“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.