> Brian Siano wrote:
>
>> Um... maybe I ought to make myself clearer. There's no way that
>> anyone could regard MOVE as "speaking truth to power," whatever that
>> phrase means. It might be tempting to compare MOVE to, say the
>> Panthers, but a closer comparison'd be to the Branch Davidians or an
>> armed white-separatist compound. MOVE was a dopey, simple-minded
>> cult, led by a severe psychotic, whose actions against its neighbors
>> practically _invited_ a severe police crackdown. At the time of his
>> arrest, Mumia's involvement with MOVE had probably damaged his own
>> judgment as much as it had damaged his journalism career.
>
> I didn't say that MOVE was speaking truth to power. I said that Mumia
> was speaking truth to power as a radical journalist. MOVE may have
> been a weird cult, but the authorities have a way of overreacting to
> stuff like MOVE. Just look at what happened in Waco.
>
> I think that it is irresponsible to suggest that MOVE's actions
> invited a police crackdown. The police don't typically drop bombs on
> houses for noise complaints.
It wasn't just "noise complaints." MOVE members would threaten neighbors with shotguns, and broadcast threats from loudspeakers-- and given that they'd already _been_ in a shootout with Philly cops, one can understand the neighbors for being a teensy bit miffed.
I wouldn't say that this deserved bombing a whole neighborhood into ruins, and murdering eleven people. But it's difficult to see MOVE as an innocent entity in this.