Anyone else noticed that certain shroud wavers who were taking the silence* of right wing bloggers over the death of a G-20 protester (or passerby) to be "The stench of hypocrisy" or a "salient demonstration of quite what the right really thinks about freedom in this country" have been remarkably silent over the conviction of a police officer for causing the death of a schoolgirl by dangerous driving?
It can't really be claimed that the one death is less outrageous than the other, because driving at 94mph in a built up are without a siren on is clearly more likely to cause death than hitting someone in the legs and then pushing them in the back. So why the double standard? Could it be that synthetic outrage over one incident is being cultivated so that it can provide an opportunity for sanctimonious moralising and pretending that we live in a police state?
I suppose I should state my own views on the death of Ian Tomlinson to prevent any accusations that I'm justifying it, although my thoughts on the matter aren't terribly interesting. The degree of force he was subjected to was unnecessary and even though it could not really have been anticipated that it would cause serious harm let alone death it may be involuntary manslaughter if a medical examination concludes that it led directly to his death. It is possible that he had been deliberately walking slowly in front of the police but even if that is the case it doesn't justify being beaten with a baton.
* There wasn't any actual silence of course.
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And all the commenters who predicted that the man who took the video footage of Tomlinson would have been 'arrested for photographing the police' were silent on the fact that the police car's onboard camera film was secured and used against him in the trial too.
Odd, that...
The mock outrage at bloggers is tiresome, why does anyone care if Iain Dale has a view on anything, and it's hardly news that traditional right-wing bloggers don't care much for civil liberties.
On the other hand this kind of pretend 'know nothingness' is a bit tiresome Ross. I bet you can think of some differences between the emergence of a video showing previous unreported State brutality and the successful conviction of a policeman who caused death by driving.
I can think of some differences, notably the police's attempt to spin the story, but none which alter my point- that accusing people who hadn't mentioned the story of not caring about police misbehaviour resulting in the death of a bystander is preposterous.
It wasn't "previous unreported State brutality", the story had been in the press for a few days with the IPCC stating that they were investigating conflictig about what happened to Ian Tomlinson before his death.
"..the police's attempt to spin the story.."
Sadly a product of our modern desire for 24/7 news updates and statements NOW!
But it was generally dismissed - was it you or someone else I saw who linked to an article about police tactics by Sunny Hundal with something like 'I'm as big as a twat as I look'?
If there is a left-wing blogger who dismissed or belittled the case against the police driver then you've got a good story.
Great comments Julia.
The issue is how this one officer's actions are being magnified as an example of wholesale police/state "brutality" in our ridiculous media age. It's pathetic. And the civil liberties charade in this regard is what's becoming tiresome.
"was it you or someone else I saw who linked to an article about police tactics by Sunny Hundal with something like 'I'm as big as a twat as I look'?"
That was me, although it was mostly his hypocrisy I was criticising.
Their mock outrage goes to a whole new level this morning, believe me.
Is your site for real? It's like a cross between the Skibbereen Eagle and the Daily Express.
Whose site?
I took it as being directed at LfaT because it was directly after his comment, although as it happens like the Skibbereen Eagle this blog is keeping its eye on the Russian Czar, although mostly to see whether he ventures out of the closet rather than into China.
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