My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment;
And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes. (Doctrine and Covenants 121: 7-8)
You probably have already seen it all over the web. I know I have. I am talking about the video of one Officer John Pike seemingly spraying a group of Occupy Wall Street protesters with a casual disregard for their well being. This image has become the symbol of a government so fearful of its people that it resorts to violence to silence them. This image has been photoshopped into numerous pictures to highlight the ridiculousness of the whole ordeal.
Just why is this happening? We hear on the news on a daily basis of the protests in Syria that are being cracked down upon by the Syrian government with the use of lethal force. We condemn the Syrian government and demand that the Syrian President leave his office to let a new leader take over. Yet, here we are with a similar situation and we resort to violence to silence citizens who are exercising their First Amendment right to freely and peaceably assemble. (more…)