This will be more of a serious entry into Sanity Is Razor Thin as I feel I need to tackle a couple of issues that keep coming up and keep being washed over by the public via talking points and propaganda.
First off we need to look at the shocking rise in police shootings in the US… not police that are shot but police shooting “suspects” is on a disturbing upswing. This has been on the rise for many years as the police have been quietly being militarized outside of the public sphere. Tanks, rocket launchers, government issued “cop killer” bullets, drones and robot sentries have all been rolled out to local police departments in recent years. Why? Why do the police need military tactical gear? Since September 2001 the US government has been up-arming police departments all over the US in an effort to “make america more secure” which is another way of saying “WE ARE IN CONTROL”. In recent years there has been a dramatic rise in the shear number of incidents where police used deadly force (or attempted deadly force) without provocation. Part of this is due to the fact that we train officers in america that EVERY SINGLE PERSON THEY ENCOUNTER IS A THREAT THAT WANTS TO KILL THEM! In Europe though officers are trained to defuse situations before those situations come to the point where force (not even lethal force) is needed… in america we are militarizing the police that everything and everyone is just a hair from pulling on them so the police must pull first. We are not just okaying the cowboy cop, we are encouraging it and it is getting us killed, plain and simple.
Lets look at the year 2011* when it comes to officer involved shootings in both america (where they are trained that everyone and everything is out to get them) and Europe.
In Germany in 2011 a total of 85 bullets were fired by officers in the entire year for that entire country. 85 bullets. 85!!! Of the 85 bullets used in 2011, 49 were warnings shots, 36 were aimed at criminal suspects, 15 people were injured, and 6 were killed.
In Britain a mere 2 people were fatally engaged and a whopping 6 shots were fired in total by the Metropolitan Police (the largest police force in Britain).
In america in 2011, police officers in the United States shot 1,146 people killing 607 of them. Less than %10 of the US officers bullets were “warning shots”, the rest were INTENDED to either maim or kill the suspect. The number of bullets fired in the US in 2011 by police rose by a shocking %24 all the while violent crime (the kind that necessitates shots being fired) dropped by over %9. So… violent crime is down and yet police shootings are up… does anyone see how these things do not correlate? Why are the police so trigger happy when violent crime is down? Or is violent crime down because the police are so trigger happy? These days it seems that calling a cop to help get a cat out of your tree will result in you getting shot by the officer.
Now, Germany has a population roughly 1/3 the size of the United States so lets break up those numbers and look at them proportionally… you still have 85 bullets fired in total in Germany, to the adjusted for population 381 (rough) shootings in the US (and an untold number of bullets fired, as we know US cops are known to empty 90-120 bullets into a SINGLE SUSPECT at times). Does that gross escalation still not grab you and raise some questions or are you all lemmings that think the police are always right and questioning their motives is an act of disobedience? I am not talking about corrupt police officers here, I am not talking about a cover up or conspiracies within the police, I am talking about how they are being trained all wrong, they are being betrayed by their very training. The police of today are trained in a way that is completely contrary to how they were trained even in the 70′s and we all know what a calm and serine time that was when it came to political protests, race issues and how the public viewed the police. Partly this is due to WHO become police officers… there has always been holes in the screening process where thugs and psychos slip through** while some good people wash out. That happens but it seems like these days there is a greater emphasis on getting cops that understand “brotherhood” and the blue wall than those who want to actually help people and make a difference. We had a case here a few years ago where a cop, who passed all of this psych evaluations just fine, went nuts and killed his girlfriend and all 7 other people because they “didn’t show him respect”. Is that an isolated case? Not really, I could name many many more incidents of cops that just flipped out. Now, I want it on the record that I am not saying all cops are thugs with power issues, that is not true, for every piece of shit power tripper I wager there are 3 officers that are just trying to do their job and get through the day, but that does not elevate the issue of how they are trained. This militarization of the police and the EVERYTHING IS TRYING TO KILL YOU training is the problem.
A dog that calmly walks up to an officer is no threat to that officer until it BECOMES a threat, such as the officer kicking the standing calm dog in the face. A person that is getting belligerent with an officer for whatever reason is not a threat until they BECOME a threat, such as reaching for a weapon. Want to guess how many of the 1000+ people shot in 2011 were actually attacking the officer or even had a weapon? %33, which leaves %67 of officer involved shootings in 2011 UNPROVOKED by the suspect. But sure, officers are still trained that threats are around every corner and the use of their weapon is justified for every encounter. Why is this? More police officers were killed in 2011 by car crashes or other accidents not related to violent suspects, so why are we still training them that they are a constant target for militant civilians? Could this be an effort to pacify the populace into thinking this is the new normal for how police should operate in the world? In a time where private prisons are real and not something out of science fiction or conspiracy theory’s that is something to think hard on.
The police are being militarized at an alarming rate and yet not being trained to use that militarization in a responsible way. 9 cops in full tact gear to attack a house of suspected credit fraud suspects? Sure. 4 officers shoot and kill a drunk man hosing down his lawn at 3am because the hose nozzle looks “like a gun”? Why the hell not? Suspected cop killer is on the loose so lets shoot at ANY DAMN THING THAT MOVES? Of course. We are United States Police Officers and we carry the authority and will to dominate you. ALL HAIL THE (LITERAL) AMERICAN POLICE STATE.
Subject two is all of the drug addiction talk since the death of Phillip Seymour Hoffman. Now, all of the talk on this issue is a good thing and if something good can come from his death, I hope this is it. Unfortunately one of things I keep reading over and over again is how addiction is akin to mind control where the user (note I said user and not victim) is completely under the sirens spell of this enchanting substance. Some moron named Debbie Bayer wrote this long ass screed titled “Phillip Seymour Hoffman did not have choice or free will and neither do you.” Professional idiot Russell Brand went out of his way to not only excuse addicts but to make them the victims of an uncaring society that forces them underground and it is they who are slaves who deserve to be freed from the stigma of being an addict. What a pile of self-righteous bullshit.
It was everything else that was at fault other than him huh? He was a victim of nature and had no free will to go out, purchase heroin, cook the heroin, fill the needle and then CHOOSE to put it into his arm? Notice all the steps involved in this, it was not just a momentary loss of discernment which resulted in horrible consequences, this was a calculated act meant for a singular purpose, an act that was thought out and engaged with free will. At any point in this process could he have CHOSEN to stop it and seek help, he instead CHOSE to proceed as planned.
Fuck this the junkie is the victim bullshit, you CHOOSE to do drugs, the addiction part is chemical yes, but you CHOOSE to start that addiction which you willingly entered into and you CHOOSE to continue it. You will suffer if you CHOOSE not to do it true, but that is part of the choice, you CHOOSE the easy way and that is to feed the addiction and not to fight it. Fighting it would require you to be your own person again and most people do not want that, they want a simple escape because that is easier and they have no intestinal fortitude. Stop this victim bullshit and own up, you make a choice, right or wrong, it’s still a choice that you made willingly.
I get that addiction takes away the rational part of the process but there is still a large element of CHOICE involved. You don’t go through all the steps it takes to procure the drug, cook the drug and then inject the drug under some kind of trance… you make a CHOICE plain and simple. I am just sick of hearing about how addicts have no choice and are a slave to their addiction, how their addiction rules their every moment. I grew up with an alcoholic father and I am not unsympathetic to what addicts go through but to say they have no choice and no free will is to absolve them of responsibility and divert attention away from the real problem that requires treatment, eliminating that CHOICE from the equation. By telling addicts they are not in control you are taking away their ability to make the correct CHOICE when the issue arises and a crossroads is reached. By making them the victim of the system you are pretending that they are at either the will of nature or of god, either way it plays into the power stereotype that only serves to make things worse. Treatment is something that is needed, no doubt, but to simply give up and allow the drug or whatever the addiction is to to have full control? That is not just lazy, that is irresponsible on an almost criminal level. People like Bayer and Brand are making excuses so they can shift the blame away from the addict and onto society itself, then they look all introspective and deep while that evil society is to blame. Make the right CHOICE but damn it, it is a CHOICE, not an act of god nor of nature.
*I can’t go beyond 2011 since it takes time to accumulate the stats and that is always a few years behind.
**The father of a friend of mine was a cop in the 70′s and in his precinct was a guy that had a huge swastika tattooed on his chest… this guy was not screened out… yikes.
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