Question Authority (at your own risk...)

A while back I wrote a post Question Authority, where I railed at the abuses of power and how citizens should fight back.

I still believe this. But it comes at a cost.

I read this story back in February, but didn't post it because to get the full impact, you need to watch about 20 minutes worth of video. (Fact: 20 minutes is the upper end of adult attention span. For web based articles, lengths of over 20KB are considered too long to maintain an adult's attention. This is likely why this blog has such a high exit rate...)

In the videos segments of reporting done by the CBS news affiliate in Miami, you can see the police of various precincts reaction to a citizen who wants to file a complaint against police, ranging from pleasant cooperation, to stonewalling, to outright intimidation and threats.

As a result of the story, the individual doing the investigation is now on the wanted list by the Broward County PD. (Broward PD also tried to get an injunction to squelch the airing of the story.)

This sort of power fungus can only be cleared by the harsh light of public exposure and censure. And vigilance - what's going on in your backyard?

"People shouldn't be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people." - V in V for Vendetta