http://tucker.liberty.me/2014/12/08/wecantbreath-its-all-part-of-the-same-revolt/
I just recently came across the above article, linked from Reddit. Reading it, I allowed myself a brief indulgence of negative emotion, before attempting to regain some real objectivity.
There is one reason why I have attempted to moderate my attitude towards the police as an institution, or a very idea, recently; and that has been the patient, thoughtful writing of spacemaverick. While the reaction of the other veterans here towards me has been anger, contempt, and dismissal, he has attempted to reason with me, and has even conceded that he agrees with me on many (but not all, obviously) points. That courtesy has motivated me to re-examine my attitude.
I am an emotionally passionate individual. It is easy for me to generate strong emotion towards virtually any target; and the police themselves are no different. I also have reflexively anti-authoritarian tendencies. I do not believe in a complete absence of Law, but I do believe that the power of Law is inversely proportional to its' quantity. As people here have no doubt observed for themselves, therefore, expressing strong negative emotions towards the police as a group, comes very naturally to me.
What is causing me to question and begin to combat this attitude within myself, however, is my growing realisation that the police are not merely an abstraction; an easily dismissed Other in uniform. They are human beings. So while, again, I can hate the concept behind the police as much as I like, I have to acknowledge the fact that it is individual humans who are empowering that concept, and react accordingly.
I think, however, that there is another point which I need to make here; not only to everyone else present, but to myself. When I say that I hate the police as a concept, I need to define precisely what I mean.
I do not, for one moment, hate the idea of a group of men and women who, for instance, if someone's child gets lost and is potentially going to die from exposure in a national park, they are willing to risk their own wellbeing in order to locate that child.
I also do not hate the idea of a group of individuals who are willing and able to prevent the crimes of violence, rape, and material theft, very specifically, from occurring. This is both beneficial and arguably necessary. When a society has the likes of Jack the Ripper within it, it is easy for the police to find allies among the civilian public.
So what do I hate? I hate the police being used, very specifically, in any manner which supports, reinforces, or promotes the unjust interests of governments or corporations, to the detriment of the overwhelming majority of the people.
I do not inherently hate authority. I hate injustice. I am aware of the fact that a certain amount of institutional authority is probably necessary in order to practically minimise the amount of injustice that exists; yet the problem here, is that a very delicate balance must be maintained.
It might well be true that if the Thin Blue Line is not present, then humanity reverts to the law of the jungle; but if the police themselves become corrupt, then that anarchy is doubled. The public then have to deal not only with the pre-existing criminal elements, but with the fact that they are alone in needing to defend themselves both from criminals, but also from the very police themselves.
I do not want to continue to dehumanise the police, in my own mind. I want to remember the fact that there are human beings inside those uniforms. However, that is a two way street. It is easy to dehumanise the police if they do not behave like human beings. If they do not demonstrate empathy or compassion, but mindlessly fire tear gas into crowds because they have been ordered to, then they are truthfully not far removed from robots, in terms of how they behave. Police need to start asking themselves why those crowds that they are firing tear gas into, have formed in the first place; and from there, to realise that tear gas is not a legitimate solution to that cause.
As a country, America in particular is quite clearly facing a major crisis at the moment, with regards to the conduct of its' police. I am inclined to believe that this crisis has been deliberately and purposefully engineered by the American government. I believe that there is an initiative within the American government to turn America into a genuinely fascist state, and that said initiative has been progressing for probably four decades now.
The American government wants pretext. It wants the police to ultimately become something akin to a school of piranhas. A mindless, feral collective of armed thugs who continually terrorise the civilian public, and who ultimately are far more of a real threat to said civilian public, than the criminals who they are ostensibly meant to defend said public from. The government then wants said public to rise up and attempt to defend itself from said police, so that superficial rationale will then exist, for a much more harsh, armed crackdown against the public, and the possible institution of permanent martial law.
It is vitally important for the people of all Five Eyes countries, but particularly America, to begin to understand how they are being manipulated here. It is corrupt government that is ultimately the real problem, not the police themselves. As well as the civilian public, people within national police forces who have integrity, also very much need to wake up and recognise how they are being played.
We all, myself included, ultimately need to recognise that maintaining rational objectivity is vital, where the police are concerned. I do not advocate mindless, ritualistic adulation of the police, because I feel that is socially dangerous; yet if it is socially dangerous to love the police too much, it is equally dangerous to hate them.
Hatred of the police causes a multitude of negative effects. It produces much more difficulty for genuinely well-meaning police to perform their legitimate roles, and it also encourages police paranoia, insularity, elitism and fear when dealing with the public, which therefore makes police abuse of the public more likely.
Above all, we need to remember that the Five Eyes governments require our bad behaviour, in order to institute the degree of tyranny which their leaders crave. Governments know that they will only get pretext for martial law, if violence towards police increases. This means that we desperately need to communicate with police, and urge them to avoid abusing the public. We particularly need to remove the police culture which causes them to view themselves as seperate and inherently superior to the civilian public. Elitism leads to dehumanisation, which in turn leads to attrocities.
It Was A Routine Traffic Stop. But This Cop Shocked Everyone When He Did THIS... Unbelievable!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8g3BWsNik0E
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8g3BWsNik0E
Maybe there is still some hope 8)
Exactly my point, Zorgon.
I have always said MOSt cops are still GOOD cops and we don't post the good stories often enough. But that is usually because when a cop is good he is doing his job that we pay him for and no one expects kudos for doing your job.
So it is only the exceptional stories that make the news
But at the same time we must stay vigilant and post the bad cop stories... because if we don't. they will just assume we don't care and do worse
Petrus, that was very well written and with that entry you will find me in 100% agreement. I wish the system here in the states could be fine tuned more but as long as we deal with human beings we will deal with human nature. Unfortunately most of the time when you find a bad cop it's too late. There is no screening that can be used to find the rottenness in some. Sometimes the rottenness is in the leadership and that's when people have to step up to the plate and expose it. But be advised if one does that and they work in a department you will have those in leadership positions that may go after you. Had that happen to me where I turned in 2 for an improper use of force and went through 18 months of hell. I didn't waver (don't know where I got the stamina) and I stood my ground. Retired as a Lt. in the end. Standing up for the right thing will cost but I was able to go home and sleep knowing that I did the right thing. Was not easy. Zorgon is right ya know...A balance of good deeds and bad need to be shown but we need to continue to expose what is wrong...and thank you for those kind remarks.
To the OP:
It sounds like you've naturally discovered the notion that the universe is so complex, exercising true objective analysis requires one to be donning an authentic moral cape. The complexity of the Universe is at odds with our drive to effectuate our vision of theological morality.
The more knowledge you absorb, the more complex the universe gets. Stay on your current train of thought and you will be quite pleased of the spiritual freedom that follows an honest objective perspective.
It applies universally
Also...watch C-Span....
I don't think I watch anything else on Tv. ;D ;D
Quote from: spacemaverick on December 10, 2014, 03:30:37 AMZorgon is right ya know...A balance of good deeds and bad need to be shown but we need to continue to expose what is wrong...and thank you for those kind remarks.
Well if we can convert Petrus there is hope for the planet :P
But along with the Good the Bad and the Ugly... since we are a conspiracy site we should look at the WEIRD too :P
Seems Cops now have to worry about Alien Encounters too :P
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWHyOYG32Ak
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWHyOYG32Ak
Santa Cop
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlnxajQrL8w
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlnxajQrL8w
Let em know what you think
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lowell-Police-Department/115399721909180
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o19E7peIsHE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o19E7peIsHE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcYA-suc1hw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcYA-suc1hw
Good and bad can be found in any profession. It's just worse when the bad are armed with weapons or medications.
Shasta
Quote from: Shasta56 on December 11, 2014, 04:19:10 AM
Good and bad can be found in any profession. It's just worse when the bad are armed with weapons or medications.
(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qC-q6tk4oEs/UJvbOcLON-I/AAAAAAAAB-Y/3kcqwZ2rKj4/s1600/shelleyneedle.jpg)
Petrus I have to congratulate you on a rather excellent post mate :)
There is good and bad in everything and everyone :D
Here is another good one... maybe it's going VIRAL :D
Scott Pelley in TEARS - Unique POLICE Traffic stops in Missouri bring drivers to Tears {VIDEO} !!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bf0J16MRrhs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bf0J16MRrhs
Meanwhile... in RUSSIA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUutu2fvojA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUutu2fvojA
Quote from: zorgon on December 14, 2014, 10:08:01 AM
Here is another good one... maybe it's going VIRAL :D
Scott Pelley in TEARS - Unique POLICE Traffic stops in Missouri bring drivers to Tears {VIDEO} !!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bf0J16MRrhs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bf0J16MRrhs
Well this old man enjoyed this video!
hey maverick.. keep your smiley tears going
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqI9f9JZzCM
http://www.today.com/news/surprise-video-shows-cops-stopping-drivers-give-them-holiday-gifts-1D80349124
Surprise! Viral video shows cops pulling over drivers to give them holiday gifts
Chris Serico TODAY
Dec. 9, 2014 at 6:34 PM ET
.
Sure beats a ticket.
In Lowell, Michigan, unsuspecting drivers who thought Officer Scot VanSolkema was pulling them over for minor traffic infractions instead received presents from their holiday wish lists. Filmed Nov. 19 and 20, and posted Tuesday on YouTube, a video of their interactions has started to go viral, collecting more than 13,000 hits in mere hours
"Police officers do a lot more than write tickets and take bad guys to jail," VanSolkema told TODAY.com. "We're people, like everyone else."
Wearing a hidden camera and microphone on his shirt, VanSolkema asked drivers what they wanted for the holidays. His microphone picked up their answers, and his colleagues raced around a nearby store to try to track down whatever the drivers mentioned and drive it to the scene. Motorists wound up driving home with toys, an Xbox and a high-definition TV, among many other presents
When one driver asked how the cops pulled off the stunt, VanSolkema replied, "Well, we've got radios and sleighs and magic elves."
A message at the end of the video states, "While we don't encourage minor traffic violations, it's important for police departments to take the time to show their citizens just how much they care."
Related story: Police in Texas town ask violators to pay tickets with toy donations
The video represents the creative collaboration of the Lowell Police Department, videographer Rob Bliss and the UP TV network.
Lori Hall, UP's vice president of consumer marketing, said the video is the latest initiative of a greater network campaign called Uplift Someone, which encourages people to deliver acts of kindness. "We wanted to do something that basically encouraged people to uplift someone, no matter how big or small," she added.
A few weeks ago, UP approached Bliss, whose previous works include the New York City cat-calling video that went viral this fall, about creating a video about good deeds. That's when Bliss pitched working with his hometown police department to pull it off.
Det. Gordy Lauren said Bliss first met with Lowell Police Chief Steve Bukala to work out the logistics of the project, which began pulling over people for minor infractions that police would normally let slide.
"The sky was the limit [for presents]," Lauren added. "And I don't think there was anybody who was really greedy, and said, 'I want this, this, this and this.' Of course, they didn't know what was going on."
Bliss said he filmed the footage of the crew that raced around the store to track down and transport the presents to the lucky drivers. Additional members of Bliss' film crew shot supplementary footage across the street from VanSolkema.
Gift recipients had to sign a waiver, but since they'd just received holiday presents, Bliss noted, "That was quite easy. They were totally fine with that."
VanSolkema, who's been on the force for a decade, said that when he first heard about the idea of pulling over motorists and giving them gifts, his first reaction was, "OK, how are we going to do that?"
Bliss credited him for charming drivers to the point of sharing their hopes and dreams, but VanSolkema admitted some drivers were a little tougher to connect with. "I had the hard job of actually trying to get the [specific gift] information out of them," he said with a laugh. "It was not easy."
Drivers who were hesitant to share their dream gift ideas with VanSolkema — or simply wanted to get to their destination — were allowed to go on their way, Lauren said. Bliss guessed that about 1 out of 3 drivers left before they had the chance to get a present.
"There were some people who were [asked], 'What do you want for Christmas?', and they would say, 'Go to hell,'" added Lauren, deadpan. "We couldn't provide that for them, so, they had to be cut loose."
VanSolkema said that, in addition to the mom who hugged him for presenting her Lego sets for her daughter, his favorite reaction was that of another woman who thanked police for "instantly" brightening her bad day. "The next time a police officer asks you some odd question, maybe you should answer it," he added, "because you never know what can happen."
Lauren, who's worked for the Lowell Police Department for seven years, said he was happy his crew could do something more upbeat than usual for the community. "The majority of the time that we have contact with people, it's either on a traffic stop or at one of the lowest points of their life," he added. "It was a great opportunity for our officers to get out there and have a very, very positive encounter with them that these people will never forget, for the rest of their lives."
At a time when police are under intense scrutiny and criticism — especially following the deaths of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and Eric Garner in Staten Island, New York — Bliss said he hopes his video will remind viewers about good police officers and their dedication to service. "I was really happy to bring this project, just to show some of the really kindhearted [police] that are out there," Bliss said.
Taxpayers can breathe a sigh of relief, too, as the police department didn't have to foot the bill for the gifts they distributed. UP sponsored the project, with Hall estimating that between $7,000 and $10,000 worth of merchandise was given away over the two-day shoot.
When she confirmed that no driver expressed a holiday wish for a mansion, she added, "Thank God!"
Space that was really great...thanks...
Like the part where the woman says "so I am not getting a ticket?"
;D
Quote from: burntheships on December 14, 2014, 08:10:47 PM
Like the part where the woman says "so I am not getting a ticket?"
Shock Factor LOL we just are so used to them hassling us for 1 mile over the limit :P
But look at THIS Seems the turmoil is starting th swing the pendulum...
(https://scontent-b-sjc.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpa1/v/t1.0-9/10891610_10153014886603189_7893031584267105376_n.jpg?oh=a3b3d8e62bf8586be069f38a5baaebb0&oe=55310DE0)
(https://craigwwright.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/a1-a-government-tryanny.jpg)