Trigger Happy, or: Just How Many "Bad Apples" Are We Willing To Tolerate?

Ho hum. Another person of color killed by the police.

Could be a man on the streets. Could be a woman in her bedroom. Could be a child in his yard.

And, after all the usual excuses are made for the police, we hear the refrain of "a few bad apples." 

"A few bad apples." Over and over again. And yet, we never seem to throw those few bad apples away, which is what any competent grocer would do.

And what about the other apples? The ones we assume are "good".

Shouldn't they be offended by the presence of the bad ones?

They should. But it seems they rarely are. The "brotherhood of the thin blue line" and all that bullshit.

If you continually look the other way as the bad apples engage in whatever mayhem they please, up to and including murder, and then make excuses for their behavior, how "good" are you really?

Perhaps we should make every cop take a lengthy psychological evaluation to see if maybe, just maybe, they're racists with a strong tendency for violence. And summarily dismiss those who are.

But the police unions would never allow that, would they?

So here we are. 

The people we pay to "protect and serve" all of us are apparently so terrified of some of us that they automatically reach for their guns under almost any circumstances.

Imagine what a person of color feels every time they see a policeman. Imagine living your entire life with that kind of feeling.

It's really very simple: If you give a "little" man (or woman) a badge and a gun, all of a sudden he's a "big" man (or woman). 

And you better listen to him (or her), you better obey him (or her)...or he (or she) may kill you.

Of course, if you're black or brown, even if you listen, even if you obey, they still might kill you...because somehow, in their mind, you're a threat.

A True "Axis Of Evil"

How about this:

You've got the completely amoral corporations. Whose only goal is to make as much profit as they can in whatever way they can.

Then you've got the amoral corporations' bought and paid for Congressmen and judges. Who do what they're told to do, however detrimental to the nation it may be.

And finally, a militarized police force keeping the rabble in line. A force made up in large part by racists and sociopaths. By the way, the "rabble" includes most of us.

There's your All-American Axis Of Evil.

Works for me.

That Good Ol' Cop Mentality...

I bet you've had a few times in your life when you had to deal with cops.

I know I have.

Sometimes the cops were cool. Sometimes the cops were partial, or complete, assholes.

I never got shot, though.

Because, well, you know...

White Privilege.

Today, thanks to the wonders of technology, a week does not pass without photographic proof that cops kill black people all of the time.

Male and female, young and old, belligerent or not.

Cops kill black people.

Shoot them. Choke them. Beat them.

To pretend that this is not the case, or that this is rare, or that the same thing happens to white people with the same frequency*, is just pure nonsense.

To pretend that this is not a serious problem, and that we don't need to completely reassess how we hire and train policeman, including in-depth psychological evaluations, is insane.

And any politician or pundit--or cop, for that matter--who tells you otherwise is a goddamn liar.

*I have noticed that recently the cops seem to be trying to catch up with their abuse of white folks; but they still have a long, long, long way to go.