We have found it, the stupidest thing in the universe! It's an FBI report that says that "black identity extremists" are making people hate cops. I have married two Marines, one of whom served in Fallujah, so I am well aware of what it means to face a hostile population. Only in the instance of domestic law enforcement, I
"Black identity extremists" reminds me of people who sneer down their nose at "identity politics" because god forbid anyone actually care about their own oppression.
The system is supposed to serve everyone, but it doesn't. That is the whole point. It has nothing to do with being opposed to someone on the basis of identity but about the basis of real lived experiences of oppression.
I also have a problem with the report characterizing activism against police brutality as a matter of "perception." It's like telling someone "I'm sorry if I offended you," which means that being offended is a matter of the person who is offended and not the person who has been offensive. Police brutality is a reality, and to call it a perception is not okay.
have been banking on their ability to get away with it without their white fans being any the wiser.No.I think they thought they were enacting the will of the 'white' people.and are doubly shocked that when their efforts were exposed that 'their' people got angry with them rather then thanking them for keeping the colored man down.
15 minutes before curfew This still stuns me that it's a common thing in the USA.Outside of times of natural disaster curfew only exists in prisons, military bases and student dormitories. That a civilian population is routinely subjected to a blanket curfew enforced by the Police is more bizarre than most things those of us on the outside observe.
As I've told my wife more times they she'd like - When the 99% finally get tired of the greedy excesses of the 1%, there is going to be a revolution that is going to make the French Revolution look like a carnival.
This is a fantastic piece, Killermartinis. Truly excellent. I couldn't agree more.
This rang in my head so hard - "out-of-control megalomaniacs who can’t handle the idea of a world in which they are not petty tyrants....It’s the cops themselves that made me a radical, watching them abuse their power..."
My stepfather is a retired cop, and I am uncomfortably certain that my feeling that he was "one of the good ones" when he was on the job is based more on wishful thinking and love than it is on what he's like as a person and what he's said about how he approached his job.
I know that, as a person, he prides himself on being fair and even-handed - he's the peacemaker in our family arguments, and tries to take the emotion out of fights and think things through fairly and logically. I know that he has spoken often of how important it was for him, as a cop, to treat everyone, from the junkies who helped him with his DRE certification to the chief surgeon he pulled over for drunk driving, with respect. I know he frequently said that he accepted that interacting with him was the worst part of the day for anyone he encountered on the job and it was up to him to make sure it wasn't worse than it had to be, but I have zero confidence in his ability to see his own prejudices at work, and I have to wonder how quick he was to think it had to be worse for some people more than others.
I want to think that he wouldn't have been one of these militarized assholes, but I know that he got a little extra swagger on when he put on the highway patrolman's uniform of breeches, boots, and a leather jacket, and an even bigger one when he got on the big police motorcycle.
I know that the worst thing I ever heard him call someone he arrested was a "skel," but I have zero confidence that he was immune from the casual racism and ugliness his cop friends seemed so comfortable expressing, and I have even less confidence that he would ever turn in a fellow cop for being a violent racist asshole to someone or for brutalizing a suspect or a member of the public.
I've met a few of his cop friends, and nearly every one of them has at some point made me wince or protest in response to some openly bigoted, arrogant comment...and it was as much the arrogance - the evident belief that they held all the power - as it was the bigotry that would make me gag.
THOSE are the guys who formed my opinion of cops... THOSE are the guys who made me view cops with suspicion even though I'm insulated from their worst behavior by being a nice middle-class white lady in a mostly white county as well as a cop's kid.
This piece brought me face to face with a realization I've tried to avoid - even if he was as fair and even-handed and respectful as he said he tried to be, it all means nothing if the men he worked with were violent and racist and brutal and he did nothing about it. In the end, I know to my bones that he would side with them over the public they claim to serve, and that stupid, toxic, arrogant brotherhood is what makes THEM be the enemies of everyone else... NOT the other way around.
What I noticed about the G-20 protests on TV was that all of the cops had identifiers on their backs, on their helmets. They were codes, rather than names, but that made them readable at a distance. How novel. To be held responsible for your actions because even though you look like part of an army, you are in fact identifiable.
You have to keep in mind that this was in the Cleveland area, during the 80s, during the crack epidemic, during Reagan's just say no campaign, and during the demonization of black people as welfare queens or crack dealers. It was a highly charged and racist environment.
A friend of mine, who has all the progressive libtard bona fides, became a police this year. Super nice guy. Candle in the darkness and all that.
Wow. I absolutely would have not expected that, seriously. I guess boys will be boys, any and everywhere.
"Black identity extremists" reminds me of people who sneer down their nose at "identity politics" because god forbid anyone actually care about their own oppression.
The system is supposed to serve everyone, but it doesn't. That is the whole point. It has nothing to do with being opposed to someone on the basis of identity but about the basis of real lived experiences of oppression.
I also have a problem with the report characterizing activism against police brutality as a matter of "perception." It's like telling someone "I'm sorry if I offended you," which means that being offended is a matter of the person who is offended and not the person who has been offensive. Police brutality is a reality, and to call it a perception is not okay.
They love to use that symbol. I've seen it on squad cars.
It's the header for my facebook page.
We're so very special.....
have been banking on their ability to get away with it without their white fans being any the wiser.No.I think they thought they were enacting the will of the 'white' people.and are doubly shocked that when their efforts were exposed that 'their' people got angry with them rather then thanking them for keeping the colored man down.
15 minutes before curfew This still stuns me that it's a common thing in the USA.Outside of times of natural disaster curfew only exists in prisons, military bases and student dormitories. That a civilian population is routinely subjected to a blanket curfew enforced by the Police is more bizarre than most things those of us on the outside observe.
Finland, since 1921 apparently.https://www.theguardian.com...
Back in 2002, a Nokia executive received a €116,000 fine for speeding on his Harley Davidson motorcycle.
Dudley Dowrong.
As I've told my wife more times they she'd like - When the 99% finally get tired of the greedy excesses of the 1%, there is going to be a revolution that is going to make the French Revolution look like a carnival.
Listen lady I will yell at rich people about empathy ANY TIME YOU LIKE. I do that on command.
This is a fantastic piece, Killermartinis. Truly excellent. I couldn't agree more.
This rang in my head so hard - "out-of-control megalomaniacs who can’t handle the idea of a world in which they are not petty tyrants....It’s the cops themselves that made me a radical, watching them abuse their power..."
My stepfather is a retired cop, and I am uncomfortably certain that my feeling that he was "one of the good ones" when he was on the job is based more on wishful thinking and love than it is on what he's like as a person and what he's said about how he approached his job.
I know that, as a person, he prides himself on being fair and even-handed - he's the peacemaker in our family arguments, and tries to take the emotion out of fights and think things through fairly and logically. I know that he has spoken often of how important it was for him, as a cop, to treat everyone, from the junkies who helped him with his DRE certification to the chief surgeon he pulled over for drunk driving, with respect. I know he frequently said that he accepted that interacting with him was the worst part of the day for anyone he encountered on the job and it was up to him to make sure it wasn't worse than it had to be, but I have zero confidence in his ability to see his own prejudices at work, and I have to wonder how quick he was to think it had to be worse for some people more than others.
I want to think that he wouldn't have been one of these militarized assholes, but I know that he got a little extra swagger on when he put on the highway patrolman's uniform of breeches, boots, and a leather jacket, and an even bigger one when he got on the big police motorcycle.
I know that the worst thing I ever heard him call someone he arrested was a "skel," but I have zero confidence that he was immune from the casual racism and ugliness his cop friends seemed so comfortable expressing, and I have even less confidence that he would ever turn in a fellow cop for being a violent racist asshole to someone or for brutalizing a suspect or a member of the public.
I've met a few of his cop friends, and nearly every one of them has at some point made me wince or protest in response to some openly bigoted, arrogant comment...and it was as much the arrogance - the evident belief that they held all the power - as it was the bigotry that would make me gag.
THOSE are the guys who formed my opinion of cops... THOSE are the guys who made me view cops with suspicion even though I'm insulated from their worst behavior by being a nice middle-class white lady in a mostly white county as well as a cop's kid.
This piece brought me face to face with a realization I've tried to avoid - even if he was as fair and even-handed and respectful as he said he tried to be, it all means nothing if the men he worked with were violent and racist and brutal and he did nothing about it. In the end, I know to my bones that he would side with them over the public they claim to serve, and that stupid, toxic, arrogant brotherhood is what makes THEM be the enemies of everyone else... NOT the other way around.
Why would I? I have a desk.
What I noticed about the G-20 protests on TV was that all of the cops had identifiers on their backs, on their helmets. They were codes, rather than names, but that made them readable at a distance. How novel. To be held responsible for your actions because even though you look like part of an army, you are in fact identifiable.
You have to keep in mind that this was in the Cleveland area, during the 80s, during the crack epidemic, during Reagan's just say no campaign, and during the demonization of black people as welfare queens or crack dealers. It was a highly charged and racist environment.