Marines Storm Reddit After Occupy Oakland Shooting of Scott Olsen

[Leopolds Ghost]

By Matthew Fleischer, Fishbowl LA on October 27, 2011 1:22 PM



Marines have been flocking to the social networking/aggregator site Reddit to voice their anger at the life-threatening injury inflicted on 24-year-old Iraqi war veteran Scott Olsen by Oakland police during the recent Occupy protests. Video showed Olsen go down after taking a tear gas canister to the head. As fellow protesters tried to assist him, police lobbed a flash grenade into their midst–right next to Olsen’s already fractured skull.

The picture above, submitted by Reddit user aburger, has generated well over 1,000 comments on the site–many from fellow Marines who are absolutely livid at the injury to one of their own by police.

Here’s one from Reddit user 0311kilo33:

As God is my witness. I will fight tooth and nail to restore the decency this country was founded upon. The politicians, banks and large corporations have ruined this country. I find it difficult to notice any sense of politeness on the streets anymore. But it goes farther. As a Marine and a citizen I am outraged. I am sick to death of the world my children are being raised in.

So I ask all of you, can you too sense the tipping point? When will enough be enough? If not now, when? I feel the problem is that the average Joe citizen is ignorant and comfortable. These, in addition to selfishness have become the standard for the majority of the population. As long as people are comfortable they remain silent. Well, I’m really fucking uncomfortable and I’m sick of seeing this sort of shit happening. The Occupy protests that are going on are our first glimmer of hope. If we can take this and move it further, get every lazy ass off their rocker and open their eyes; then maybe, just maybe we have a chance.

Semper Fi brothers, and remember who you are. Protectors of a great nation, not politicians or wealthy money grubbing bankers and the like. When it comes time, I know we’ll stand strong.

If online reaction is any indication, it’s not a stretch to think Olsen’s injury could be the start of something very big. We have a lot of military combat veterans in this country who haven’t been treated very well since they left the service. No job prospects. Inadequate medical coverage. If they take their anger offline and into the streets, the OWS movement will become an extremely potent, and WELL TRAINED force.

http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlla/marines-storm-reddit-after-occupy-oakland-shooting-of-scott-olson_b43369

[Fire Walk With Me]

1. Go Marines!

[Gregorian]

2. Finally, troops I can honestly support. GO!

Instead of fighting for the corporate interests, they're now fighting for the rights of the people.

I never thought I'd see this day. Americans are waking up. 30 years late, but better late than never.

[truedelphi]

11. That is a great affirmation.

I hate so much what these wars have done - destruction of the societies where people were fairly well off, before we started in on them with our bombs, and now our drones.

This is helping me to see those who are serving as part and parcel of the America I grew up in, and not the Nazi state our nation has become.

It has also been neat to experience stuff like this and also be a witness to one of yesterday's small events. I was out and about, and this low income lady who lives around the corner from Safeway came through the parking lot, asking people if anyone had money.

No one did -we'd all been cleaned out by the grocery store. Then a young woman in the camouflage outfits that the new recruits are wearing said, "I haven't got money for you, but how about if I share my groceries with you." She reached into her bag and parted with about one third of its contents.

Then everyone else around the young woman was reaching into their grocery bags. And the older woman asking for help was able to go home to with three full bags of groceries. She had a smile on her face like the sun had come out!

[roguevalley]

there is goodness everywhere. solidarity forever.

[Gregorian]

18. Beautiful. Even if sad.

Thanks for sharing those thoughts. I don't know what I'd be doing without the help of my parents right now. I'm far from poor. But it's all in real estate. All of it. Which doesn't bother me, since I don't care about money. I can lose it and not be bothered.

The act of sharing is really a transcendent one. The fact that there is such a large gap between super rich and super poor is worse than tragic.

We need a New Declaration of Independence. It's just something I've been thinking about. The next step for OWS. Otherwise, where does it go? It's time to shed ourselves of the toxicity in government. Then replace it with better representatives. I keep wondering if this is the way forward.

[Leopolds Ghost]

21. bump

[truedelphi]

22. What a

Interesting graphic. Thanks for making that.

[Leopolds Ghost]

23. No prob. It's based off a classic protest poster

Classic for me anyway (Seattle protest movement).

The original is Rosie the Riveter, of course but this one is a takeoff
on three different posters, the shrug pony and the Leonardo Man series
by Mike Flugennock. I noticed the similarity between the three poses,
so with his permission (sorta) I decided to do a knockoff.



You can see his original artwork (some of it for Occupy) at http://sinkers.org ...

[ChairmanAgnostic]

3. Pogo was prophetic.

We have met the enemy, and it is us.

[barbtries]

4. he's so right.

this country has gone off the rails. i fervently hope that the OWS movement will be the catalyst for real, meaningful, and lasting change for the better. i know we CAN be better, but will we?

[DeSwiss]

5. K&R

[hifiguy]

6. Pissing off the Marine Corps is not

such a great idea. Marines have a tendency to stand by their fellow Marines.

[Leopolds Ghost]

9. not recommended, is it? Does anyone have the link

To that youtube video a friend told me about,
showing a marine confronting Oakland police.

He said that in the Middle East, soldiers weren't allowed to treat civilians like the police do here... even when the civilians were throwing rocks.

(and that's leaving aside the fact that pepper spray is apparently against the Geneva convention so cannot be used in warfare, only by the police)

[Tsiyu]

12. I believe there was one confronting NYPD as well

Shamar Thomas was the name maybe???

[yewberry]

13. I do.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLxERJz0g7k

[Leopolds Ghost]

16. Ah. Powerful video...

Here's one with a million hits, so it's not just on RT, I guess...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmEHcOc0Sys

[Kaleko]

14. Yes, Shamar Thomas is his (now famous) name.

Here he is in an interview with RT:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ve8HlH8w9Uo

[Leopolds Ghost]

15. Ah yeah, I think that was him n/t

[Leopolds Ghost]

24. Ah yes, sure enough

A friend of mine linked that very bit

On Facebook, which I never use.

[Uncle Joe]

7. Semper Fi, Marines.

Thanks for the thread, Leopolds Ghost.

[lonestarnot]

8. K & R!

[backtoblue]

10. K & R

nt

[MedleyMisty]

17. Check out the occupyMarines account on Twitter

They are indeed attempting to train the protesters, and to get them gas masks and body armor. I've seen graphics explaining police response and mapping which kind of group of protesters should be where.

[pacalo]

19. They are TRUE HEROES.

:patriot:





:applause:

[Leopolds Ghost]

20. And brave... n/t