Folks came to hear my perspective on politics and where we are as a country today. The organizers had expected 40 or 50 folks, and more than triple that turned out so they had to move rooms.

Images, Susan Sontag argued, are “invitations” — “to deduction, speculation, fantasy.” They invite empathy, and, with it, investment. It remains to be seen whether Pepper Spray Cop, as a singular ...