

I believe the results of the Milgram and Zimbardo experiments (google and wiki-able) suggest that ordinary people cast in unusual roles behave in unusual manners. While it is not the case that any person would do this if they were equipped and trained as a police officer, it is the case that most would, and when the mob mentality of the police conducting the beatings is considered, I’m sure the number who’d object falls even lower. Self-justifications then follow, until this becomes a pattern of behavior. I think this is a problem of a sick system, not just one of sick people.

What did the people that were tear gassed and beaten do to get such treatment? It makes you wonder.

Honestly. You want to be as non-confrontational as physically possible in this situation. Unless of course your goal is to get filmed being beaten up by cops.

That’s not to say that the cops behavior was justified, but this is the real world and when confronted with a situation like this, the end result was inevitable.

When surrounded, which way did you expect them to run?

The linked article indicates those who complied with police instructions were still beaten, though not as badly as the subject of this excerpt.

I mind the Haymarket false flag operation of the 19th century, where one anonymous bomb was used as an excuse for Marshall Field and the others to round up and execute all the anarchist and socialist leaders. I remember the oh-so-convenient “rioters” at the WTO in Seattle, which remarkably and not surprisingly immediately triggered the present regime of armored monsters and the de facto repeal of the Constitution.

As another writer noted here, all the real killers were right-wing loners and the victims were all liberal reformers. Yet the constant assumption held by all is that the HIPPIES are the ones we need to pound into bloody steaks.

Lather, rinse, repeat?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwp9_diAVhY

They’re also claiming not to have used rubber bullets…

If you run from the cops, you will:
a. get the shit beaten out of you.
b. get the shit beaten out of you.
c. get the shit beaten out of you.

http://wiki.stealthiswiki.org/wiki/Demonstrations

These side stories to the DNC are a real disaster for the democrats. Stories of anti-capitalism protesters, assassination attempts (even if they turn out to be nothing), protester cages, riot police… All of this nonsense is taking media attention away from what the democrats actually want to be news. I don’t think people have yet realized what a disaster this is.

This is just like the first quote I posted, where a protester was saying that this was the first “victory” in saying something of substance to the rest of the country.

I don’t understand. Do people think that the rest of the world spends its time reading BoingBoing for its news?

There has been barely any coverage at all of these protests in the MSM. The Times has virtually nothing on it, except for a couple blog postings referring to “a few minor protests.” Washington Post, nothing. CNN, nothing. Fox News, nothing.

No one outside the bubble is listening. No one cares. These protests haven’t been a blip on anyone consciousness. This hasn’t been a victory in getting the world to listen. This isn’t a disaster for the Democrats.

Welcoem to your New Amerikan Sentry.

PS: What are your rights when you’re inside of an area that a group of riot police are caging in tighter and tighter? Are you actually free to leave, or are you under arrest even at that point?