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- Newsgroups: soc.motss
- Path: sparky!uunet!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!rpi!usenet.coe.montana.edu!news.u.washington.edu!henson!reed!nelson
- From: nelson@reed.edu (Nelson Minar)
- Subject: Re: Pro-Queer violence and Re: Starting Trouble: Homophobia at MIT
- References: <1993Jan19.224047.23735@reed.edu> <18432@autodesk.COM> <1993Jan24.034837.28825@cltr.uq.OZ.AU>
- Organization: Reed College, Portland, OR
- Date: Sun, 24 Jan 1993 09:29:55 GMT
- Message-ID: <1993Jan24.092955.6505@reed.edu>
- Reply-To: nelson@reed.edu (Nelson Minar)
- Lines: 27
-
- In article <1993Jan24.034837.28825@cltr.uq.OZ.AU> yal@cltr.uq.oz.au (Yvette Lian) writes:
- >So....... what the hell IS capsicum, if it isn't a hollow vegetable the
- >size of my hand?
-
- Capsicum is a pepper plant originally from the New World. (This I know
- because it comes up in the Voynich manuscript)
-
- Capsicum is also the active ingredient in a variety of "personal
- self-defence chemicals". Ever heard of Mace? Same idea. You have a
- little can of stuff driven by an aerosol. You spray the stuff at
- someone, and if it's a strong enough irritant, the victim is blinded
- or distracted by pain or..
-
- Capsicum based things work largely through the capacity for pepper
- oils to irritate the mucus membranes. And since it's all organic, it
- seems less likely that it will permanently hurt someone. PC weapons.
-
- I've only seen it used once, at one of Portland's George Bush riots.
- The cops were attacking people who were throwing rocks at them.
- Several friends of mine were hit, and while it looked unpleasant they
- weren't exactly incapacitated. But the cops were laying it down across
- the crowd, not singling out people.
-
- It was also popular for awhile in women's self defence groups, at
- least in Portland.
- __
- nelson@reed.edu \/ All of the freaks are not inside the tents
-