Longer Video From UC Davis Pepper Spray Incident

I don't think this video exonerates the police officers, though I do think it lessens the sympathetic view of the protesters. Trapping police clearly is an invitation to police action, and the police warned them several times about the consequences of their actions.

Given this evidence, there is no question that the offenders should have been arrested. That does not mean that pepper spray should have been used, however. Pepper spray should be a defensive non-lethal alternative to violence--not a method to punish a non-violent crowd. It would have been cumbersome to arrest each of these students one by one, but pepper spray shouldn't be used just to make the job of the police easier. It has a proper use, yet dispersing obstinate but non-violent DFHs is not one of them.

My thoughts on #OWS remain virtually unchanged since I wrote this, and this video seems to support my assertion on Twitter about privileged kids inviting arrest. This incident should invite a broader conversation about police tactics and civil liberties, but #OWS has only shown interest in civil liberties insofar as it advances their right to annoy. Thus, we have just the latest example of a legitimate grievance of #OWS getting lost in their own misguided, nebulous agenda.

This is what petulance looks like.

bellum medicamenti delenda est