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jackhttp://www.boingboing.net/2009/12/11/dr-peter-watts-canad.html
http://www.rifters.com/crawl/?p=932
The news spread to several sci-fi and other blogs, and there are calls for a defence fund.
Of course, there are lots of similar incidents now. And in lots of countries, it would just be the norm. A lot of people pointed out that if he questioned the guards in any way whatsoever, that was unwise, possibly missing the point that it wasn't wrong.
Certainly most people in all professions are basically decent people. And if you have to deal every day with people who may become dangerous, it's stressful and difficult, and the last thing you need is even more people making your life difficult. But even if pepper spraying innocent people is an understandable response, it shouldn't be.
http://www.rifters.com/crawl/?p=932
Along some other timeline, I did not get out of the car to ask what was going on. I did not repeat that question when refused an answer and told to get back into the vehicle. In that other timeline I was not punched in the face, pepper-sprayed, shit-kicked, handcuffed, thrown wet and half-naked into a holding cell for three fucking hours, thrown into an even colder jail cell overnight, arraigned, and charged with assaulting a federal officer, all without access to legal representation (although they did try to get me to waive my Miranda rights. Twice.). Nor was I finally dumped across the border in shirtsleeves: computer seized, flash drive confiscated, even my fucking paper notepad withheld until they could find someone among their number literate enough to distinguish between handwritten notes on story ideas and, I suppose, nefarious terrorist plots. I was not left without my jacket in the face of Ontario’s first winter storm, after all buses and intercity shuttles had shut down for the night.
The news spread to several sci-fi and other blogs, and there are calls for a defence fund.
Of course, there are lots of similar incidents now. And in lots of countries, it would just be the norm. A lot of people pointed out that if he questioned the guards in any way whatsoever, that was unwise, possibly missing the point that it wasn't wrong.
Certainly most people in all professions are basically decent people. And if you have to deal every day with people who may become dangerous, it's stressful and difficult, and the last thing you need is even more people making your life difficult. But even if pepper spraying innocent people is an understandable response, it shouldn't be.