When we encounter a typical top-of-a-hierarchy attitude, we want to expose their true motives to the right audience. For example, passive resistance works because, given enough rope, people who are vehement about conserving hierarchies will expose themselves in unacceptable ways.
Nicholas Kristof, a columnist for The New York Times, recently wrote an article entitled, "Authorities play into the hands of occupiers," that describes how the Occupy protests might have died in infancy if a senior police official have not pepper-sprayed young women on video. Kristof describes how harsh police measures built popular support.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/20/opinion/sunday/kristof-occupy-the-agenda.html
