My
friend is a veteran of the Virginia National Guard for over 20 years. And he has been a deputy in the sheriff’s
department for nearly as long. He is a
military and law enforcement veteran.
I
wrote to him to ask for his thoughts on Ferguson, MO and the Michael Brown
shooting. The pretext for my email to
him was an article by Kareem Abdul Jabbar.
That can be found here - http://time.com/3132635/ferguson-coming-race-war-class-warfare/?xid=newsletter-brief.
And
here are my friend’s comments.
Rob
Kareem is right insofar as: 1. This is not a "race" issue. 2. Disinformation is everywhere and the media is controlled. 3. Government is corrupt. I also agree that people need to guard against conflating the two issues: 1. Rioting and looting by rogue thugs. 2. Protests and marches over Police abuse.
Unfortunately, he then goes on to talk a bit too much about "race". And I can't help but fear that when he says "do nothing politicians" and "promotes economic equality and opportunity" what he really means is that we need "better politicians" who will give more goodies and handouts.
In my opinion the central issue from Ferguson are this:
1. You and I have ZERO impact on public policy. http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2014/08/12/Study-You-Have-Near-Zero-Impact-on-U-S-Policy . NO ONE, regardless of class, race, creed..... has the ability to effect social change in this country. If you are not part of the Ultra ruling class in this country you are not free to effect real change. Peaceful protests are highly discouraged.
2. People in Power (Government) are never liable for bad decisions, Deaths, or the unforseen economic turmoil they cause. The Police Chief for Ferguson will never go to jail or be held accountable, nor will the Mayor. Most officers who perpetrate unlawful killings never answer for it. The officer in Ferguson might... he'll be the exception to the rule because of gravity of media exposure of the incident.
3. Police forces have been militarized by design to enforce the first 2 points. The federal government has bred a generation of Police that have too much power and abuse their authority against anyone who bucks the system. This is why over the last decade Police depts. have militarized vehicles, SWAT teams based on Military infantry squads, militarized weaponry, and use military tactics.
4. Couple all this with a news and information system designed to entertain and tell us we are to obey those in authority no matter what. Few will pay attention and the ones that do will be lied to by the information system and won't have the capacity or desire to investigate it any further.
I agree that poorer people and racial minorities get the brunt of this policy. But the "poor" is not simply one bloc yet he keeps referring to them that way.
Unfortunately, the Ferguson incident will probably end up being diverted into a complete racial issue instead of one that galvanizes the average American against the real issue. Which is police accountability, abuse of power, criminal justice system in general and the corruption in our Federal government in particular. That's too bad.
It is my belief that it is because of our education system that has bred generation after generation that has little to no critical thinking skills and relies on Authority figures to tell them what to think. You can't worship authority and at the same time correct corruption of authority. I believe some think the Bible teaches this tripe as well, which is why I have some issues with my Christianity these days.
Instead, we are taught to fear our neighbors instead of love them. We highlight our differences instead of our similarities with tripe such as "diversity", champion consequences of birth and nature over our talents and what we have in common as human beings. We then worship our Authority to fix all that is wrong and they fail us and we wonder why?
Also, on a final note: Isn't it ironic that Kareem is making a case that our information sources are corrupt in one of the most demonstrably corrupt and biased disinformation filled magazines of all "Time". I wonder if he recognizes that?
Kareem is right insofar as: 1. This is not a "race" issue. 2. Disinformation is everywhere and the media is controlled. 3. Government is corrupt. I also agree that people need to guard against conflating the two issues: 1. Rioting and looting by rogue thugs. 2. Protests and marches over Police abuse.
Unfortunately, he then goes on to talk a bit too much about "race". And I can't help but fear that when he says "do nothing politicians" and "promotes economic equality and opportunity" what he really means is that we need "better politicians" who will give more goodies and handouts.
In my opinion the central issue from Ferguson are this:
1. You and I have ZERO impact on public policy. http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2014/08/12/Study-You-Have-Near-Zero-Impact-on-U-S-Policy . NO ONE, regardless of class, race, creed..... has the ability to effect social change in this country. If you are not part of the Ultra ruling class in this country you are not free to effect real change. Peaceful protests are highly discouraged.
2. People in Power (Government) are never liable for bad decisions, Deaths, or the unforseen economic turmoil they cause. The Police Chief for Ferguson will never go to jail or be held accountable, nor will the Mayor. Most officers who perpetrate unlawful killings never answer for it. The officer in Ferguson might... he'll be the exception to the rule because of gravity of media exposure of the incident.
3. Police forces have been militarized by design to enforce the first 2 points. The federal government has bred a generation of Police that have too much power and abuse their authority against anyone who bucks the system. This is why over the last decade Police depts. have militarized vehicles, SWAT teams based on Military infantry squads, militarized weaponry, and use military tactics.
4. Couple all this with a news and information system designed to entertain and tell us we are to obey those in authority no matter what. Few will pay attention and the ones that do will be lied to by the information system and won't have the capacity or desire to investigate it any further.
I agree that poorer people and racial minorities get the brunt of this policy. But the "poor" is not simply one bloc yet he keeps referring to them that way.
Unfortunately, the Ferguson incident will probably end up being diverted into a complete racial issue instead of one that galvanizes the average American against the real issue. Which is police accountability, abuse of power, criminal justice system in general and the corruption in our Federal government in particular. That's too bad.
It is my belief that it is because of our education system that has bred generation after generation that has little to no critical thinking skills and relies on Authority figures to tell them what to think. You can't worship authority and at the same time correct corruption of authority. I believe some think the Bible teaches this tripe as well, which is why I have some issues with my Christianity these days.
Instead, we are taught to fear our neighbors instead of love them. We highlight our differences instead of our similarities with tripe such as "diversity", champion consequences of birth and nature over our talents and what we have in common as human beings. We then worship our Authority to fix all that is wrong and they fail us and we wonder why?
Also, on a final note: Isn't it ironic that Kareem is making a case that our information sources are corrupt in one of the most demonstrably corrupt and biased disinformation filled magazines of all "Time". I wonder if he recognizes that?
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