# Article in The Guardian (UK) regarding the OWS protests taking place across the United States **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 26, 2011, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/article-in-the-guardian-uk-regarding-the-ows-protests-taking-place-across-the-united-states/604131 "2011-11-26T06:10:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Drum\_God](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drum_god/32/44_2.png) [@Drum\_God](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drum_God)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2011, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/article-in-the-guardian-uk-regarding-the-ows-protests-taking-place-across-the-united-states/604131/1 "2011-11-26T06:10:32Z")
The Guardian has an article [here](http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/nov/25/shocking-truth-about-crackdown-occupy?fb=optOut)about the Occupy movement that is taking place in the United States. It has some rather inflammatory comments regarding the genesis of the response municipalities have had regarding the OWS demonstrations. It is also the first time I have seen goals of the protesters clearly articulated. I am interested in Dopers’ take on this article. Do you believe that Homeland Security has coordinated crackdowns across the nation? If so, is this some evil thing or is it simply a Federal department advising local governments? Is this how the rest of the world sees us right now? ---
**Author:** ![Drum\_God](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drum_god/32/44_2.png) [@Drum\_God](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drum_God)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2011, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/article-in-the-guardian-uk-regarding-the-ows-protests-taking-place-across-the-united-states/604131/2 "2011-11-26T06:16:00Z")
Another [article](http://www.angryblacklady.com/2011/11/25/ows-the-shocking-truth-of-naomi-wolfs-journalistic-hackery/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=ows-the-shocking-truth-of-naomi-wolfs-journalistic-hackery) debunking the Guardian article. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2011, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/article-in-the-guardian-uk-regarding-the-ows-protests-taking-place-across-the-united-states/604131/3 "2011-11-26T16:35:46Z")
From the OP’s article: > [@](#): > > So, when you connect the dots, properly understood, what happened this week is the first battle in a civil war; a civil war in which, for now, only one side is choosing violence. It is a battle in which members of Congress, with the collusion of the American president, sent violent, organised suppression against the people they are supposed to represent. It’s Obama’s fault! This lady has been listen to Rush Limbaugh too much. Seriously, this is the kind of “connect the dots” that RL engages in. Dots that exist only in his (and in this case, her) mind. ---
**Author:** ![nachtmusick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ac91a4/32.png) [@nachtmusick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nachtmusick)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2011, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/article-in-the-guardian-uk-regarding-the-ows-protests-taking-place-across-the-united-states/604131/4 "2011-11-27T08:26:22Z")
_An elderly woman was pepper-sprayed in the face; the scene of unresisting, supine students at UC Davis being pepper-sprayed by phalanxes of riot police went viral online; images proliferated of young women – targeted seemingly for their gender – screaming, dragged by the hair by police in riot gear;_ I happen to live in central California, near enough to Davis that I can testify that this is entirely bogus. ---
**Author:** ![Ca3799](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9f8e36/32.png) [@Ca3799](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ca3799)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2011, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/article-in-the-guardian-uk-regarding-the-ows-protests-taking-place-across-the-united-states/604131/5 "2011-11-27T12:03:18Z")
> [@nachtmusick](#): > > _An elderly woman was pepper-sprayed in the face; the scene of unresisting, supine students at UC Davis being pepper-sprayed by phalanxes of riot police went viral online; images proliferated of young women – targeted seemingly for their gender – screaming, dragged by the hair by police in riot gear;_ > > I happen to live in central California, near enough to Davis that I can testify that this is entirely bogus. What do you mean? All those things happened. I think maybe you misread the sentence. It does not say all those things happened at UC Davis. It says all those things happened, which they did. The only quibble I have with the author’s statement is that the students were not “supine”- they were sitting, and the phrase “seemingly targeted” in regards to women. I do think women have been/were targeted many times, but I don’t know how you can prove that. For an example of “targeted and maced women”: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SziJkVbJ4n4](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SziJkVbJ4n4) NY cops drag woman by hair at 4 minute mark: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIacFVUYm7I](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIacFVUYm7I) The elderly woman who was maced was on all the news: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8uYH9cg3LY&feature=results\_main&playnext=1&list=PL76FDD89DBF18EE79](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8uYH9cg3LY&feature=results_main&playnext=1&list=PL76FDD89DBF18EE79) UC students (admittedly, not supine until after they were maced): [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfWAJtMpQ6g](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfWAJtMpQ6g) ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2011, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/article-in-the-guardian-uk-regarding-the-ows-protests-taking-place-across-the-united-states/604131/6 "2011-11-27T12:19:10Z")
Anxiously awaiting to see what John Mace has to say about that. ---
**Author:** ![Sri\_Theo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f04885/32.png) [@Sri\_Theo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sri_Theo)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2011, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/article-in-the-guardian-uk-regarding-the-ows-protests-taking-place-across-the-united-states/604131/7 "2011-11-27T14:34:23Z")
Not that it makes much difference but that article is from the Guardian’s comment is free online only pages, they also had [this article by Grover Norquist](http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/nov/22/tax-battle-soul-america-grover-norquist) at the same time. The idea is to get wider viewpoints then just the Guardian’s staff which sometimes backfires - i.e. they had someone prominent write about how Bradley Manning deserved to be imprisoned for what he did which really pissed off Wikileaks. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2011, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/article-in-the-guardian-uk-regarding-the-ows-protests-taking-place-across-the-united-states/604131/8 "2011-11-27T15:04:19Z")
> [@](#): > > As the puzzle pieces fit together, they began to show coordination against OWS at the highest national levels. I guess that would be the debate here. True or false or partly true? ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2011, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/article-in-the-guardian-uk-regarding-the-ows-protests-taking-place-across-the-united-states/604131/9 "2011-11-27T16:14:00Z")
> [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](#): > > Anxiously awaiting to see what John Mace has to say about that. Say about what? I’m on record in at least one thread decrying the strong-arm tactics of the police in places like Davis. That doesn’t change the fact that the author of this article is reaching (to put it kindly) when she “connects the dots” in her conspiracy theory. That is the purpose of her article. Instances of police over-reaction are all over the news, and nothing in her story hasn’t been reported elsewhere. What is “news” is her claim that Congress and Obama are behind it all, and that is what my first post commented on. So, what do you have to say about that?