Teacher Dude 3
Published by deviousdiva September 29th, 2007 in Activism.Thank you George for your comment pointing to a letter Teacher Dude sent to the Athens News outlining his experience of police brutality. You can read his full account of the incident here. I talked to Teacher Dude at DD live on Thursday and asked him what we could all do to help. He told me that he wants to use the anger he feels about what happened to him to highlight this all-too common problem (through legal means and exposure in the media).
I urge you all to read his account and post to your blogs, websites or any other forums you have access to. This is a serious problem and I think Teacher Dude is absolutely right to use his experience to expose it to the world.
Technorati: 
as I said in the first post on that he MUST file a complaint as there is no law banning that; we did not hear from you on that since
Panayote, Teacher Dude is pursuing this through legal channels. Thank you for your offer of help. I passed that on to him.
I’ve posted this comment on Teacher Dude’s blog too. I hope you’ll allow it.
Sounds to me that in a tense situation you (Teacher Dude) took a calculated risk by getting in the faces of the MAT. People generally don’t like having cameras stuck in their faces. It’s an invasion of their space. You put yourself in danger, irritated the riot police while they were wound up and trying to do their job. You said yourself that maybe you were stupid. Now, having miscalculated – and got a minor beating – you’re making a big song and dance about your own error of judgement. My opinion: get over it, put it behind you, forget about it. These things happen. Worse things happen. The scars seem more mental than physical, ie it’s your pride that’s been hurt more than anything else. You’ll survive. What’s the point of starting a campaign? What do you think you are going to achieve? End police aggression? Come on, don’t be so sanctimonious. They’re a police ‘force’, not social workers. Sure, we’d all like the cops to be Dixon of Dock Green, but we also all know that if you rub a cop up the wrong way he’ll go for you. You have to use your common sense in certain situations and it seems you didn’t. That’s your fault. As for George’s suggestion that you should have told them you were British, it’s a good job you didn’t; because I’ve seen people try the ‘I’m British’ card and all they’ve got for their conceit is more aggravation. Maybe, subconsciously, you thought you weren’t in danger because you were British and these Greek cops wouldn’t dare touch a subject of Queen Elizabeth. Generally, I hope you get over your injuries soon, but don’t make a martyr of yourself – or allow all these silly feminine expressions of sympathy sway you into prolonging an unfortunate but not too serious situation.
Apologies if I come across as being harsh, but you and Devious Diva have put this story on your blogs, on a public forum, so I feel I’m entitled to express my opinion.
Good photos, by the way.
undialogue.blogspot.com
JohnZ,
Since you feel “entitled” to express your opinion here, I’ll assume the same with regards to your comment.
People generally don’t like having cameras stuck in their faces. It’s an invasion of their space.
Wrong. The space that he was in belonged to him too. Since they approached him, as well, he was no more getting in their face than they were getting in his.
Now, having miscalculated – and got a minor beating – you’re making a big song and dance about your own error of judgement.
Well, if it’s so minor, why don’t you go out and get one yourself? Even if engaging in a peaceful rally was an error of judgment (which is a ridiculous assertion, by the way), that doesn’t excuse the fact that the police were abusing their authority by beating someone who was not posing a threat to them or anyone else.
Come on, don’t be so sanctimonious.
Perhaps you should take your own advice.
we also all know that if you rub a cop up the wrong way he’ll go for you.
We also know that cars can be dangerous. Does that mean we should just excuse it if someone hits us with one? The fact that some cops will “go for you” if you rub them the wrong way does not excuse their behavior. Even if they do it all the time, it’s still wrong and they are still supposed to be held liable for such behavior.
Generally, I hope you get over your injuries soon, but don’t make a martyr of yourself – or allow all these silly feminine expressions of sympathy sway you into prolonging an unfortunate but not too serious situation.
“Silly feminine expressions of sympathy”? Boy do you have issues!! Standing up for one’s rights is not “making a martyr of yourself”. Listen, if you want to be a cop’s bootlicker or fanboy, have at it. However, there’s no reason why Teacher Dude should be the sort of coward that you apparently are.
Apologies if I come across as being harsh, but you and Devious Diva have put this story on your blogs, on a public forum, so I feel I’m entitled to express my opinion.
Wow, you certainly are clueless! A blog is not a “public forum”. If you are allowed to comment, then it is only because the blogger has decided to do you a favor.
Furthermore, if you think that being in a public forum entitles you to express yourself, then your advice to Teacher Dud is full of shit because he was doing just that when the police attacked him.
I hope getting that off your chest made you feel better. As for the substance of your comment – well, there is no substance just overwrought personal abuse. What is the point of that? Why don’t you go over to TD’s blog and see the measured and intelligent way he responded to what I had to say – and he was the one who got the beating, not you. Brownie points to TD, but not to you, I’m afraid. Do you know what sanctimonious means, by the way?
sanctimonious
IN BRIEF: Self-righteous, hypocritical about one’s own holiness.
Some men look at constitutions with sanctimonious reverence, and deem them like the ark of the covenant, too sacred to be touched. — Thomas Jefferson, (1743-1826), 3rd U.S. president, author of the Declaration of Independence.
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what didnt you understand jz…..
Poor, poor JohnZ feels like he’s been abused by me. Cry me a river! You left the idiotic comment and I responded, pointing out how idiotic it was. If you can’t deal with criticism, then perhaps you should stay in cradle and keep the covers pulled over your head until the adults are finished conversing.
A step-by-step response to the comment by john z
I have always allowed comments on this blog from people who disagree with me, as you yourself know john z.
From what I have read of Teacher Dude’s account of the incident and the photos he took (not just of the police but of the whole march), he was not in peoples faces. Taking pictures in this manner is not illegal so there is no reason to suppose that the police would be “irritated” by. I find it worrying that you talk about the police being “wound up”. I understand that adrenaline levels must be high because the job can be dangerous but surely a basic skill must be the ability to stay calm and react to situations with a clear head ? Not attack a person who was taking pictures.
I am not sure what constitutes a “minor” beating. To me, a dislocated shoulder, broken nose, cuts and bruises is not minor. No assault is minor. If we have to have a comparison chart to consult before we make a complaint, where would we end up? Being manhandled in any way for absolutely no reason is wrong and I think it is dangerous to draw lines and comparisons between different assaults.
In my opinion, this is not about making a “song and dance” about the incident. Teacher Dude is pursuing his case against the police using the proper channels. He is blogging about it as is his right
This is a very common response to situations where people actually speak out about injustice. Worse things DO happen but does that mean we should just sit back and accept whatever authorities do ? Where would that lead us ? When do we start shouting about it ? Once someone is paralyzed ? Dead ? Where are you going to draw the line ?
The scars probably are mental too but psychological trauma is very serious. Long after injuries are healed, the effects of shock and fear remain. The police force is there to protect us not to beat us to the ground because they felt like it. I am sure Teacher Dude had no fear of attack before this incident. I don’t know how he feels now but I would feel very insecure and fearful if this had happened to me.
That is what activists do. Stand up and say ” I am not going to put up with this situation. I want to do something to stop it happening to someone else” Perhaps the next person who gets assaulted by the police will be more seriously injured or even killed. Where is the problem in trying to prevent that ? Ending police aggression would be great. Sanctimonious?!!! Well, you can resort to insulting people but I admire people who take responsibility for the society they live in and work to make it better.
I don’t think anyone here is naive enough to think that the police are social workers. It is rather condescending for you to assume that. But what constitutes “rubbing a cop up the wrong way” ? Taking a photograph ? Looking at him funny ? Aren’t the police trained to do their job and not get wound up by innocent members of the public ? Teacher Dude was doing nothing wrong. Why then would police lose it by seeing a camera ? It seems totally over the top to me and not what I would expect from anyone, let alone a police officer. If TD had been beaten up by a civilian for taking their picture, would you have the same response ? Wouldn’t that person be arrested and charged with assault ? I don’t understand why you are defending this behavior because it was the police who did it.
Well, that’s just sad if you are saying there are scales of aggravation that you will suffer depending on what country you were born in. TD has never used the “I’m British” card and as an intelligent person I don’t think it would cross his mind that he is somehow protected from anything just because we happen to have a royal family ! This part of your comment is just bizarre. Perhaps you just have something against the British for some reason ? I don’t know.
I am glad that you wished TD a speedy recovery but, of course, you had to take it away with the other hand. This is not about being a martyr. This is about standing up and saying “I not going to put up with this treatment. I want to do something about it”. At the very least, the police officers who were involved should be reprimanded for their behavior. Personally, I think they should be charged with assault and go to trial as anyone else would. The expressions of support have come from many different people from all over the world. Many of them from men. If this is a feminine expression of sympathy then so be it but you insult me when you call it “silly”. As if my opinions are childish and irrelevant just because I happen to be a woman. But I’m a tough person, so your insults will not prevent me (or any other woman) from standing up against something that I see as unjust.
Your opinion is more misguided than harsh. Rude yes. But it is not as if we haven’t heard this type of thing before here on this blog. Yes, you are entitled to your opinion but, as I have said before, don’t be surprised and hurt when people respond negatively towards you.