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UC Davis Spent $175,000 To Bury Search Results After Cops Pepper-Sprayed Protestors (theverge.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Verge: The University of California, Davis spent at least $175,000 to improve its reputation on the internet after images of campus police pepper-spraying protestors went viral in 2011, according to documents obtained by The Sacramento Bee. The money went to public relations firms that promised to clean up the university's search results. One company outlined a plan for "eradication of references to the pepper spray incident," according to the documents, and was eventually paid nearly $93,000, including expenses, for a six-month campaign in 2013. After that, the Bee reports, the university paid $82,500 to another PR firm to create and follow through on a "search engine results management strategy." The latter firm was later given thousands more in other contracts to build a university social media program, and to vet its communications department.
The Streisand effect strikes again. I find it justice that by news outlets reporting that UC Davis paid to cleanse the web of the incident means that people will be reminded of the incident.
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
Know what else is great for your reputation? Not acting like a bunch of fucking assholes. And it's free!
... the fact that Davis tried to bury this in the first place, or that they were gullible enough to flush $175K down the toilet for that kind of scam.
I don't know if you saw the picture, but the protesters here were sitting down with linked arms, not in any way threatening the "peace" officer or pushing him to his limit. So while your point may be justified in some contexts, this isn't one of them.
What I find interesting is that this case highlights the university's complicity with the violent act meted out upon peaceful protesters. Fifty years down the line, without these attempts to scrub the world clean of "that photo", it would have been linked to one bad officer whose employer's fault is giving him the job in the first place. But by trying to whitewash the incident, the university is effectively saying "Actually, this was us, employing violent thugs is policy, not an accident, and we abhor peaceful protest. We believe this so strongly we're willing to spend $175k on rehabilitating the reputations of those we employ to harm others."
Which is... revealing.
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
"According to a database of state worker salaries, he earned $119,067 in 2011, the last year for which figures are available."
He received $38,000 in workman's compensation for the suffering he experienced after the event, which isn't included in the salary figure.
http://www.sfgate.com/politics...
Make up context much. The Alabama protestors did not surround the police. In fact they were marching up the road. And pepper is not dogs.
That was the point. The protestors at UC Davis did not "surround" the police. They were sitting down in a line. There were other students watching and filming but the actual protestors were sitting down. So your point was factually a lie. The other point is that assaulting someone who poses no threat to you seems to be okay with you. Have you ever been pepper sprayed? It's a painful experience.
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
Under your interpretation, the first amendment is meaningless. "You can protest, but anything we do to you is your fault" means that there is no right to protest.
Just declaring that the order to disperse is a "legal order" does not automatically make it so, but plenty of police seem to think that it does.
In this case, the protesters were clearly peaceful, were offering no resistance and presented no threat to the police. Other people were not affected by the protesters since they could have easily walked around the protesters.
Furthermore, the officer who used the pepper spray was not authorized to carry and use this weapon. Double standards such as this (no meaningful action for breaking department rules and policies) serves to encourage the use of excessive violence against the public.
The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!