Jun 22, 2017 It seems like he was too high to appreciate the seriousness of the situation he's in if I had some dumb f--- american cop with his hand on his gun telling me not to pull my gun out I'd have both my hands and feet up in the hair and not breathe or blink until he's satisfied much less reach for my license or whatever it is he tried to do
Jun 22, 2017 I mean he didn't really give him time to react. The officer asked him for his license which is what Philando was reaching for. As he was reaching for it, the officer panicked and was like "don't reach..!" and shot him seconds later. Idk why the cop thought a guy who just announced to him that he was armed would go ahead and try to s---t him..?
Jun 22, 2017 http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_59497248e4b08709c82ff267 Thought this was a good article, and I'm normally not a fan of Huffpost.
Jun 22, 2017 I feel the sentiment here, but statements like this are part of the wrong conversation. The cliche is for people to say it's the "bad apples," and I get the impulse to bite the bullet and say "actually, they're all bad apples." Both are focused on the same stupid premise that these things happen because of someone's character and not the institution they're a part of. Moralizing like that is no path to a solution. "Good people" do terrible things all the time, for what they think are the right reasons.
Jun 22, 2017 Good people can become cops but that doesn't stop them for part taking in bad actions and enforcing bad policies. The war on drugs, arrest quotas, ticket quotas, s---t-to-k--- etc. regardless who's wearing the uniform -- they have to stand by these things. I think that's what WPG's post was getting at. Can you at least acknowledge this cop was a s-----y person and deserves to be in prison?
Jun 22, 2017 That's exactly my point, though. That doesn't make them bad people. It makes them part of a toxic system.
Jun 22, 2017 I mean... isn't their willingness to join and support a toxic system a testament to their character? Maybe that's being a bit over critical. I think ignorance is part of the issue as well but certainly there's some level of personal responsibility right? No one forces people to become police officers.
Jun 22, 2017 Yes this person in particular was s-----y, sure. But that was not what wpg was saying and I think saying stuff like that makes his opinion on this biased and to me irrelevant. We have had this discussion several times: yes there are power hungry cops.. and they deserve punishment, of course. But 'no one forces them to be police officers' is kind of a lame statement -true, of course- but a lot of them are good people doing a good job. To say that all of them are bad is just as dumb, even if the system itself is flawed. But like I said before the fact that every dumb s--- can buy a gun is a way way bigger issue
Jun 22, 2017 choosing to become a police officer in america is an unforgivable character flaw. we have a police force made up of people who chose to be part of this institution. what do you think is the "correct" conversation to be having? how people can be murdered by the state in more humane ways? "claims to be intelligent"? uhhh
