The way things are.
How are things? The general consensus is: "Not great."
A quarter of the nation is unemployed, thanks to a novel virus causing international lockdowns for social distancing.
Large cities are powderkegs of "protesters" and police clashing.
Cultural wars are in full swing. We have strong evidence (hell, let's just say "confirmation") of outside influence by international online arsonists who are fomenting hate and discontent on social media.
The President says that he does not trust:
The news media.
Scientists and doctors.
Our nation's intelligence services.
Our nation's criminal justice system.
The Left is cast as being full-bore socialists who want to tear down free enterprise, and get rid of the police.
The Right is being portrayed as racist, war-mongering, radical conservative, gun-obsessed zealots who care nothing for the nation's environment.
Police are being portrayed as focused on killing or at least hurting people of color whenever they can get away with it, who totally would get away with it, if The Left let down their guard.
Every use of force by police is now suspect to the public eye, if there is not a long history of the actor being a dangerous criminal, and there is not beautiful video of the event, depicting the recipient of police force committing indisputably heinous crimes (i.e., not just against police) when the police step in and expertly execute maneuver which stops the crime.
Police are assumed to be part of an inherently racially unjust system.
Because of this, people have taken to the streets in demonstrations which have repeatedly become riots. People will en masse block highways, blocking other people, to "raise awareness" of their issue. (This, to me, is akin to punching out a random old woman to raise awareness about breast cancer.)
People are stressed.
Listen to me:
WE WILL GET THROUGH THIS.
We as police will adjust some of the things we can, and the public will have to understand what we cannot adjust.
A vaccine is coming, and the greatest nation on the planet will get back to work again.
The current dumbass President will leave office, and another dumbass President will assume the role.
Do not get worked up over what someone says over the Internet-- chances are, they're just some Russian 'bot trying to goad you into a position of rage, to contribute to our chaos.
I and my brothers and sisters in blue will continue to try. And dammit, we'll try to do better. We have to.
I am sorry for our collective Troubles, and I will take a drink when they are past. For now, the liquor cabinet remains shut, because we have work to do.
If you can, try to be understanding of that idiot neighbor of yours, and do something kind.
If you can, let that comment box with the flashing cursor in it go unfilled with furious text.
If you can, send a little olive branch to that person that you used to think well of, before finding that they were just a little over on the Other Side on some divisive issue or another.
Labels: community, first world problems, musing, One Nation, Open Letter, Outrage, police, problems, The People In Your Neighborhood, use of force, worry
posted by Matt G @ 7:13 PM
8 Comments:
Concur that we will get through it. However, 'I' don't trust the The news media, for obvious reasons of their explicit bias in reporting. I don't trust scientists and doctors, because I've worked with them over the years and all they care about is where the next grant is coming from, and how many papers they can publish (publish or perish). As far as the nation's intelligence services, I'll just say I know enough to not trust them any further than I can throw them.
It IS time to clean house in DC, long past time, and those in power are deathly afraid of being called to account for their actions, or put on the street (where they belong). Re LEOs, the 1%, just like the military, dooms the 99% who try their best to do the right thing. Changing the rules to 'protect' the perps is NOT the way to fix the problem. Prompt arrest, prompt trial and jail terms for the guilty IS the way to fix the problem.
Thanks
Hey man...another excellent post. I wonder if you might have some advice:
Several "internet friends" have jumped on the A.C.A.B. bandwagon. I find this aggravating because 1) I know/have known plenty of police officers who are wonderful human beings who work hard at a nearly impossible job and 2) 'all [x] are [y]' is the sort of lazy thinking that intelligent mammals should avoid.
As a police officer, what is your opinion about the ACAB movement? Ignore it? Argue with it? Third option I haven't thought of?
Well spoken, Sir. Like most of the LEOs I know, you deserve the moniker "good cop." Looking forward to Columbus Day weekend at the usual super seekrit location!
Awesome post. Thank you.
“The current dumb-ass president will be out of office...”
You and your “brothers and sister” better hope the holy hell not.
Moderate me, whatever, but you can say some silly shallow shit sometimes.
My apologies for not having found and published your comment earlier, Anony-Mouse.
Trust me when I say: I absolutely have no more expectation that things will be any better for me and my fellow officers if the current President remains in office.
He: claims that law enforcement do not matter, and overrides the law with impunity.
He: infuriates so many people that they take to the street and riot, causing a higher likelihood that we will have to be involved in public violence.
He: changes his mind about what is the truth at such a rapid rate, that he seems to have single-handedly brought us into a Post-Truth Society. This can only hurt, when matters of the truth are sought in courts of law, seeking to bring people to justice.
That said, I am no fan of his opponent. His opponent strives for many, if not most things, which I am against. But he has not managed to single-handedly bring death to truth. And, if nothing else, he seems pretty inept. Then again, when it comes to getting much done, he may share that with our latest President. (I note that our Wall is only about 1/1400th finished.)
I will push hard for Biden to leave office. I wish that it were someone else. We have a nation of INCREDIBLE men and women, and he's an idiot. All style, no substance. And I don't even like his style. As I said-- Out with one idiot, and in with another idiot.
Pay attention to the moral character of your Congressperson or Senator. You will need that.
You mentioned a vaccine. It is now looking like a large portion of our population has decided that they don't trust vaccines and won't take it when available.
I will stand in line if I have to, just like for polio back when I was little. And tetanus, DPT, small pox, and all the others I got. And the shingles shot I got last Monday.
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