I was scanning CNN and came across an opinion piece "Occupy Wall Street is no Tahrir Square" by Ehab Zahriyeh. Here's the money quote that got me to sign up for an account to give a piece of my mind in the comments:
Not one Occupy Wall Street protester is risking his or her life to publicly proclaim their demands. In New York, police resorted to pepper spray and clubbings; in Oakland, California, police sprayed tear gas and are seen in videos apparently throwing stun grenades. Protesters display serious wounds they say were inflicted by rubber bullets.
My response:
"Ask Scott Olson if he was risking his life when an Oakland cop shot him in the head with a tear gas canister. He'll tell you. Oh wait, he still can't speak because of damage to his brain from the skull fracture and resulting brain swelling. How dare you say that none of the Occupy Wall Street protesters have risked their lives. Anyone with passing familiarity of the events in Oakland knows that's a lie."
Nobody is claiming that OWS protesters are as likely to die from protesting as the Egyptians are. But that's a pretty f***ing low bar. I think a country that enshrines freedom of speech and peaceful assembly in the first amendment to its constitution should do a hell of a lot better than this:
http://www.google.com/... [Scott Olsen]
and this:
http://www.google.com/... [Denver police shooting protesters with rubber bullets]
This is a travesty that should not be minimized or trivialized with false comparisons. I encourage you to head over to CNN and tell Ehab Zahriyeh to do his damn job.