If you didn't sign up to be a cop to protect and serve people, even potentially at the expense of your life, you chose the wrong job. Or at least that's what I'd say if reality were in line with pretty much everyone's expectations. Who didn't picture cops as heroes when they were growing up? (That was supposed to be rhetorical but I bet there are a lot of people who thought cops were pretty scary.) I thought cops were heroes. They fought bad guys and saved lives, right? Right?
21 years into this and I still don't know. Do cops fight bad guys? Sometimes, I guess. What if the bad guys are other cops? Nope! Cops don't even remotely consider the possibility that other cops could be the bad guys. Either that or they'll lose their job if they start fighting the corruption inherent in the system. Cops stick together because they don't have a choice. The longer it goes on, the worse they get. Good, corruption-fighting cops are expelled like the pus from a swollen pubescent pimple.
Onto current(ish) events:
It must really suck being an NYPD officer right now. You feel betrayed. All along you thought that beating, bullying, and killing people was protecting them even though it's technically against the laws you swore to uphold. For so long it's been you and the government against the world and the world didn't really fight back much anyway so it was all fun and games. You'd brutalize a peaceful citizen, they'd try to get charges brought against you but, through it all, you had the government to bail you out. What a relief to have big brother there to wag his finger and say, "be more careful next time," and then wink because you both know that you won't and that you've both got each other's backs. All of the sudden, a new politician comes along and he has this crazy notion that the police, the enforcers of the law, should not be breaking the law.
BOOM
"We're going to symbolically turn our backs to you just like you did to us."
Oh, you're going to blame the mayor for not being alright with you literally getting away with murder? You're gonna blame people murdering cops in revenge for cops murdering unarmed, nonviolent citizens on the mayor? I don't understand. I mean, I understand that with Michael Brown there was at least the veil of not really knowing for sure what happened. With Eric Garner you've got nothing except "well he was breaking the law." Look out speeders. Look out kids who drink underage. Look out anyone who's ever broken a law. You have all apparently done something that justifies your murder in the eyes of cop apologists.
A lot of people who are anti-police say that it is just recently that this has all come about. I'm not sure that that's true. I definitely think the police have always had this sort of unspoken agreement with the legislators that, as long as they act unquestioningly as the faithful agents of the government, the government will look out for them and make sure they don't get in trouble for anything. Law enforcement has definitely stepped up its game in the wake of 911 though and it continues to get worse and worse. It's to the point where any assembly of people protesting is treated like a violent protest and maybe that's what the government wants. It isn't necessarily what the people want.
The people want cops who protect the people and not themselves. The people want cops who aren't dicks. The people are perfectly willing to accomplish these goals through peaceful means but when you build it up like every public demonstration is this imminent riot and shut it down, it's just going to make things worse. As a person who likes to speak my mind and at least have the illusion that I'm being heard, I can tell you that being shut down and not allowed to even try to communicate my position is quite possibly the most frustrating thing I ever have to endure. Why the hell would you take people who are so upset about something that they are out protesting - yelling and screaming - and tell them that they aren't allowed to do that? Shutting down people who are upset and vocal is the best way to ensure that they will become upset and violent. But I'm sure the government knows that.
I have the sneaking suspicious that the government is intentionally throwing gas on the flames by not indicting people for things that could have easily gotten an indictment were the accused not a cop and by shutting down protesters as quickly as possible. This way, when the violence inevitably happens, the blood will be on the hands of the revolutionaries. This little revolution train is chugging along at quite the clip and, if the government doesn't seriously audit itself very soon, there will be a civil war. There's already enough civil unrest to fill the streets for miles and miles. To not change in the face of so much fury is to ensure a violent revolution. I do not in any way condone such a revolution but this change has to happen one way or the other. I'm not the one shutting the door on peace.
-Ben
No comments:
Post a Comment