Fuck the Police

It’s upsetting to see the level of hypocrisy and invective regarding the black airman who was shot by the police for answering the door with a gun in his hand. So many people I formerly respected went from zero to “fuck the police” over a single video without any debate or analysis of it. Those who have attempted to inject nuance into the rhetoric have been digitally lynched.
 
I’m really disappointed by a lot of people I otherwise agree with. This incident among others has illustrated a few things. Yes, people have always hated the concept of police because no one likes being told what do to by someone with the ability to back it up by force. There’s always been a segment of the freedom/veteran/gun/prepper/whatever community that has had a “fuck the police” attitude but in this case more than any others it sounds purely like a bunch of ghetto blacks upset because their criminal son got shot.
 
The conflation of “any killing that looks questionable to me is murder” also bothers me. Manslaughter, sure. A civil tort, sure. Wanting to have a discussion about tactics, stress inoculation, etc. that’s one thing, instead it has become personal. Well, frankly fuck you for being stupid. And that’s it. The ignorance, the allowing oneself to be drug around the nose by emotion, and the refusal to look any further than those bare emotions is what bothers me.
 
Events like these are why I believe propaganda is so powerful. The a large number of people, may be even a majority of people, are fundamentally unable to separate emotion from fact. Nor can they separate their personal feelings and fears from what are ultimately events totally unconnected with them.
 
I do believe that the state of the world is a fractious one and the pomposity we’re seeing here is a symptom of how people are feeling. Ultimately, I think they think “That could be me!” for one reason or another. Statistically speaking, it’s unlikely, but this is the crowd that has been demonized by the government for the past four years. We all are stressed about money, the security of the nation, our politicians that ignore use, the blatant one-sided criminal persecution, and the perversion of the justice system. So why shouldn’t a right-leaning citizen be suspicious of the government?
 
In the end, the aggrieved citizen lashes out the nearest target. For most, the only negative contact they’ll have with law enforcement is local police. Thus, it’s the street cop that gets the animus that is probably better directed at the President, Congress, the FBI, etc. Psychologists will tell you that anger and lashing out often correlates with a sense of powerlessness. The feeling of powerlessness obviously derives from being marginalized and demonized by the political-economic situation today. People are upset and afraid, so they make snap emotional judgements and refuse to look at more nuanced approaches.
 
So to conclude, I think this incident has become an online way to vent frustration and powerlessness. That is understandable, but to see a crowd that has reasoned out so many other things, has overall correct opinions, only take a purely emotional path and broadly paint an entire system is sad to see. So what is the lesson here? Never, ever comment or get involved in police stuff on Twitter. Just ain’t worth the aggravation. And that’s where I’ll leave this piece, with a tone of decency.