Greenwald’s article is so much more than observations on the Authoritarian contingent in this country but the snippet below struck me as apt for what I do here.

It’s a strange and scary exercise, clicking through the news sites and reading the pure hatred from the Right Wingers concerning #OWS.

An 84-year old woman gets pepper sprayed here in Seattle and the news sites echo with “She got what she deserved”.

These kids – doing nothing remotely threatening to police – get sprayed at point-blank range with military-grade pepper spray (some sprayed over and over, in their mouths even) and they’re characterized as the essence of evil by the legion of Right-wing commenters (who swear the news sites are just soooooo Liberal).

It’s a very small step to go from supporting the abuse of defenseless detainees (including one’s fellow citizens) to supporting the pepper-spraying and tasering of non-violent political protesters… At the root of all of those views is the classic authoritarian mindset: reflexive support for authority, contempt for those who challenge them, and a blind faith in their unilateral, unchecked decisions regarding who is Bad and deserves state-issued punishment.

via The roots of the UC-Davis pepper-spraying – Glenn Greenwald – Salon.com.