“Pathology of power” and police brutality at “Occupy” protests

Philip Zimbardo: When a person feels “I am not personally responsible, I am not accountable; it’s the role I’m playing or these are the orders I’ve gotten,” then you allow yourself to do things you would never do under ordinary circumstances

Watching video of police officers beat, arrest, and pepper spray people – in response to Occupy Wall Street, and the protests it has inspired throughout the country – I can’t help but notice the similarities of the officers who have been violent and aggressive towards demonstrators. It’s almost as if they are acting like the military in foreign and hostile war zones, and less like civil-servants whose job it is to protect the citizens.

Don’t be an asshole: arguments for & against Occupy Wall Street

In the media, in conversations, on social networking sites, there’s nothing worse than irrational people passionately spewing their irrational nonsense. Especially with Occupy Wall Street. On both sides.

Before I proceed, I will tell you that I generally support  Occupy Wall Street and like the issues brought up by the intelligent members of the movement. But every time I hear someone scream “we are the 99 percent” it reinforces my desire to disaffiliate with groups that derive power from numbers. If you said “I am similar to 99 percent of the population in terms of income,” i would be less annoyed.

I’ll support people looking to end corruption. I’ll support people looking out for the least well-off in our country. I’ll support anybody’s right to nonviolently protest anything. But I don’t want to be apart of the group.

In this post, I will analyze some (not all) arguments on both sides of the Occupy Wall Street movement and address issues that I feel are keeping the two sides apart.

What Ever Happened to Free Speech?

AH

On October 3, 2011, Hank Williams, Jr. appeared on the daily morning talk show, Fox and Friends. He was asked how he felt about the upcoming election and who he preferred in the GOP race. Williams, Jr. then, with what seemed like a Herculean effort, blurted, “Nobody.” He then went on to allegorically  associated a golf game between political party leaders with the likeness of Hitler playing golf with Netanyahu. (For those of you not certain who Netanyahu is; Benjamin Netanyahu is the current Prime Minister of Israel.)

Williams, Jr. continued by shouting, “OBAMA!”, in response to a request to explain whom he was referring to as the enemy. He made perfectly clear that the aforementioned golf game was the biggest political blunder, “ever.” Furthermore, Williams, Jr. reiterated time after time how against bipartisanship he was.

Today, October 5, 2011, Monday Night Football (product of ESPN, ultimately controlled by Disney), whom Hank had been the “voice and face” of since 1991,  essentially announced that they gave Ol’ Hank a corporation sized cowboy boot to the curb. Williams, Jr. has responded in anger declaring a violation of his 1st amendment rights (Free Speech), saying he himself has decided to leave. It seemed like a mutual departure. Regardless, when the story broke, a majority of the masses shared Williams, Jr.’s outrage. Their arguments also hinge on the value and more importantly the RIGHT of Free Speech.

Hey, Kids Its Me…Koko/Who’s This Casey Anthony Character?

AH

Hey guys, I guess I’m on board now. I’m going to be blunt when I say this but, having a window into my mind may be a new experience for most of you. I have no boundaries and I usually say whatever I believe to be the “right” thing to say. Basically this is going to be similar to when you were seven and your parents sat you down and told you were going to have a little brother or sister. Be honest, no one was pumped at first but hopefully all your younger siblings have grown on you. I hope I can too. My real names Andy, but for the sake of this blog you can call me Koko. Now let’s get to the real meat and potatoes of this hot mess. It’s a topic that’s been really chapping my ass as of late and even though I am certain I’ll receive several death threats after this is read….