Democracy

Our eyes & ears runneth over w/ the "This is a judeo-Xian nation" line of "thought." Most of those espousing it don't mention the Greco-Roman packers of much/most of the intellectual baggage the "West" hauls behind it in its wheeled bag, searching the station for someone who can speak English & will tell them which track the train to hell is on.

They'll whine about "libertyfreedomresponsibilityaccountabilityblahblah" until the words have lost their meaning & they're blue in their faces, but to see some of these concepts in action we have to return to our Greco-Roman roots. 

Rioting in several cities, including Hania in Crete and cities in northern Greece, began within hours of the death Saturday night of a 15-year-old shot by police in Exarchia. The downtown Athens district of bars, music clubs and restaurants is seen as the anarchists' home base. Soon stores, banks and cars were ablaze. The rioting was some of the most severe Greece has seen in years. The last time a teenager was killed in a police shooting — during a demonstration in 1985 — it sparked weeks of rioting.

Now think of the United Snakes. When what we used to call a "pig" shoots an unarmed, law-abiding citizen who was "reaching for his waistband," every politician stands up & screams about the "thin blue line," the officer(s) involved are put on desk duty, & it's turned over to the legal system, where it essentially disappears. Short of smoking gun level evidence (Rodney King) the oppressed return to being oppressed.

In Greece, not only do the righteous riot, as they should, but 

The two officers involved in Saturday's shooting have been arrested and charged, one with premeditated manslaughter and the illegal use of a weapon, and the other as an accomplice. They are to appear before a court Wednesday. They and the Exarchia precinct police chief have been suspended. Interior Minister Prokopis Pavlopoulos, whose offer to resign was rejected Sunday, has promised a thorough investigation. "It is inconceivable for there not to be punishment when a person loses their life, particularly when it is a child," he said. "The taking of life is something that is not excusable in a democracy."

Damn. We've never heard a Yankee pig-dog pol say anything like that, let alone offer to resign when there is a screw-up under his or her responsibility. (Although we're sure that many of the "offers" to resign that we hear of any as bogus as the day is long. Still, here in AmeriKKKa, even the gesture goes unmade.)

One point w/ which we don't agree:

"I understand the anger and the right to demonstrate it," Pavlopoulos said Sunday night. "What is inconceivable is the raw violence that undermines social peace and turns against the property of innocent people."

No one who "owns" property is innocent.

P. S.: Plenty/swell pix & vids of disorder & arson at the link. And: They still call 'em "pigs."

Violence broke out again Sunday afternoon in Athens and Thessaloniki during demonstrations to protest the shooting. "Cops, pigs, murderers," protesters chanted.