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Originally Posted by Oberon
I must admit...I am surprised by the relative silence from most people here in GT, now if this had been about gun control I'd wager that this topic would be on four or five pages by now...likewise it seems, from what I can tell, that certain US media outlets are being either quiet about this or taking the side of the police (Fox I'm looking at you).
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Well, if one says anything outside the acceptable politically correct line, he gets bashed as a racist.
Funny, I spent the night 18 miles from Ferguson MO, in Pontoon Beach, IL, at the Pilot truck stop. That very night, yes!
I do not know what happened between the police officer and the young man, I wasn't there. I do know one thing, you do not get into a scuffle with law enforcement and come out smelling like a rose. Maybe there was no scuffle, maybe it's a crazy killer cop. I don't know.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Oberon
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. |
Don't overlook the small matter of Ferguson is mostly a black community. All the white people got the hell out. So, it figures that the majority of the stops would be black people.
Edit: I wanted to add, there does seem to be a noticeable trend among small town LE to suit up in Rambo gear way out of proportion to the need. I saw a movie with my daughter a couple of weeks ago, and there was an advert for the League City PD, and man, it made them look like the Navy Seals on steroids. Police boats, tanks, dogs, I mean, complete overkill for a small town. I wish I could find this video on Youtube, it would blow your mind....