Public outrage emerged when police officers at University of California, Davis, used pepper spray to control Occupy UC Davis protesters who were seated in the school’s quad on November 18, 2011. Video and photos of the controversial incident were quickly beamed around the Internet. In a comedic twist on a disturbing event, the man behind the pepper spray trigger, Lieutenant John Pike, became the face of an Internet meme that saw his image pasted into various famous scenes. (AP Photo/The Enterprise, Wayne Tilcock)
fiction author. cultural anthropologist. journalism advocate.