I have to take his motivation for writing the piece into consideration.
Does he have an agenda which would be advanced by casting police in a negative light? It's pretty clear he does. He wants people to join his cause. What's my agenda for telling a story about a bag of powder at the office? I don't really have one, unless you think I'm leading a crusade against SAs who play pranks.
I agree with him on one point, though -- from a cost/benefit analysis perspective, these "parties without permits" are most decidedly not worth the risk. That kind of behavior also affects people who aren't protesters or policemen, and that was something that wasn't really addressed in the log entry.
Call me a dupe of the State if you will, but when given equally credible statements from someone who identifies themself as a "police officer", and someone who identifies themself as a "revolutionary", I am much more inclined to believe the police officer.
Hmmm, I doubt an anarchist would need to create fiction to find reasons to dislike the government. I suspect plenty of material could be found in history books or the newspapers.
If you have any questions about what Grenier wrote, I imagine you could ask in his LiveJournal (http://www.livejournal.com/users/davidgrenier/) or the comment books linked at the bottom of his article (http://davidgrenier.weblogger.com/2001/08/27).
I wish we had a society where I could find Grenier's account of police behavior as incredible as you apparently do. I fear this is the type of thing that can happen when police are given or take on roles (such as defending political or social status-quo) other than acting only to protect citizens' persons and property.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2001-08-30 08:20 am (UTC)Does he have an agenda which would be advanced by casting police in a negative light? It's pretty clear he does. He wants people to join his cause. What's my agenda for telling a story about a bag of powder at the office? I don't really have one, unless you think I'm leading a crusade against SAs who play pranks.
I agree with him on one point, though -- from a cost/benefit analysis perspective, these "parties without permits" are most decidedly not worth the risk. That kind of behavior also affects people who aren't protesters or policemen, and that was something that wasn't really addressed in the log entry.
Call me a dupe of the State if you will, but when given equally credible statements from someone who identifies themself as a "police officer", and someone who identifies themself as a "revolutionary", I am much more inclined to believe the police officer.
your fwenh
Poot
no subject
Date: 2001-08-30 02:37 pm (UTC)If you have any questions about what Grenier wrote, I imagine you could ask in his LiveJournal (http://www.livejournal.com/users/davidgrenier/) or the comment books linked at the bottom of his article (http://davidgrenier.weblogger.com/2001/08/27).
I wish we had a society where I could find Grenier's account of police behavior as incredible as you apparently do. I fear this is the type of thing that can happen when police are given or take on roles (such as defending political or social status-quo) other than acting only to protect citizens' persons and property.