So I'm doing my readings for my Crim-J class and, with all of this hatred in the Media that I've been seeing against civil servants lately, I just have to get this off of my chest.
I am incredibly tired of police bashing. So tired, in fact, that it is difficult for me to continue with this post, primarily for one reason - I don't know if it'll even matter and it's exhausting. There are far too many people who are incapable of thinking for themselves. They think life is bad now, that police are all of a sudden the enemy, well here's the thing: How do you think life will be without them? (Research Deadwood, SD's history for an example of what life was like before law-enforcement.) The police aren't the problem, people who spread falsehoods and lies about the police are. Every time someone shares a post on facebook of a blurry video (or video taken out of context) of what people assume to be police brutality, every time people post opinion threads about cops and how corrupt they all are, you are spreading hate and misinformation. We are falling prey to the Media's desire to stir up hate and fear, and are persecuting the people who do the job we are paying them to do! People need to start doing their own research instead of vomiting forth twisted and misrepresented "facts". Police aren't the enemy, ignorance is. And as long as ignorance reigns, our species is doomed to extinction by our own hands. (On that note, groups such as ISIS don't need to do anything but sit back and wait for us to tear ourselves apart, which we are doing quite spectacularly, might I say).
Yes, there are bad apples in every bunch. I am not excusing that nor endorsing bad behavior. There is still racial profiling, this is true, though there are initiatives in place to try and help eradicate it from law enforcement. However, there is a reason why racial profiling exists and it's not because all White people are racist (people of all races racial profile, don't think any race is exempt from this). If people uphold a stereotype, it will continue to thrive! Don't like the stereotype, then change it. Stop behaving that way! To think any form of negative behavior doesn't have a base for it's existence is naive. Black on black crime is much more of an issue than white on black crime but do people understand this (or care)? No, it's not sensational enough. People are used to Black people victimizing each other (which is a far bigger problem than the handful of corrupt police officers). And yeah, I bet there are people who have been wrongfully accused, have been hassled by police, but the majority that feel they have been were actually...think about it... doing something wrong! I am not excusing the poor behavior of those rotten apples in the PD but there is a bigger problem within all groups and it is not in police/citizen relations.
Now, I know that I am going to get flack for these thoughts but honestly, I don't really care. I'm ashamed to admit that I used to be one of those people that I am speaking out against. Then one day I woke up, reversed my ignorance, and did my own thinking. ALL lives matter. It's that simple. To focus on one group and exclude all others will do nothing but create barriers and cause people (who should be working together) to want to turn inward in order to make sure that they are not being forgotten or wrongfully treated. At the pace we're going, we're going to end up creating another civil race war. We can't keep going on in this way if we expect to evolve. We are sliding backwards as a species. We are going to tear each other apart and it scares the living shit out of me. All because people are either a) unable/unwilling to think for themselves or b) are afraid to speak out against these newest initiatives for fear of being called racist (or worse) simply because they don't agree. But guess what, we don't have to agree! That's the great thing about America. But we do have to live and work together so lets stop with the qualifiers and start working on cleaning our mess up.
One last thing to keep in mind: have you ever heard the saying "there are no guilty people in prison"? Every con is innocent, remember, and someone else is always out to get them. Start holding criminals responsible for their actions and stop targeting cops. Or one day you just may need a police officer and there may not be any left to help you.
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