Thursday Morning Jolt: The PI’s Josh Trujillo

The dripping is milk, used to counteract the effects of the pepper spray.

There is also the Ted Mase picture, taken after the spray incident, showing a laughing Dorli Rainey talking with other protesters.

Nice goggles on the person to the right..who came prepared to be pepper sprayed.

Yes. Noticed that one this morning. A very good pic. 

I just appreciate the contrast. The one from Trujillo – the face of someone who could be your grandmother or great-grandmother, covered in white liquid – I believe over-simplifies and over-hypes the incident in question.  Especially considering how soon after that same woman was sharing a laugh. 

Next time hit that bitch with a water cannon. Rubber bullets maybe.

something tells me you would have said this about Martin Luther King, Jr, as well, were you given the chance.

Joshua Trujillo is a very talented photographer. He knows were to be, what to wait for, and pays attention to details. I have admired his work for years at the PI. Few can capture a moment like he can. He would have been a senior photographer for Life magazine in another era.

You cannot downplay the impact of this photo. The fact that she recovered enough to simle later on does not detract from the message it sends one iota.

This is what democracy looks like.

I wonder if you would have said the same about the tea partiers who surrounded, pushed & shoved members of the Congressional Black Caucus about a year ago?

But sentiments such as yours contribute to the lack of decorum and partisan gridlock.

What’s the difference between MLK Jr. and these kids?  The civil rights movement was actually fighting for something they deserved.

These are kids who 1) want to be on TV and all over the internet (and aren’t afraid to allow an old woman to be in a potentially violent situation to do it) and 2) want other people’s money.

Protest all you want.  That’s great.  But when you stand in the middle of the street and stop other people from being able to get home and be with their families, then get ready to learn a fundamental lesson of this democracy that you love so much: your rights end where someone else’s rights begin.  And pepper spray is what you get when you start ruining everyone else’s day because you just absolutely must throw a childish street tantrum.

Were ANY of those tea partiers arrested or sprayed?  How many occupiers have been? 

I think that’s exactly the point.

When our old ladies protest, it’s all “hit that bitch with a water cannon.”

When your old ladies protest, acting like crazy people on capitol grounds and screaming throughout town hall meetings, that’s democracy in action.

Horsesh*t. Nothing in this country worth fighting for (independence from King George III, end of slavery, womens’ vote, labors’ right to organize, wages and hours laws, civil rights, environmental regulation to protect the commons) happened without inconveniencing “other people.” Advocating for less maldistribution of wealth and power is not “want[ing] other people’s money”. It’s not a matter of “deserve”; it’s a matter of justice.

I don’t necessarily agree with OWS-OS tactics (or their apparent lack of strategic thinking), but that doesn’t justify an ahistorically ignorant judgment about them or what they do.

Many of the protesters would also like to be home with their families. Instead, they are taking time out from their own lives to fight for the greater good.  To fight for themselves and for those who have been suffering desperately in this economy.  For those who have lost their jobs, their professions and careers, their homes, everything.  Hurry back to your home all you want. But know there is also know there is another very important lesson of democracy: Just because you don’t take an interest in politics, doesn’t mean politics won’t take an interest in you.