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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThere is nothing more pathetic than a bunch of white bourgie liberals spouting anti-police sentiment
The fact that you wore a "fuck tha police" t-shirt to high school in the 90s along with all the other preppy suburbanites and that you got all huffy when they made you turn it inside out does not change the fact that your parents would have rung the police the minute a homeless guy fell asleep in your flowerbed.
Similarly your oh-so-edgy statements about police "reaping what they sow" does not change the fact that you would shit in your skinny black jeans the moment the police were not there to stop your hipster barista arse from being soundly whipped.
The police are the predominantly working class schlubs who are charged with keeping some kind of lid on the social problems that we have today, most of which (poverty, homelessness, unemployment) they had no hand in creating. Even the best policing in the world is not going to fundamentally solve those sorts of problems.
Personally, I think it would be a hard-as-fuck job policing a lot of communities in the US, and I'm glad its not me doing it.
nomorenomore08
(13,324 posts)840high
(17,196 posts)were killed yesterday?
nomorenomore08
(13,324 posts)doesn't preclude condemning killings by police as well.
Demsrule86
(68,667 posts)But the blame lies with the killer and with cops who codone unarmed racially motivated killings...how about those cops wearing I can breathe t's? How about the Ferguson prosecutor who admitted to suborning perjury...people need a justice system that works for all and ours is broken.
Voice for Peace
(13,141 posts)nomorenomore08
(13,324 posts)uponit7771
(90,364 posts)... no they don't, just in case you're just getting into this issue)
Red State Rebel
(2,903 posts)nomorenomore08
(13,324 posts)involved with the job, somehow justify killing folks under questionable circumstances.
There are something like a dozen occupations with higher death rates than law enforcement. Yet no one suggests that loggers or deep-sea fisherman should get a freebie kill every now and then.
olddots
(10,237 posts)Fred Sanders
(23,946 posts)What othe police force has to deal with such a heavily armed citizenry they protect and serve?
And what other nation has roaming bands of heavily armed militia patrolling around like military wannabes goaded on by a Major news network?
Tough job indeed.
XemaSab
(60,212 posts)Do they even differentiate between the police and the military there?
alphafemale
(18,497 posts)Killing busloads of kids now.
Fred Sanders
(23,946 posts)XemaSab
(60,212 posts)Yes, we're heading in a horrible direction, but I was answering "what other nation has roaming bands of heavily armed militia patrolling around like military wannabes?"
Mexico.
truebluegreen
(9,033 posts)Just curious.
XemaSab
(60,212 posts)I was taking a bus between San Cristobal and Chiapas when out in the middle of nowhere a bunch of policemen with assault rifles made us get off the bus and they ran all our stuff through a metal detector and searched some bags.
It really made me appreciate our eroding rights in this country.
Jesus Malverde
(10,274 posts)The also have these massive speed bumps on the highways that appear out of nowhere.
http://www.ontheroadin.com/Mexico%20Trip%20Planning%20and%20Info%202011/Miltary%20Police%20checkpoints.htm
They are looking for drugs, guns and ironic from the american point of view illegal aliens. Mexicans don't let people without visas run around like nothing.
Watch what happened to one Australian woman.
Australian woman detained in Mexico after holiday
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-10-27/australian-woman-detained-in-mexico-after-holiday/5843354
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2808742/Mother-Australian-woman-trapped-Mexican-detention-centre-visiting-country-without-visa-says-daughter-moved-country-s-capital-afraid-happen-next.html
http://www.smh.com.au/national/kylie-bretag-returns-home-to-canberra-after-being-freed-from-mexican-jail-20141103-11gie9.html
truebluegreen
(9,033 posts)which are otherwise universally ignored. In Mexico, the speed limit is "however fast your vehicle will go."
And while many towns may have police control points leading in and out, they are generally not manned unless they are looking for something in particular, or, like now, Christmas is coming.
lunasun
(21,646 posts)a la izquierda
(11,797 posts)Just depends on where you are.
Jesus Malverde
(10,274 posts)All in the mix.
They are all seen as having various levels of corruption.
JI7
(89,264 posts)to eric garner and michael brown ?
R B Garr
(16,975 posts)Every one else is accountable for their actions; why not them?
Cha
(297,655 posts)nomorenomore08
(13,324 posts)Boreal
(725 posts)Innocent Hispanics, white, Native American (etc) and helpless dogs? Are they okay?
Cha
(297,655 posts)uppityperson
(115,679 posts)hopemountain
(3,919 posts)- especially in rural and suburban areas is also pervasive and should not be ignored, either.
hotheaded bigoted cops are not just a problem in cities with african american neighborhoods. but, the spotlight right now is on racism against african americans ~ so hopefully, if we can heal one form of racism and bigotry - the remaining will also be healed.
bravenak
(34,648 posts)JonLP24
(29,322 posts)How many assumptions?
LiberalElite
(14,691 posts)but s/he wouldn't want to be judged, I'm sure. Then again, I'm probably one of those white bourgie liberals according to them so what would I know?
nomorenomore08
(13,324 posts)LiberalElite
(14,691 posts)"white bourgie liberals" not get involved in any way because you don't like them?
Iggo
(47,565 posts)...insted of a out-of-control-cops vs the-rest-of-us thing.
I don't look favorably on people who try to do that.
Marr
(20,317 posts)I don't know anyone who fits your description of a 'bourgie liberal'.
So it burns you up when white people don't quietly support police abuses. That's not uncommon. New York police seem to be fuming about the same thing; interpreting Bill de Blasio's acknowledgment of the police abuses too betrayal.
nomorenomore08
(13,324 posts)to "serve and protect" even my white ass. Less so when I lived in West Oakland for a few years.
ecstatic
(32,731 posts)about police brutality and the killing of unarmed citizens.
Warpy
(111,339 posts)so I think I'm qualified, white skin and all, to look at some of them askance.
However, it's not a blanket hate of the cops. I got to know a lot of the local guys when they got stuck guarding bad guys in the hospital. Most of them are good guys doing a tough job where they routinely see people at their worst.
Since the Feds came down hard on the local department for its murder rate, there have been some reforms and one cop got dismissed for having his lapel camera stop working at convenient times including one shooting. They're back to talking crazy people down instead of shooting them just to get it over with. All these things are good things.
What I want to see is drug testing any cop who is suspected of overreacting to check for steroid abuse. I saw enough steroid cases around here to be very suspicious of no-neck musclebound cops who are also sporting beer guts, indicating more time in the bars than at the gym. Those are also the guys who tend to flip out on people. I want any cop with dirty urine to be fired, just like nurses were, unless they also go through strict rehab programs with weekly pee tests.
It's not a hell of a lot to ask and it would likely reduce the number of cops who lose it during an arrest. Nothing will stop it completely because, let's face it, some of us are royal pains in the ass who give them as hard a time as possible. However, slowing it down will do a great deal to restore Officer Friendly to his former position as someone who protects and serves instead of a self appointed judge, jury and executioner.
reddread
(6,896 posts)under such a POS OP.
KingCharlemagne
(7,908 posts)results in death or injury to a civilian must be investigated by a prosecutor\investigator from outside the area who has no ties to local law enforcement. This will remove the "McCulloch Effect" and help restore minority trust in policing.
PDJane
(10,103 posts)You use your gun, you get investigated by civilians, you get tested, and you are investigated.
hopemountain
(3,919 posts)whether or not they are armed and whether or not they outsize the cop.
and any murders or beatings by cop of unarmed mentally ill persons - male or female.
nomorenomore08
(13,324 posts)nomorenomore08
(13,324 posts)Warpy
(111,339 posts)I'm sneaky.
daleanime
(17,796 posts)accurate national data being keep, so we could actually know how bad this really is.
A Little Weird
(1,754 posts)Police work isn't even in the top 10 most dangerous jobs in this country. Should we not hold roofers (and others who hold a more dangerous job) accountable if they decide to take the law into their own hands?
[div class="excerpt"; background-color:#CCCCCC;"]
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10246908
Here are some occupations with higher fatality rates than being a cop:
Logging workers: 129.9
Fishers and related fishing workers: 120.8
Aircraft pilots and flight engineers: 54.3
Roofers: 42.2
Structural iron and steel workers: 37.0
Refuse and recyclable material collectors: 32.3
Drivers/sales workers and truck drivers: 24.3
Electrical power-line installers and repairers: 23.9
Farmers, ranchers and other agricultural managers: 22.8
Construction laborers: 17.8
Taxi drivers and chauffeurs: 16.2
[\div] [\blockquote]
Maintenance and repairs workers, general: 15.7
shaayecanaan
(6,068 posts)but still, I didnt notice anyone at DU crying tears for the fisheries and forestry workers who were dying during the Iraq war.
I didnt notice Jim Lehrer solemnly commemorating each of those workers either, notwithstanding that they died so that we could have paper and fish.
A Little Weird
(1,754 posts)But I also didn't see anyone pretending they are above the law because their work is dangerous.
Cops have dangerous jobs - but they should be held accountable to the same rules as everyone else. I don't see why this is hard to understand.
PDJane
(10,103 posts)And yeah, I've known more than a few. I've also known shitheads who rat on their informants, I've known cops who have informed me that pulling their gun on a brain-damaged junkie is 'job satisfaction,' I've seen cops escalate a problem when there was no need, I've seen them intimidate prostitutes....and yeah, cops don't want prostitution to be legal. I asked, several times, why not. The general answer is that then the cops can't lean on the women to rat out everyone around them, and they can't get free sex. When the G20 was here, the cops were completely out of control, chasing kids around the harbour in their big, black, boats, kettling protesters, going postal on old ladies and students, removing a man's prosthetic leg and refusing to give it back....and dragging him when he couldn't get up and walk.
Are there good cops? Yes. There are. They tend to either change their approach or get out. The more corrupt the department is, the more likely they are that the best of them move on.
The police should not be immune to their own actions. They are, but they shouldn't be. An OPP cop broke the leg of a good Samaritan who was trying to point him in the direction of a guy who had been beating a woman in the alley behind her workplace. He side kicked the women with a karate kick, sucker punched her in the eye, left her cut and bruised and with a badly damaged leg. He then arrested her, leaving her in the squad car, screaming in pain. Those charges were thrown out just recently, after a year of medical bills and lawyer's fees.
This assininity is spreading, you see. It's contagious. And it will cause a whole lot of hurt for the cops, eventually, who will be so mistrusted that they will not be able to do what they are hired to do. There will, sooner or later, be a resistance movement. It's inevitable.
uppityperson
(115,679 posts)grieved. People I do not know personally die fishing and it saddens me. I am sorry if they are meaningless to you.
Savannahmann
(3,891 posts)I eschew your arguments. I reject them out of hand. I would have the post hidden if I state without reservation what I really think of it.
The police have created the environment of us versus them. Now they are reaping the results of that atmosphere. The results I am talking about is public anger and distrust. Demands for change, and reform. And what changes are people demanding? First, accountability. What an outragous demand, that the police be held accountable when they do something. The criminal justice system has no problem insisting that we the peons be held accountable but it's apparently too much to ask that law enforcement folks be held accountable. So much for Liberty and Justice for all.
What other changes? Cameras to show what the cop saw and did. How outragous is that? Why with that information we might double our calls for accountability.
I am heartened that more people from the suburbs and better neighborhoods are joining the calls. While this may be class treason to some, I see it as a good example of empathy with our fellow humans. I am proud to be one of those middle class whites you heap so much derision upon. I'm proud to stand with the disadvantaged and abused. You may be equally proud to stand with the oppressors and abusers. I don't know and would not offer an opinion on that. But I do wonder.
WinkyDink
(51,311 posts)heard of Goodman and Schwerner?
http://www.infoplease.com/spot/bhmjustice4.html
shaayecanaan
(6,068 posts)the recent police killings were some sort of false flag conspiracy by the NYPD are complete wankers.
For the record, I support cameras and video surveillance of police officers, special prosecutors or specialist agencies to investigate killings by police, and federal investigations of police departments that exhibit clearly racist behaviour.
But I tend to think that the most important factor is that a lot of communities are 20% poorer than they were a generation ago, and that raising the minimum wage is the single best thing that can be done for many troubled communities.
socialist_n_TN
(11,481 posts)Says the son and grandson of a fucking sharecropper. I'm NOT a bourgie liberal and never have been and I STILL don't think that some roid raged dickhead with a badge, gun, and a license to kill that James Bond would envy has a right to take away ALL of my rights or anybody else's rights on a whim.
sabrina 1
(62,325 posts)is because they have lost the trust of the people, mostly due to their own behavior.
And their cynical attempt to connect the tragic killings of those two cops to the protests is just shameful. And it shows how far they will go to try to silence the public about the killings of unarmed young Black citizens.
If they want respect, they need to earn it. But frankly I doubt they want it, they are happy to view the public they are supposed to protect as the enemy.
There ARE good cops, but they dare not speak out in many cases.
Rex
(65,616 posts)What pisses me off most is that I am very pro-law enforcement, but watching people say I am just pretending to care is disgusting.
Is it really to much to ask that ALL of us must be forced to follow the laws? THAT is the real issue here. Nobody gets any special favors. We all are equal under the law.
WinkyDink
(51,311 posts)seemingly "normal."
Well, give a man a military weapon, scare him with "terror" talk, and we all look like the proverbial nail to his hammer.
Rex
(65,616 posts)We are the problem and the cops are the solution...in their eyes.
Warren Stupidity
(48,181 posts)Response to shaayecanaan (Original post)
1000words This message was self-deleted by its author.
Logical
(22,457 posts)valerief
(53,235 posts)Rex
(65,616 posts)uppityperson
(115,679 posts)Go Vols
(5,902 posts)I thought we were all old here.
reddread
(6,896 posts)nomorenomore08
(13,324 posts)snooper2
(30,151 posts)I think DU is at least 45% white women over the age of 55
We need another poll
Boreal
(725 posts)BeyondGeography
(39,379 posts)TBF
(32,090 posts)hobbit709
(41,694 posts)seveneyes
(4,631 posts)Edgy has borders, open, not so much. We must contain the the borderlines, yet constraint the unrestrained.
KingCharlemagne
(7,908 posts)broad daylight by some steroid-crazed white pig operating under color of the law, then having the judicial system rubber-stamp that extra-judicial execution and not having the federal government that I pay taxes to every year landing in that local jurisdiction like a ton of bricks and sending some motherfuckers to jail. That's fucking pathetic. Oh yeah, and your copologist post.
uppityperson
(115,679 posts)tblue37
(65,487 posts)snooper2
(30,151 posts)anyway- back to our fact of the day-
Did you know Charlemagne keep the left eyebrow of pagans that wouldn't convert so they got slaughtered? He used to rub them on that jesus sword he stole
uponit7771
(90,364 posts)NuclearDem
(16,184 posts)lumberjack_jeff
(33,224 posts)Not because I entirely agree, but some punchbowls are just begging for turds.
Most cops go in with the idea that they're protecting and serving, but a steady diet of hate takes a toll.
That is not an excuse for the bad apples and the code which protects them, but it is context.
GeorgeGist
(25,323 posts)JaneyVee
(19,877 posts)Grew up soul crushingly poor and on more than one occasion dumpster dived for food as a kid. I've been beaten by the NYPD at past protests during Bush and harassed at recent protests. I co-founded an activist group that was infiltrated and dismantled by the NYPD and FBI and tore apart long friendships and years of hard work for no reason at all. Now I have a lucrative career making great $$$ and am absolutely disgusted and offended that the NYPD has declared war on NYC residents because of one crazy person, especially considering my tax $$$ pays their salaries, and appalled at their attempts to subvert our Constitutional right to protest by daring to link that terrorist POS with recent protests. Protests which I have actively attended. The police brutality needs to end.
What have you done for your country lately?
Union Scribe
(7,099 posts)with that little show?
bhikkhu
(10,724 posts)its not "anti-police" to ask for the rights of all people to be honored, for unarmed people to not be killed, and for people of all sorts to be treated with the respect the constitution guarantees them.
I don't pretend that being a police officer is an easy job, and I'm as glad as you are that I'm not the one doing it, but I don't think its anti-police at all to ask for good and equal treatment. It certainly shouldn't be, and if there were more trust, the job would be an easier one. Trust isn't difficult for me, as I've always been treated well (white, honest looking, given the benefit of the doubt even when I didn't deserve it). I wish everyone could say the same.
WorseBeforeBetter
(11,441 posts)I *never* tire of those.
I'm glad it's not you doing it, either.
Jesus Malverde
(10,274 posts)gets em every time. Like moths to a flame.
Quantess
(27,630 posts)Skinny jeans are hardly the mark of a hipster.
Besides, i bet a lot of these "bourgies" the author is trashing are wearing Mom Jeans.
WorseBeforeBetter
(11,441 posts)But when I think of skinny jeans, I think of Howard Wolowitz in Big Bang:
Oh, look, blipsters!
http://www.theroot.com/photos/2009/05/black_hipster_fashion_from_brooklyn_to_brick_lane.html
Ah, the things you learn thanks to DU.
jwirr
(39,215 posts)did welcome the homeless in the 60s. We did work in the civil rights movement and did more than wear a shirt to school. And I guess that JFK and RFK should both have turned their backs also. Because they do not fit your description either.
I also do not think that it is a good thing that two policemen got killed and I hope it stops now but I doubt it will.
Your attitude toward white supporters of the civil rights movement now and then has some thing missing IMO.
Erich Bloodaxe BSN
(14,733 posts)Welcome to ignore.
kcr
(15,320 posts)That's one less problem to deal with.
UTUSN
(70,740 posts)Douglas Carpenter
(20,226 posts)seveneyes
(4,631 posts)Sometimes you have to do what is needed to survive.
Scootaloo
(25,699 posts)I think you're running up a straw man with the "reaping what they sow" statement. There's a difference between saying the killed cops "deserved it," and pointing out, as many have done, that we shouldn't be surprised when, after all the killings nad lack of indictments, someone decides to take out some police officers.
That doesn't make that person right, or a hero - it makes them a murderer. But no one should be surprised by the fact this is beginning to happen.
nomorenomore08
(13,324 posts)shaayecanaan
(6,068 posts)and I would never criticise the local reaction to events in Ferguson. Those people are authentically angry. In the abstract, I don't even mind rioting, although to be fair those riots land predominantly on the shoulders of local business owners and tend to destroy what little civic backbone these communities have left. Ideally, there should be riots in the preppy white suburban enclaves that are the primary beneficiaries of this system (bring the war home, the Weather Underground used to say) but that would take a lot of buses and other logistics and is probably not feasible.
I had no issue with Occupy. I sent money earlier on. Its probably worthwhile noting that Occupy never wallowed in anti-police sentiment, at least early on when the anarchists and socialists were in charge. They made it clear that they considered the police part of the 99%. Eventually, however, the Daily-Show liberals took over with their North Face duck-down parkas and iPads. They always do.
To employ a certain allegory, it reminds me of the rich, college-attending kids with their draft deferments who used to chant baby killer at the working class stiffs who were press ganged into service in Vietnam, when all the while their mommies and daddies grew rich off their investments in Boeing and KBR.
These people are not interested in change. They want to assuage their guilt, polish their lamps as the champions of the downtrodden. At least until they reach a certain age, and then they don't even pretend to give a fuck anymore.
RiverLover
(7,830 posts)Speaking of friends, I'm friends with a couple, nicest people you'll ever meet. The wife is a teacher for special needs kids and her husband, who's a volunteer youth coach & avid kayaker, is a cop. They're a blast to hang out with. They have 4 rescue dogs & grow the most unique fruits & veggies in their yard...
He's truly an outstanding person, and he totally downplays the dangerous positions he's put in every single day.
He also understands the outrage at police murdering unarmed black men & kids. He gets my outrage...
I just don't get your outrage here, at us? Because we're white, we're not supposed to care & if we do, we're what? What? "White bourgie liberals"?
Its one of the dumbest things I've ever heard. And btw, you spelled 'bourgeoisie' wrong.
WorseBeforeBetter
(11,441 posts)The OP likely spends a lot of time on urbandictionary and Twitter, then brings it to DU. Aren't *we* lucky?
7wo7rees
(5,128 posts)KT2000
(20,587 posts)and over the top.
You use a broad brush to paint the DU community - inaccurately I might add. Your post really is an attack. Why even post here as there are other sites where you would obviously feel more comfortable.
PumpkinAle
(1,210 posts)the police are not the police of even 20 years ago - they are now poorly trained, inept, dishonest thugs who happen to wear a uniform and carry a gun.
I used to respect police officers (I was one for four years), not now. I have been on the receiving end of their lack of professionalism and "I wear the uniform so stfu" - I did nothing wrong, except be perceived to be someone else.
I am also glad you are not a police officer because your pre-conceived ideas are part of what is wrong with many PDs.
For police departments to become responsible and respected they need to self-police, get rid of the corrupt and receive better training and hire better recruits.
Response to shaayecanaan (Original post)
Post removed
Kalidurga
(14,177 posts)more pathetic than a bunch of white bourgie liberals spouting anti-police sentiment. I hung out with many that might be this type at the Occupy protests, I wouldn't know which ones were and which ones weren't we didn't exactly talk about how much money we were or weren't making, we didn't make it personal that way. We talked a lot about the injustice that happens in our country everyday and how banks are completely corrupt, how politics are corrupt, and how local PDs are nothing more than the strong arm for the 1% even if they help out other people on occasion. To protect and serve my ass.
Coventina
(27,172 posts)Demit
(11,238 posts)I've certainly seen better writing.
Response to shaayecanaan (Original post)
Skittles This message was self-deleted by its author.
JEFF9K
(1,935 posts)including you.
There are issues that need to be discussed and resolved; and it can be done without even mentioning race!
TheKentuckian
(25,029 posts)Motherfuckers didn't have a bit of trouble seeing color for 400 years of slavery, or a hundred years of Jim Crow, or apparently to this day when it comes to "animals", "thugs", who is in jail, who gets stopped and frisked, who gets longer sentences, who gets the death penalty but now motherfuckers are color blind?
BULLSHIT!
Response to shaayecanaan (Original post)
otohara This message was self-deleted by its author.
hatrack
(59,592 posts)Cool post, bro!
Coventina
(27,172 posts)Hekate
(90,793 posts)hatrack
(59,592 posts)Stand on the Internet. Near them on the strand,
Half sunk, a rotting straw bale lies, chopped down,
And stinking kelp, and beer cans full of sand
And rhetoric so tragically misread
Show that the author didn't know a thing,
The keys that clattered and the brain so dead:
And on the OP line these words appear:
"My name is Trolololo, Snark of Kings:
Look on my works, DUers, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that flatulent post, pointless and bare
A hundred-plus responses stretch far away.
SomethingFishy
(4,876 posts)Trash.
Maedhros
(10,007 posts)Straight to the ignore list.
Alittleliberal
(528 posts)You have posted the only thread I have seen in over 5 years of everyday viewing that sickened me enough to ignore you.
tblue37
(65,487 posts)WorseBeforeBetter
(11,441 posts)Poor darlings.
McCamy Taylor
(19,240 posts)their rich white bosses. I consider that much more pathetic.
donheld
(21,311 posts)AuntPatsy
(9,904 posts)Jesus Malverde
(10,274 posts)Rex
(65,616 posts)Much more pathetic by miles.
JI7
(89,264 posts)i wonder if the op feels the same way towards those who protest and boycott israel over treatment of palestinians.
RedCappedBandit
(5,514 posts)Ergo, your entire argument is invalid.
Feral Child
(2,086 posts)Last edited Mon Dec 22, 2014, 02:57 PM - Edit history (1)
One DUer got a hide over this flame-bait. Not much of a result, but you can brag over at your true home about your "stealth mission" at DU.
Your final line? I'm glad you're not doing it, also. There are certainly enough thick-headed morons with a hard-on for liberals and minorities and panic in their chicken-shit hearts out there already.
EDIT:
I've checked your profile and realized that you're not a Neo-Confederate posing as a Democrat to disrupt, so I deleted that taunt.
After checking you out, I remembered (from my days as a civil-servant) the slang term for a politically-connected patron of a NYPD cop. Are you familiar with that term? It identifies you and your intent with this OP very succinctly.
I am even more dismayed by your post now, but I'll save my sarcasm. Anything I have to say to you would be rationalized, subsumed by your affiliation.
My first two paragraphs stand.
forthemiddle
(1,382 posts)Darb
(2,807 posts)Please, that was incredibly weak sauce.
Jesus Malverde
(10,274 posts)the wallenda of DU3
H2O Man
(73,605 posts)ChoppinBroccoli
(3,784 posts).....is a bunch of anti-big government sheep bleating in favor of Big Government's hired muscle.
Darb
(2,807 posts)And mighty weak sauce.
CTyankee
(63,912 posts)and perhaps institutionalized. Sounds like neglect and that is rooted in social evils such as poverty. That and the prevalence of so many guns in our society make for a dangerous combination...
Township75
(3,535 posts)Going to college and all.
Sarcasm.
WorseBeforeBetter
(11,441 posts)Demsrule86
(68,667 posts)and not for everyone....so if you can't protect and serve but need to beat, maim and kill then quit the job because we are fed up with your behavior and at some point ...you are going to jail where you belong.
leftynyc
(26,060 posts)than insulting an entire group of people - most of whom see an injustice and want to help - even if it would be easier to simply ignore it because it doesn't effect their lives. Why the fuck should they get involved if some schmuck is going to insult them for it? You whole post is disgusting.
LeftishBrit
(41,210 posts)Last edited Tue Dec 23, 2014, 04:24 AM - Edit history (1)
This is an area where the situation in America is very different from that in many other countries; and where non-Americans need to be very careful about passing broadbrush judgements.
You're in Australia; I'm in the UK.
In both our countries, the majority of police are not armed, and killings by police are much, much rarer than in America.
For that matter, far fewer citizens in our countries are armed.
Neither of us can fully understand what many Americans are having to deal with here, and why they are so afraid and angry. But we can imagine some of it. We should not be equating all protesters and critics of the police with 'hipster baristas' jumping on the latest fashionable cause.
I fully agree that people, who think that we can ever conquer the world's or any country's social problems without dealing with poverty as a major cause, have got their heads up their rear ends; and that in particular that can't be left to the police. I also agree that anyone who gloats over the murder of police is just as bad as someone who gloats over the murder of anyone. But that doesn't mean we can't criticize the violent actions of some police; and especially it doesn't mean that we foreigners, who are lucky enough to live in countries where police violence is far less of a problem than in the USA, should be telling Americans not to get angry over police violence.
nomorenomore08
(13,324 posts)Jesus Malverde
(10,274 posts)kentuck
(111,110 posts)If no one criticized the police, they would do a much better job at protecting our communities...
Do you agree??
Or would the power of all the weapons they control ever go to their heads?
There are violent people out there that the police must encounter from time to time.
But the question that arises is: How much power should the police use in controlling the suspect or violent criminal? Is the first rule, "kill them before they kill you"? Anytime it appears to be so, the people have retained the right to criticize.
As it is with all our government. That is our first amendment right.
TexasMommaWithAHat
(3,212 posts)There are so many reasons why the cops have seemingly become the enemies of the people.
I was watching CNN last night, and one of the guys being interviewed (sorry...don't remember his name) said that policing today is not at all like it was a few decades ago.
Back then, a cop could come across a fight in the park, step in, break it up, and let participants go. A little cajoling the participants, a little good will here and there... He could use his personal judgment to determine if he thought things would escalate. Now, he's supposed to follow some stupid standard police protocol. (And while he didn't mention it, I bet that is followed by lots of paperwork, as well. ) CYA.
Imo, when public policy doesn't allow for "gray areas," I don't think the police force is going to attract folks who can see "in gray," either.
fredamae
(4,458 posts)enlighten us all with your credible evidence and other resources.
randr
(12,414 posts)and I would take issue with one part of your rant for your further consideration.
The so called "schlubs" whom you argue are charged with some sort of responsibility over our "poverty, homelessness, and unemployment" issues are in no way charged with these problems. They are sworn to serve and protect "we" the citizens of our Nation.
The issues, which I agree acerbate the situation our law enforcement personnel find themselves confronting, are the responsibility of all of us. It is our responsibility to ELECT people willing to face these issues and seek solutions based on humanity; not more oppression.
Poverty, homelessness, and unemployment are symptoms of an ill society. There are far more legal enforcement issues assigned to our policing agencies of far greater importance. The fact that not one Wall Street thief has been arrested other than the character that stole from Wall Street is a perfect example of misplaced law enforcement.
We have enough social problems and animosity between "we" the people; I would pose your post as an example. These issues "We" need to resolve outside of any police enforcement.
Let us try to resolve and fix the problems we face in a civil manner and in doing so we will help these poor "shlups" to perform their duties to the best of their abilities.
kentuck
(111,110 posts)Some nut that shouldn't have had a gun killed a couple of cops. Stop the hypocrisy.
joeybee12
(56,177 posts)And are calling those people "bourgie"...I guess you didn't want to take the effort to spell this word out...anyway, you have displayed elitism at its finest.
tenderfoot
(8,438 posts)Your oh-so-edgy commentary fails on so many levels that is it not worth the bother addressing.
Have a nice day.
justiceischeap
(14,040 posts)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bourgeoisie
I don't think most people associated with the protests about police militarization and brutality could be further from bourgeois if they tried. You don't know the economic status of any DU'ers other than yourself or other people, including white people, protesting against totalitarianism--which is where this police authorianism is headed if left unchecked.
And just FYI, nine times out of ten, in America, by the time the police are involved, we've already gotten our "hipster barista arse's" whipped. The police serve the purpose of collecting facts after the crime has occurred when they are called upon. If some of us are lucky, they even catch the bad guy but more often than not, the people who need the police the most are often let down by them.
Orsino
(37,428 posts)Hipsters, liberals and posers.
Response to shaayecanaan (Original post)
NCTraveler This message was self-deleted by its author.
Taitertots
(7,745 posts)Your bias against the people complaining about police criminality is irrelevant.
arely staircase
(12,482 posts)a lot of shit is more pathetic.
pnwmom
(108,994 posts)of any race who have expressed concerns about grossly improper police behavior, which lately included the murder of a 12 year old with a toy gun. An OP like this doesn't belong on DU.
Downtown Hound
(12,618 posts)So yes, they do actually have a hand in creating poverty, unemploment, and homelessness, given that those things tend to spike during every Republican administration.
And then they maintain those things by putting millions of people in prison for non-violent crimes like drugs, making them unable to get good jobs and keeping the cycle of poverty and crime going on forever.
So guess what? If that's really the thing that you find most pathetic, you really need to get out more.
dilby
(2,273 posts)And using Liberal like it's an insult to boot.
shaayecanaan
(6,068 posts)Arugula Latte
(50,566 posts)La Lioness Priyanka
(53,866 posts)and i am very concerned about racial disparities in arrests, killing, and overpolice of people of color especially African Americans.