MADISON, Wis. – I really don’t plan on digging in on this, but I’m fascinated by the immediate impression that unions are acting violently, or ready to act violently, as they protest anti-collective bargaining bills. There are indisputable examples of union members getting pissed off during a debate with conservatives and shoving people. To wit:
But my point is that tens of thousands of people have been protesting these bills; there is evidence of two to five people being violent. And there are reports of violence that don’t pan out. This Fox headline :
Union Violence in Wisconsin, Arrest Made
Sounds bad. What happened?
Police have hand-cuffed a protester at the state Capitol after he apparently tried to charge into the state Assembly.
There’s nothing in there that indicates the guy was a union, is there? In fact, the
local version
of the story is headlined “police hand-cuff Capitol protester,” because that’s what happened – a protester tried to run through security. So why call it “union violence”?
