I saw an odd ‘news item’ today, about a protest in Whitewater, that supposedly involved monitoring by the police. It was said to be a ‘heavy’ police presence, by the account that I saw. If the account’s true, then that presence is both foolish and wrong. If the account’s false, and there wasn’t really a heavy presence, then someone needs a dictionary, or a scale.
Imagine someone so hidebound, so reactionary, that he remarks uncritically that a simple union demonstration in Whitewater, Wisconsin, involving fewer than a dozen people, was met by a “a heavy police presence of Whitewater Police Department and Sheriff deputies.”
Ordinary and simple protests are — and typically stay — peaceful. Wisconsin is not a violent place; tens of thousands have protested at the Captiol building this week with nary a problem.
I would have nothing but contempt for the use of a ‘heavy’ police presence in this situation. It’s wholly disproportionate to the occasion. It’s a misuse of the police power, more suited to a backward southern community of generations ago than a modern Wisconsin town.
Protests and counter-protests like this do not require a heavy police presence.
Anyone who can’t see, or won’t say, as much is part risible, part reactionary, and all wrong.