Spoke with an old friend that's a conservative Christian today, UC Davis pepper spray came up..

[Fumesucker]

Turns out he has a kid that's a bit idealistic and is in college, he was not a happy camper about the incident at all, wants to see the cop do time.

Just an anecdote but I thought I'd share.

[Aerows]

1. A LOT of people are outraged

I don't put much stock in the typical internet tough guys who profess that they are happy about the incident. They smack of attempting to do damage control, imho. Most people are appalled, and the ones that aren't, all it takes is to ask them if they'd like a blast of pepper spray to the face anytime they break a law.

Sane people realize it is dangerous for police to have the authority to punish at will. See: Tazering senior citizens, pepper spraying peaceful protesters and batonning a Marine into the hospital because he wasn't appropriately intimidated.

My fear is that they are going to eventually kill someone. They have nearly succeeded twice. Pepper spray isn't exactly harmless, either. 61 people have died from it since its use became widespread.

[pnwmom]

2. That's a good sign. Hope he's representative of lots of conservative parents. n/t

[On the Road]

3. This is Why It's Great for the Photoshops to Get Traction

They can be passed around and laughed at without anyone going into a political rant, all the while gaining sympathy for the protesters.

[DefenseLawyer]

4. I'm glad

your friend feels that way. I only hope that people realize that this isn't "one bad apple" doing something outrageous, but that this kind of thing happens every day all over this country-usually without any cameras and usually to people with very little means to redress the offense.

[Fumesucker]

6. I think he does at some level know that..

Didn't want to take the conversation too far in the political direction, then it starts generating more heat than light.

Lets just say he wasn't always a conservative Christian, I imagine you know how a lot of them get that way.

[rurallib]

5. funny how opinions change when it happens to you or your family

(i don't mean you but him)

[freshwest]

7. Good news. Obviously not a Beckerhead. He was having a blast today, laughing, said it was hilarious.

Hope you inform him of the glee of the dittoheads for this abuse. It might cause him to reconsider some of what he's heard. Sounds like a good man, though.