Last night by many reports the police crackdown on the Occupy Oakland encampment was severe: Tear gas and flash-bang grenades were used to disperse a crowd trying to retake the park.
Reading about the events in the nation’s capital, though, and you got a different impression. The Washington Post--no stranger to minimizing the Occupy protests–ran a short AP dispatch under the headline “Protesters Wearing Out Their Welcome Nationwide.”
As if that weren’t dismissive enough, take a look at the photo the Post ran:
And then the photog left …
And the poor thing was pepper-sprayed.
Okay … probably not.
After all, it wasn’t exercising its rights of speech and assembly.
And it should be noted that while the OPD adores this sort of photo op, they banned media from their performance of the Police State Polka Tuesday morning.
And it would appear the corpress is copasetic with that.
Police like cats and dogs, and, they probably don’t like the dirty job that they are being asked to do. So, who is doing the asking?It seems as though the city should be providing porta-pottys.
And if the Occupy movement is “wearing out its welcome,” it’s not with the general public but with political and economic elites and their loyal servants in outlets like the Washington Post. Despite all the disinformation and condescension in the mainstream press, 54 percent of the US public already views the movement “favorably,” and nearly half think it is representative of the general public’s attitudes. A poll released last week found that 72 percent of New Yorkers want the city to respect Wall Street protesters.
And the public overwhelmingly supports the protesters’ message: 86 percent think that â┚¬Ã…“Wall Street and its lobbyists have too much influence in Washingtonâ┚¬Ã‚Â; 79 percent think that â┚¬Ã…“the gap between rich and poor in the United States has grown too largeâ┚¬Ã‚Â; 71 percent think that â┚¬Ã…“executives of financial institutions responsible for the financial meltdown in 2008 should be prosecutedâ┚¬Ã‚Â; and 68 percent think that â┚¬Ã…“the rich should pay more taxes.”
Sources: http://swampland.time.com/full-results-of-oct-9-10-2011-time-poll/ and http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/26/us/politics/poll-finds-anxiety-on-the-economy-fuels-volatility-in-the-2012-race.html?_r=1&hpw&gwh=863960F77F4FA812D18BEC20A194D3C7 and http://www.quinnipiac.edu/x1302.xml?ReleaseID=1662.
Let me get this straight. A group of 500 police officers violently disperse a group of non-violent protesters. With the vast amount of video and pictures available of police doing this, they run a picture of a police officer petting a kitty?
As cynical as Orwell’s ideas were in 1984, at least in his book there was a previous history that required changing by Winston Smith at the Ministry of Truth. Intimating that at some time, somewhere an uncomfortable truth had actually been recorded. At the Washington Post Winston and the very idea of a Ministry of Truth is redundant.
I honestly believe some news editors do this sort of thing intentionally to irritate people they dislike, like those of us who support FAIR.
What a pity Wall Street Banksters don’t get this kind of treatment from the police. Isn’t it about time to arrest some of the heads of Wall Street banks? It’s not as if police departments themselves weren’t being affected by state budget cuts because of the Great Recession.
It was heartwarming to see that former soldier in New York shame the police that were arresting peaceful protesters. In Oakland, police cracked a soldier’s skull.
Not surprising the “corporate” owned media wants to poop on anything that would hurt their bottom line (profit).. This is the reason (profit) they fought so hard to change laws so they could own all major media outlets.. I bet they hate that this story is leaking out all over the internet, LOL.. So now they have to report on it, somehow, hence the cop petting the kitty, instead of the video of the cops flipping a grenade into a group trying to help an injured man (I think this is the guy now in critical condition)..
How did the police and/or reporter and/or editor know the cat “was left behind by Wall Street protesters?” Or did they just jump at the opportunity to make the occupiers look totally heartless?
I was especially annoyed at an NPR reporter repeatedly describing the police as firing “non-lethal” missiles at the protesters. Last year a friend of mine here in Oaxaca, Mexico was struck in the head with a “non-lethal” tear gas canister. He required two brain surgeries to reduce the swelling and months of recovery time. The minimization of police action by the media in general and NPR in particular is infuriating to say the least. It should be Nation Pusillanimous Radio.
The Post has no idea what’s going on in America right now. But they will find out soon.
According to a recent Congressional Budget Office report, incomes rose 275% for the top 1% in this country, from 1979-2007. If your income did not rise 275% during that time, perhaps you should seriously consider that you are part of the 99% and not part of the 1% and maybe get on board with OWS vs. continuing to be one of the major industrialized nations in the world with the worse wealth distribution and weakest social safety net.
And this massive concentration of wealth in the hands of an economic elite is really harming the country, encouraging civil unrest, shrinking economic opportunities, lack of social mobility for all (especially the young)and economic injustice.
Instead of focusing on a generation of young people, many of whom feel they have no place to go but down, we focus on the protesters wearing out their welcome nationwide. What does that say about us?
27 police have also been injured.We need to keep this demonstration peaceful.When for whatever reason a city and their police hand down a cease and desist order ,it must be honored.As we have seen in Oakland ,the next day may bring a 180.This is all about passive resistance.The constitution gives the right to demonstrate.But when a demonstration takes away others rights and create dangerous the police have a right to restore order.I went to many tea party rallies and demonstrations.As far as i know ,no police or people where hurt.Cleanliness was the order of the day.I call this the PEE party rebellion.It quite literally stinks.If certain elements don’t do a better job we will see more people and police hurt.
(correction)….and creates dangerous “situations”……
Well I always wondered what it would take to wake Americans up to the fact that they were being suckered into working more for less while all the real money was going straight up to the top. My real concern is that nothing will be done to correct this imbalance and that at some future point some people will conclude that peaceful protests are getting them nowhere and become so outraged that they change tactics and start targeting these criminals with their own criminal justice system. We really should read and remember history. These conditions are exactly what revolutions are made of. It scares me that those in power are treating the masses like the kid who has been bullied. We all know where that leads if even one is unstable.
Michael e:
Where are all the videos of wounded police? If there were such incidents, what were the circumstances?
An even larger question, however, is to ask what was the punishment for those who brought down the economy, not just in the U.S., but worldwide? Millions of people across this planet lost their economic security and have yet to recover.
We have two systems of justice–one for the uber rich and one for the rest of us and I think that is one of the reasons for the OWS protest. The uber rich are protected and coddled by a system that they create, via the politicians they buy, but the rest of us are held accountable.
Good grief. There was nothing wrong with the picture of the policeman petting the kitty! Critics of the Post use of the policeman/kitten photo are way off base. There will always be plenty of pictures of police behaving badly. Journalistic balance is a lost art, the Post should be praised for offering a different and fair perspective.
Perhaps this particular policeman wasn’t even involved in the worst of the crackdown. Why shouldn’t there be a human, and humane, moment in the midst of the mayhem? After all, the portrayal of policemen and policewomen as thugs has been widely distributed. Maybe we need to be reminded that they are simply human, too. The policeman in the picture should be commended for having a gentle streak. Shame on whomever left the innocent kitten there in harm’s way to fend for himself or herself in the middle of the mess.
As one of the 99%, I am sympathetic to the occupy movement. However, there should be rules and parameters for all to follow, police and occupiers alike. Without rules, the movement could decline into anarchy and be forever lost. There will be differences, there will be bad behavior on both sides. Occupiers should not throw things at police, mob mentality must not be allowed to rule. Police should not over-react. As this continues, tempers will run short, mistakes will be made. Occupiers should be better organized and try to accomplish something rather than merely “occupy.”
In the meantime, don’t begrudge one bright moment that shows most police are human, too, something easily forgotten in the glut of “war” photos.
In response to both Elaine and Susan:
The problem here is not so much with the Washington Post’s choice to report something “positive” with regard to the protests, but their consistent failure to portray a factual picture of the entire story (“good” and “bad”). The unfortunate truth is that civil rights are being violated and very few in the mainstream media seem to think it important enough to report! Indeed, if peaceful protests are being discouraged in such a way, what’s next?
I see this photo of the cop petting the kitten as symbolic of American media’s preference for selling the comfortable lie rather than reporting the sometimes painful truth. Perhaps this preference is driven by public sentiment, but I strongly doubt it. It is incumbent upon those of us who support the ideals of truth and justice to do what we can to promote (and support financially) those media outlets who simply report the facts. We also need to express to the mainstream media our distaste for their type of “journalism” and vote with our dollars, the only thing that seems to get their attention.
Yes, there are great and beautiful things happening in the world everyday. It’s difficult to remember that when your fellow citizens are being brutalized simply for speaking their minds.
Why do I get the impression that the picture was staged? The police fired of tear gas and other exploding projectiles directly at people, seriously injuring one of them. Then would not allow medical assistence. This behavior is hardly softened by a picture of a policeman petting a kitten. (No one really knows when that was taken.) When the students at Kent State were shot by the National Guardsmen, we didn’t see some sorry picture of a National Guardsman hugging his mom, or his dog or petting a cat. We saw a nation that was shocked and a government that was shaken and awakened to a reality that needed addressing. It took some time, but that reality was addressed.
Perhaps they were trying to get people not to think about the women who were pepper sprayed in New York by showing a “tender hearted” policeman who may or may not have fired tear gas. This simply is not the story. Would anyone have shown the service members who actively or passivly participated at Abu Graib as tender hearted, kitten loving people? Of course not. We were justifiably shocked and horrified and softening that reaction would have been looked upon as stupid.
One has to ask: What, exactly, are we becoming? Perhaps we need to be reminded as Desmond Tutu said, that “If you are neutral in situations of justice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.”
The only thing the Washington Post left out of the picture was a sign on kitty, saying: “I was abandoned by an evil, heartless Occupier.”
// “Journalistic balance is a lost art…” // – Susan
BALANCE is a serious PROBLEM with the way journalists do their job these days. BALANCE seems to be the governing concept in how most of the media report on stories and issues. It’s actually often FALSE balance, because they typically report both sides of an issue as though they both have merit. And then they just leave readers, listeners, and viewers to make up their own minds without providing any meaningful analysis or fact-checking. The reporting on global climate change is a good example of this. A few corporation-sympathizing deny-ers are often portrayed as having merit equal to the vast majority of experts on the topic.
// “Nation Pusillanimous Radio” // – Kronoberger
I had to look up “pusillanimous.” It’s a perfect re-working of NPR’S name! They’re also one of the practitioners of the false-balance style of reporting.
How do we know the cat was left behind by a protester? I don’t see a collar. Is it so inconceivable that the cat might just be a stray? Or, are we to believe there are no stray animals in Oakland? C’mon, Washington Post. Don’t insult our intelligence like that.
Elaine I don’t know why stats on Police injuries are not more widely reported.As for as the general feeling people have about life being hard for them while the rich live the easy life….Nothing will ever really change that.Money is a cushion against a great deal of life’s problems.And those who have more of it avoid many of the problems that you deal with daily.The only question is do they pay enough in taxes.And if they do….how to accept that.And if they don’t… how to change that.The argument cannot be allowed to dissolve into a philosophical discussion on redistribution of the wealth for the good of the many over the rights of the few.As good as it sounds that road is anti American,and anti capitalist.AND it has never worked.It leads to a large and powerful Fed ,with massive oversight over peoples lives.
Oh as far as the picture…….Some press photog got a human interest shot of a policeman and a kitty in a confrontation zone.One of those cheap GTBP shots(guaranteed to be printed).Ho hum
Michael e, Glenn Greenwald’s analysis sums up my feelings so I’ll quote what he said:
“It’s not that Americans suddenly woke up one day and decided that substantial income and
wealth inequality are themseles unfair or intolerable. What changed was the perception of
how that wealth was gotten and so of the ensuing inequality as legitimate.
Many Americans who once accepted or even cheered such inequality now see the gains of the
richest as ill-gotten, as undeserved, as cheating. Most of all, the legal system that once served
as the legitimising anchor for outcome inequality, the rule of law–that most basic of American
ideals, that a common set of rules are equally applied to all–has now become irrevocably
corrupted and seen as such.”
@michael e: “As good as it sounds that road is…anti capitalist.AND it has never worked.” Um, seems to be working quite nicely for the folks in Denmark and other Scandinavian countries, who enjoy universal health care, education, retirement, etc. …
http://abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=4086092&page=1
http://travel.yahoo.com/p-interests-27761674
And let’s not forget the happy folks down in Costa Rica, who focus their priorities on education and the environment…
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/07/opinion/07kristof.html
@ Elaine: Perfect. Bravo.
Oh Washington Post, you are so silly. Maybe you should see some of the youtube videos, because a lot more went on there. I can be silly too.
O.K. Why is that man wearing rubber gloves? Do all police wear rubber gloves? How can we find their fingerprints if they all wear them? Is he putting flea meds on kitty’s head, because he’s putting it on the wrong spot if he is. It should be on kitty’s neck.
Oh, what’s in the big bag? Is he really a catnapper and more kitties are in the bag? Maybe you should tell the Washington Post editor, that regarding this OWS incident, that the CAT is already OUT of the bag!
The kitty doesn’t look very happy. Could that officer be performing the Vulcan Mind Meld to see if this kitty witness could testify against the violence?
I am often very silly, but I do expect more from a newspaper. You, know ,I expect real journalism, or am I just being even more silly?
Considering the comparison of motives, following, coverage between the Tea Party and OWS the former got far better, and more overage than the latter. Also the police were on the side of the former but not the latter. The Tea Party people carried guns! But not the OWS. Do you see a pattern here?
The kitty photo humanizes the brutes of the police working for the top 1% but not the peaceful 99% (with a few 1%ers) who protested peacefully. Only in one case did some of the people use rocks and bottles which was a stupid mistake on many levels.
Elaine
What can I say but would it be fair for me to hope you and your family do not succeed in any way, shape ,or form ,to get a good education, and succeed beyond even your wildest dreams to create the life you dream of?Because that would make you a success(yuk).Maybe even wealthy.And since I can judge you to be a person who is undeserving, than i deem you (and yours) enemy’s of the people.The people being those who have not done as well.Stop blaming the guy who lives in the house over the hill.Blame your own family for any success and you will see how silly this is.Class warfare unmasked.Always the other guy.Never you.And who made anyone in America judge, and jury to deserves what they have .Wrong system of government Elaine.I say to people who tell me I have too much- to go skrew.I went to school till i was 30.Payed my own bills working jobs as deverse as politics, and roofing.Payed off my debt with up to 3 jobs at a time.Now I work round the clock.No union hours here.Again…Go skrew
Elaine I hope you and your children accomplish all their dreams.I hope they(and you) are wealthy ,healthy,and happy if that is what you want.And you should not give a shit what the rest of the country thinks.As to if “you and yours” are deserving of your blessings.Because it is nobodies God damn business.Imagine the gall.I shall sit in judgement over if you did earn your livelihood in a deserving way.If not(in my judgement)I shall appropriate it.You done got off the bus at the wrong country love.
TD if you believe those countries are so much better(they are not even close)move.The comparison is stupid and you know it.The scandinavian countries are very conservative.Small and homogeneous.It has allowed for socialistic payouts.Those days are ending as you well know.Europe is running from their failures as we head over the cliff they just jumped back from.But it is classic Liberal Europe mania.Obama style.
Costa Rica?Really your not serious?Yeah lets emulate them
Elaine it is no ones right to become judge and jury over someones property or wage, because of perceptions.That could be a definition(in transit)of class warfare.
Holy shit where they gonna pee?
Got worse again last night