The Internet is a great place to keep up with shocking news. For me, usually it’s not the news that gets me gasping, but the comments posted below by fellow readers. I would say that about 90% of the comments are written impulsively, driven by anger, hatred, or sadness. Then there’s the rare 10% that are reasonably logical and level-headed, but also ignored by the general public.
I was reading an article today on Huffingtonpost.com about the UC Davis pepper spray incident. I found it cruel to use pepper spray twice on students who were sitting peacefully on the ground protesting. I do realize that there is always two sides to a story and it was said that the police officer had warned the students beforehand to clear the pathway before unleashing the pepper spray. Still, the choice of spraying the students twice was very unreasonable and may be deemed abusive.
That being said, I have to address some of the comments posted in response. Some readers demanded justice by punishing the police officer responsible. That is an understandable demand. However, there were others who demanded the police officer’s family (who were not present at the incident) be punished as well.
I understand deeply that for change to happen, there will be chaos of many forms. When we look at history, there were times when chaos was inevitable, because change was absolutely necessary. And it seems that after all this time, there are some things that humans cannot outgrow or learn from the past and that is okay. But I have to ask, who are we…what are we… to demand the pain and blood of innocent people in the year of 2011?
The Swinging Hammock 