Dear Dr. Bones,
| Non-violent protesters brutally pepper-sprayed at UC Davis Bob_Neer | Sat, Nov 19, 2011 9:33 PM EST Hat tip NYT, which reports calls for the resignation of the university’s chancellor (NB: Harvard President Drew Faust, who has Occupy protesters of her own). (( &c. &c. )) |
| You know... This goes back to, officers thinking that their so-called non-violent means of control (pepper spray, rubber bullets, etc) can be used with impunity since no one is (USUALLY) permanently hurt (of course, tell that poor girl at the Red Sox (?) rally that – oh wait, they can’t). Not only do we need to stand up for the 99% and all that that entails, but we need a SERIOUS discussion about security vs liberty and the brutality that is using these so-called less violent crowd control devices of theirs. Because if they keep sending people to the hospital in critical condition, they’re gonna get their toys taken away from them. lynne @ Sun 20 Nov 1:54 AM |
As I started to say in the title, sir, _Notes towards a Philosophy of Pepper Spray_ (seven volumes, boxed, suitable for throwing) would go a long way towards putting some "intellectual foundations" [1] under the grand Occupy Televisionland entertainment of Fall 2011.
I could write three or four tomes myself, and if I did, I would certainly devote a chapter to the exact differences between (1a) Kampus Kops and (1b) the real McCoy. There would be a long historical excursus, naturally, on Century XIX in the coalfields of Appalachia and 1968 in the Y*rd of H*rv*rd, as well as 316 slightly less pertinent instances of secret-sector enforcements of Law and Order. [2]
Vaguely parallel to that idle and pedantic distinction would run another, between (2a) ("mere") YooTube clips and (2b) professional MacL@@han-Murdochware, the latter being characterized above all, as I analyze, by distinctly non-random production values. Especially by knowing more or less when to stop, as amateur iconodules never seem to: I betcha _In der Beschränkung zeigt sich erst der Meister_ was intended precisely to distinguish between the master *craftsman* and the still-wet-behind-the-awl journeyman or slapdash dilettante aristos.
As to the immediate occasion of the present pepperfoolery, suffice it to say that here we have Amateur Hour all ’round. Presumably most of the patients or victims shown may pass for "real students," though as we shall be not-writing a work of philosophy, that, too, will not be assumed uncritically. Of course I understand that the dignity of Philosophy must be preserved by excluding such sheer whight-winged nutbattism as supposing the whole _m’gillâ_ to have been concocted on the grounds of St. Elizabeth of Warrenbuffet’s in-stately home for campaign purposes, the orange gunk being furniture polish or the like. [3]
Happy days.
--JHM
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| Pfefferspray ist ein Reizstoff, der gegen Menschen und andere Säugetiere wirkt. Mit dem Begriff ist meist ein Reizstoffsprühgerät mitsamt dem enthaltenem Wirkstoff _Oleoresin Capsicum_ gemeint. Es wird in der Regel als Distanzwaffe verwendet. Insbesondere in den USA und Kanada dient es als Bärenabwehrmittel. |
Hmmm. ¿How if our picturesque institutions were to sic she-bears [IV Lib. Reg. II:23ff.] instead of pseudocops on troublesome kiddies?
(( The pet g@@gle took a long time to find it, so let me put on record that it is _DAS Pfefferspray_, neuter gender. ))
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[1] "Pardon my Drool." Or rather, more exactly, the drool of Her Beatitude, which it would be pleasant, though not probable, to think was swiped from the late Mr. Thòreau of Concord: "If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.
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[2] Taxpayer-funded tertiary educationalism in CA should make for some especially jolly litigation. Those are not "real policemen" who appear in these video representations, but, oddly enough, they are public-sector hired hands nonetheless.
"¿Pseudomorphosis, anybody?"
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[3] I hear you objecting already, Dr. Bones, that the Lizzieards would not advance, but probably rather retard, the Apotheosis of Her Beatitude by such a fakery. Whight you are, it seems to me, but I am not at all sure it seems that way to the Lizzieards themselves. Being Faculty Lounge Lizzieards mostly, or courtiers over to the Palace of Public Television, their perspective on political sociology and psychology can diverge widely from that of the earthbound.
As I said, though, you are quight whight to expect that at least 98.6% of Fratboy voters, actual or potential, will take one glance an’ side with the pseudocops. No, there I go again, that’s ’rong too: most likely very few Republicanines will ever see it.
That last, by the way, is a definite prediction about the future made by McChicken: should the Funders of Fratboy decide to make a big deal of it, then I shall thoroughly deserve to be gloated at. So make a memorandumb of it and we shall see.
Mention of the PPT allows me to extend the above parallelism a little, as follows
(1a) Kampus Kops (H*rv*rd) (2a) YooTube artists
(1b) municipal crimefighters (2b) NewsCorp
(1c) Kampus Kops (UC Davis) (2c) WGBH
Exactly what to call the third row I have yet to decide: ‘semireal’ is dubious ontologically, and furthermore sounds to my ear as if it has been imported from the Rovan Empire . I suppose most people would settle for ‘semipro[fessional]’, but there are so many philosophical problems about ‘professionalism’ even unprefixed that a whole eighth volume might become necessary. Take a look at the pigeonholes above and let me know how you would label them generically.
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