Violence or Vigilance At the Conventions

There was an overall shocking disparity between the Republican and Democratic Conventions, their tone, and most importantly the way force was used to quell the voices of protestors.

Consider that the prelude to the Republican Convention was a search and seizure of computers and detention of "organizers" from public venues and their homes. They did not find guns or a potential assassination cell as they did pre-Denver. Instead in St. Paul, they seized computers, files, and protest organizers! This news broke on the well read sites, www.salon.com and www.slashdot.org on Sunday evening, and was followed quietly by the mainstream media. One wonders why?

Then as the Convention began, with the television cameras running liberal journalist, Amy Goodman was forcibly removed and arrested defending her producers being unlawfully detained. And if this was not enough, chemical weapons were used on demonstrators circa Chicago 1968.

Juxtapose this with the conspicuous and unrelenting "show of force" at the Democratic Convention the prior week in Denver. The SWAT teams were not fooling, but they did not use force or chemical weapons as the defining tactics. Their sheer volume was unnerving in the streets, but they spoke intelligently and thoughtfully to the people they were protecting and the protestors. Violence was not condoned and did not occur. Yes, an ABC producer was arrested for taking pictures of high end donors, but he was not manhandled.

It is often thought that pictures tell the story. So please see below the photographs of Jerry Fiddler, a noted technologist from the Bay area. His work reveals the peaceful protests of the streets of Denver during the Democratic Convention. Again, please note it is not to say that there was not an abundance of SWAT teams and Secret Service because they were ever present. Rather, the point is that their behavior was conspicuously restrained.

The real quandary is that this might reveal much more about the choices we have for Presidential candidates and their respective parties. Both had enormous troops available.

One used them forcibly and the other respectfully held back.

Which one would you want negotiating with your allies and enemies?

Which one would you choose?

Comments

[snowman18]

How come nobody has posted any comment about the demostrator that was sprayed several times with pepper spray? Push by several police officers and hit with their bicycles while she was doing the peace sign? Am I the only one who saw this? or am I mistaken?

[unitron]

Actually the "www" is unnecessary for slashdot. http://slashdot.org has always worked just fine.

Allow me to recommend also the British IT site http://www.theregister.co.uk They cover a lot of "intersection of technology and politics" stories as well.