Memorial Day
-
“Happy Memorial Day “ seems to be all you hear in the week prior to
Memorial Day. When the very definition of memorial is to remember, it seems
odd to say ...
9 years ago
- L S. "Spencer" Olsen
- I don't really care if you agree or not. Just saying what I think.
Friday, January 9, 2009
Earlier this week or last week or something... BART Cops in Oakland California killed some dude. I have not read any of the news stories on what exactly happened here, but reading the blogs and sites like Digg and Reddit I have the complete story.
The other day, transit authority cops in Oakland walked into the subway. They then proceeded to grab the first black guy they could find for the purpose of racially motivated murder. Once they singled out their victim - they beat him and then shot him in the head, murdering him in cold blood.
Now after making that statement, I went and read up on the incident. Seems that this gentleman, who is now dead, was being detained by the police and resiting. Now whether or not the office was in the right is still up for grabs. In other words, we don't know why or what only that it happened and that it was caught on tape.
That brings me to my first point: This guy is dead because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Do not confuse that with chance. He was associating with or doing something that put him on the other side of the law; a situation that always carries an inherent risk factor. The bottom line is if you don't want to be killed by the cops, then you might want to not do things that will get you arrested. And if you are doing things that might get you arrested, don't struggle. Struggle creates conflict, which creates confusion, and blossoms into reaction for action's sake.
With that out of the way, let's discuss the first amendment.
It reads:
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
What is interesting is its interpretation. If you talk to most liberals they will tell you that free speech should be unabridged, uncensored and unabashedly honest. You must protest in a way that ensure that you will be heard. Unless, of course, you happen to believe in God. Then you mustn't talk about God because you cannot force people to listen.
I know, It doesn't make any sense to me either. But consider the recent riots in Oakland as part of the backlash for this shooting. Here you have a group of people who believe that the victim should have been considered innocent until proven guilty but in the same breath, they have already condemned the entire police force in Oakland. So they decide that they need to "petition the Government for a redress of grievances." and in doing so, they have protested the only way they know how. That is to be violent to ensure that they are heard.
This leads me to my next point: People on the Internet are stupid. I have talked about this before, but in the wake of this riot, I believe it. This morning, the furor is over this picture:
"Police Violence in Oakland" Implying that this young man was just minding his own business. This has morphed into headlines at other sites such as Digg and Reddit with headlines such as:
So you can imagine some of the comments coming from the upstanding folks on these websites. Let me share a few of them with you.
- "He doesn't look properly restrained.. Maybe you should shoot him, that always works."
- "And why was he being arrested? Did they actually see him commiting a crime? Or did they single him out for being "mouthy"?"
- "Knee in the back fair enough, knee in the neck though... you're seriously gonna kill somebody doing that."
- "He is a protester of a wrongful police action, not a "BART protestor[sic]""
- "I do know that it doesn't take 4 cops, a kneed in the neck, and riot gear to subdue one unarmed guy half your size."
- "WTF are you talking about? There are no more non-violent protests. The police always show up and bring the violence full force with their riot gear, tear gas, stun guns, and batons. They revel in it. So don't talk ***** about non-violent protests. They no longer exist. The police make sure of it."
- "The American people really get pushed around a lot by the people they pay to protect them and just seem to accept it generally."
- "and what are the odds a peaceful protest had an undercover plainclothes cop among them throwing the first rock to justify "retaliation" by the uniforms in riot gear?"
So in the spirit of the Internet, I have re-written the first Amendment to the Constitution.
"Congress shall make law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; and no law abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people to assemble, get violent, light stuff on fire, be complete douchebags, steal stuff, destroy property, fail to comply to set ordinances, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. And cops suck."
2 Comments:
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
--Korynn