Reply #35: No More Mr. Nice Guy

[SoDesuKa]

The protests arose because of the large number of clever people with nothing to lose by discrediting our dysfunctional economic system. They're not part of it, and they have nothing to gain from it. It's more likely that the more they shake the tree the more fruit will fall.

The reason the protestors have been successful is that they've thought this thing through, at least more than the City government has. Political problems don't become police problems because the police are available to deal with them. I'm reminded of the way the city of Fullerton, California deals with homelessness - they pound the shit out of annoying homeless guys.

I don't think the protesters have reason to fear the cops' taking the gloves off. The cops can mishandle a strategy of selectively ruining individual protesters just as they've mishandled the other strategies they're now close to discarding. Anthony Bologna has been turned into a pillar of salt, and the other white shirts know it. We'll see how badly they want to associate themselves with selectively ruining the lives of otherwise law-abiding citizens.