UC Davis pepper-spraying cop becomes a meme

Over the weekend, when the news surfaced that students at UC Davis were pepper-sprayed during a sit-in protest, I didn't think much of it. That summary sentence, in itself, leaves just enough blanks to be filled in with a variety of justifications against the students. They probably provoked the officer, or it was just a little bit of pepper spray for a whole lot of students. Campus ne'er-do-wells had been pepper-sprayed before, and no doubt would be pepper-sprayed again.

But it wasn't until the video and photos, with the casual nature of the pepper-spraying cop on full callous display, began making the rounds, that it became clear this incident was something with plenty of future ramifications and would dominate many a news cycle to come. And, also, that the photo of the cop would inevitably become a meme. When you see a photo destined to achieve internet immortality, you just know it.  

So, then: Here's a whole bunch of photos of the casual pepper-spraying cop casually pepper-spraying everything from Sad Keanu to Edvard Munch's The Scream to Super Mario to, of course, the U.S. Constitution. It is a joy.