Irony or Idiocy?

I've been reflecting on the various reactions to the recent police brutality allegations, for example as covered by Letters when Tomlinson died, when we discovered more about his day, and in relation to the protests over his death.

It does seem that the main source of anger, or at least the most vociferous, is from the Left. Those on the Right tend to see the death as sad, regrettable even, certainly worthy of an investigation, but not something to get angry about unless and until the investigation takes all the evidence into account and concludes that the police officers were wrong. That is certainly my view, at least. So, it strikes me as odd that the Left have managed to get themselves into such a state of excitement as a result of the various amateur videos of the incidents.

After all, the recent history of the Left in this country is of ever-increasing levels of State control. The prevailing attitude has been that the State is benign, knows best, can look after us, and (indeed) will do so whether we want it to or not. At the same time, the State has been steadily increasing its control over us, reaching the point recently where we may not photograph its officers.

At one level, of course, it is therefore intrinsically illogical for the British Left to protest at excessive State control. That aside, the means by which they have mobilised their anger is through the use of video footage. That footage is;

• gained by individual citizens operating freely and independently
• using privately owned and privately operated recording equipment
• distributed via privately operated websites,
• websites that are themselves funded by revenues from advertisers

These "Left-wing" protesters are angry that the State has become arrogant and controlling. Their anger is fuelled by the results of private enterprise and individual freedom.

They're not Left-wing; they are Hayekian Conservatives, really. They just don't realise.

UPDATE: Maybe she does realise. It seems that the "anti-capitalist" protester is looking for £50k for her story. Very anti-capitalist, indeed.

UPDATE 2: It seems (provisionally) that he died of abdominal bleeding, not a heart attack. If so, and if the police assault caused or contributed to this, then the police officer needs to face serious questions. It seems that he has been questioned to this effect. This does not, however, affect the view set out in the original post above.