New at Reason

In "Rodney King's Children," reason Managing Editor Jesse Walker talks with a leader of a human rights group that is fighting oppression and torture by posting video on the web.

Read all about it here.

Comments

aix42 | February 15, 2008, 3:46pm | #

It is hard, for me, not to give into despair and assume Big Brother is just a matter of time. Articles like these do provide some hope. I like the idea of little brothers and sisters battling Big Brother.

The article also highlights why we need to keep a healthy fear of government[s]. To blow off Libertarianism as a bunch of greedy hedonists ignores the real concerns all people should have about government power everywhere. The retroactive immunity for telecoms just blows my mind. I honestly am very suprised this can be a question of debate in the 21st century.

Tom | February 15, 2008, 4:13pm | #

Rodney King got what he deserved, the guy is black, he was driving througth a white neighborhood, he was speeding, he was on drugs, the cops arrest these people and they are right back out on the streets again, and they (the cops) get a little sick of it after a while.

ce | February 15, 2008, 4:33pm | #

I don't see how the Rodney King situation even applies to what their organization is doing. Cops getting too rough with a scumbag like RK can't be compared to massacre and forced labor.

megs | February 15, 2008, 6:25pm | #

God damn I love Peter Gabriel. Witness gets money from me. They get so many of the details right - like not hanging onto IP adresses!

Wael Abbas | February 15, 2008, 7:22pm | #

Dear Sir,

With all due respect, I'm Wael Abbas, the one you mentioned in your article as an Arab, I'm Egyptian, not an Arab, there is a big difference! lots of Egyptians have issues with being categorized as Arabs, and Egypt is an independent state with it's own unique culture and history which is totally different than any Arab country in the region, we can not be classified in one category for example with the Saudis or the Libyans.
thank you for understanding.

Wael Abbas

Jamie Kelly | February 16, 2008, 2:14pm | #

Rodney King got what he deserved, the guy is black, he was driving througth a white neighborhood

He would have deserved to be hanged if he dated a white woman too, I guess, eh Tom?
You're a fucking racist idiot.

cartman | February 16, 2008, 4:49pm | #

would have been interesting to bring up the issue of how US cops have been increasingly forceful against being recorded on the job by citizens

Yahoo Answerer | February 17, 2008, 11:28am | #

Cartman, this may simply be because technologies have made it increasingly easier to record them. Had such technology been around in, say, 1955 they probably would have been just as against it.

sv | February 17, 2008, 9:05pm | #

"Cops getting too rough with a scumbag like RK can't be compared to massacre and forced labor."

Obviously the comparison is between the citizen-recorded, 'viral-video' type dissemination of footage sparking societal consciousness of some situation involving human rights abuse. (Like thousands of blacks being unfairly targeted and sometimes abused by police in the US.) No one said the RK beating and others like it was morally equivalent to Burmese government murders or maimings of citizens.

also: you're an authoritarian fascist if you think 4 cops have the right to kick the shit out of a guy just because he's being a drunken idiot. You probably thought that just because the Amadou Diallo situation in NYC was over-sensationalized, he deserved to be slaughtered for no crime or threat whatsoever, because the police are always right. But hey, these days they could just taze the shit out of these peons, right? Asshole.