Did you hear about how the Boston PD savagely beat members of Veterans for Peace last night?
Or how the police "attacked" the Occupy Seattle occupiers?
Or how there was a nationwide coordinated crackdown on the OWS sites in multiple cities, coordinated by the Department of Homeland Security?
If you read the Daily Kos rec list diaries about the occupations, that's what you went to bed believing.
Problem is, there's actually zero evidence any of that happened. Despite the multitude of cameras on site. Despite tons of press on hand.
I say this as someone who is rooting hard for the OWS folks. An angry, active, independent left that gets off its ass and onto the streets has been missing for decades.
But, right now the 'reporting' we are getting is a combination of (1) rumors; (2) speculation; and (3) people retweeting rumors and speculation. Whereas there was actual video of the pepper spraying, night club swinging abuses by certain members of the NYPD, there's none of that with the most recent round of dispatches.
The one video of the supposed Boston "beatings" shows nothing of the sort. It just doesn't. I've watched the video three times, and there is nothing approaching a beating in that video.
At some point, people such as myself are just going to ignore every breathless claim of wanton police brutality, and indeed discount anything coming out of these reports from the field if the claims do not do a better job of matching reality.
Tweets from a stranger that there were beatings is not proof that there were beatings.
Tweets from a stranger that there is a nationwide crackdown is not proof of anything like that.
Some random person claiming that "DHS people were multiple cities" is not proof of a coordinated crackdown. It's not even credible (were they wearing their DHS offical uniforms? Please.)
If people are being arrested, say they are being arrested.
But, please don't try to manufacture every arrest into a modern-day Selma.
Flame away, and tell me how I'm an apologist for police brutality by believing my own lying eyes instead of Twitterfeeds.
Just to clarify: I have nothing but good things to say about those on the ground. Rather, it's the constant crying of wolf.