Quote:
Originally Posted by HunterICX
Well I see 2 issues from a personal observation and what I get from the news.
1) Seems that the current generation seems to have less respect for authority figures wether it be police or the teacher in front of the class, they think they own the world and may do anything they please without fearing any form of consequences as they think they have the right to do so.
2) From the other side when it comes to the police it seems most of their busy work is nowadays is writing out fines to fill up the state's treasure chest. I know if you do nothing wrong you shouldn't worry but sometimes it happens unintentional and something really that doesn't compromise any safety of the public order but you're beeing treated like a criminal making a mountain out of a mole hil while all that is needed is a couple of words a nod and of you go. So I understand why a time this frustrates the public giving them a sense that they longer serve to protect the public but rather are being used to squeeze more money out of it.
my 2 cent and my apologies for rambling to much OT to which I have to add is:
It's a tragic incident, but more so as it's being used as an excuse for the mayority to go on a full crime/misbehave spree and wreck the whole area like the 2011 London riots and iirc the burning of Paris in 2005 when a group of 3 youngers of North-African origin who where chased by the police after a reported break in one of them fried himself in a high voltage electricity box in a power substation which seemed enough reason for the youth to burn cars for the next week or two.
I'm glad at least to hear the parents ask the mayority to quiet down as this is something their child never wanted to happen. We can only hope the investigation gets to the bottom of this.
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jimbuna
^ Can't argue with that.
|
I also agree, but I have to ponder what has caused this move away from a respect for authority figures, is it a change in media that has encouraged us to challenge authority? Perhaps the increase (and I mean this in no anti-American way, bear with me) in media from the US which is broadcast across Europe and the import of the American culture? Now, before people get up in arms, one has to remember that the US was based around the challenging of authority and the belief that no one entity should have absolute control over the people, hence their inbuilt distrust of the government and, indeed, the police force. So, as we receive and digest that message in American media (I mean, how many times in US police dramas does the protagonist come up against a corrupt official high up in the bureaucracy that hinders their progress?) it has translated into our adaptation of that mistrust of authoritarian figures, which has in return lead to our media taking a more aggressive tone towards the police force, which the government has been happy to accept as it gives it free reign to impose its own agenda on the police forces which had previously been relatively free from government intervention (up until around the 1980s and the miners strike, really).
Equally though, there have been a number of embarrassing incidents for the police, which the media has seized on in its quest to find the worse news to broadcast for the British public (which brings me onto another point, when did it become fashionable for media outlets to focus purely on bad news stories?), for example, much has been made of plebgate, and the current scandal in Manchester, however a nice good news story happened in London the other day when the commissioner of the police interrupted an interview with BBC Radio London to chase down and arrest a couple of thieves. Now, while the front pages of several newspapers are happy to go with the Manchester scandal, I wonder how deeply buried inside the papers is the news story of Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe?
Thus the problems are blown out of proportion and the merits are buried deep. This is not just a problem with the police, but also with the NHS (I mean, how often do newspapers print stories of people being saved by the NHS vs those being failed by it?) and Fire brigade...and just about every aspect of life in Britain, we have an unhealthy obsession with bad news and it is effecting our attitude towards those around us.
Getting back to America though, I came across this stat from CNN:
obviously
take it with a pinch of salt but needless to say, true or not, it's existence is only going to further enflame the problem between 'Blacks' and the police in America, I don't see another 1992 happening but certainly there's going to be a stronger movement against what is perceived to be institutionalised racism.