zlacker

It is definitely hard to know where to draw the line. But there’s a common rhetorical tactic in situations like these, where it’s hard to know. And that is: to say, well, since we don’t know where to draw the line, then everything is permissible (or everything is forbidden, depending on what side someone is arguing)

But the truth is, while the line may be hard to draw—and in reality, there probably will never be a perfectly defined line—there are always cases that are definitively on one side or the other. And police violence against non-violent protests will always be on the “unacceptable” side, no matter where it ends up being.

Some situations are grey. But it does not follow that all situations are.