Furious with American Baseej

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Ari Siletz
by Ari Siletz
23-Jun-2011
 

Emily Good was arrested by the Rochester police for videoing the above arrest scene on her cell phone. Emily was not breaking the law in any way, moreover she was standing on her own property while recording the video. One of the police officers, Mario Masic, gave her an illegal order to get back inside her house, Emily politely stated she was within her rights. This led to her arrest. It seems the police did not wish to be recorded because they were arresting a man and searching his car without probable cause. The fact thay they let the man go and arrested Emily instead corroborates the neighbor's statements that the man's arrest was arbitrary. The supportive neighbors took Emily's cell phone and continued recording as Emily was led away. They also testified that, contrary to what officer Masic says to the camera, Emily had not said anything hostile to the officers prior to starting the recording. The police claim they had pulled the car over to question three members of a known drug gang. The video shows only one unarmed man, and apparently there is no one else in the car. Folks are furious and are calling for Officer Masic to be fired and the police department sued until they don't know what a Dollar looks like any more.

Somehow, the fury I feel about this incident overwhelms my rationality to the point where I don't want Officer Masic's punishment to end with just a firing and a law suit. And I wonder if this is because my nerves are raw over the brutal and arbitrary bullying of Iranian citizens by the Baseej and Iranian police. Next I wonder that if my blood boils from so far away just from a video of American police violating the dignity of a citizen, imagine how people inside Iran are feeling where the law actually mandates police fascism. With all this fury, how do Iranians continue to keep their tempers? 

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MM

A8

by MM on Fri Jun 24, 2011 05:58 AM PDT

While I do not condone prisoner-on-prisoner violence/rape, the systematic rape-torture by the IRI prison-guards is only matched by their own brutal goons on the streets.


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Anonymous8

MM: many rape in American prison

by Anonymous8 on Thu Jun 23, 2011 07:53 PM PDT

According to Human Rights Watch, at least 140,000 inmates are raped each year in the U.S.,[1] and there is a significant variation in the rates of prison rape by race. Just Detention International (formerly known as Stop Prisoner Rape, Inc.) estimate that young men are five times more likely to be attacked, and that the prison rape victims are ten times more likely to contract a deadly disease.


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MM

Ari

by MM on Thu Jun 23, 2011 07:35 PM PDT

The video made me angry too. 

But, let's keep in mind that Emily will most likely not be raped in jail, office Masic will most likely lose his job, or be confined to a desk job for a long time.  And she will come out of this episode as a rich woman after she sues the crap out of this police department.


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پندارنیک

It must be me...

by پندارنیک on Thu Jun 23, 2011 06:36 PM PDT

I don't know why on earth anyone of us should or would be shocked by this video. It's the good old America as it has always been, folks.


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amirparvizforsecularmonarchy

Wow can't believe it!

by amirparvizforsecularmonarchy on Thu Jun 23, 2011 06:17 PM PDT

Since when did America start becoming so fascist.

Guys we need to get the regime in Iran out asap, I got a feeling we may have to move out of America soon.


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Ari Siletz

Anahid, Bavafa

by Ari Siletz on Thu Jun 23, 2011 11:11 AM PDT

Two good points about Iranians becoming numb to injustice and the need to stand up to the uniform.

Also, there's a cinematic factor to note when we compare this video with videos of Baseej brutality. Even though the Baseej are more brutal, the fact that most of the Iran videos are zoomed in from a great distance  suggests a sense of detachment to the viewer. This diminishing of visual and therefore emotional impact  contributes to the "numbness to injustice" element. To show that such artistic factors are far from trivial, imagine if the video of Neda's death had been shot from across the block. The above video urges our anger into action in large part because we hear the victim's voice very clearly behind the camera as though it were our own voice. 

Understandably Iranian protest video makers can't get too close to the scene, but it may be a good idea for the video maker to speak about how he/she feels as she is filming the incident. This eliminates the subconscious sense of detachment, delivering a video with a stronger call to action.


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Bavafa

This is a good example that...

by Bavafa on Thu Jun 23, 2011 09:21 AM PDT

That standing up for your rights, even if confronted and being bullied by a few and stronger individuals dressed in a uniform or not, will lead to keeping our freedom and those thugs at bay.

Emily Good is a brave individual who deserves all of us support.

Mehrdad


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Anahid Hojjati

there are many brave people inside Iran

by Anahid Hojjati on Thu Jun 23, 2011 02:04 AM PDT

but I also think that many people have become used to all the oppression. I have talked to people who mostly live in Iran and have visited here and some note that people have changed for the worse. Again, I don't mean everyone but we have to be realistic and accept that part of the problem that IRI is still in power has to do with the fact that people are getting numb to injustice.


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