Quote:
Originally Posted by ateamstupid
Ah yes, Al Sharpton. No argument with a right-wing airhead is complete without a mention of their boogeyman shoehorned into it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25BBGnd-JkE
Look at that. That was the 2nd night of protests and an American police force's response to (at that point) peaceful protesters. If you don't think that's a paramilitary force and a terrifying look into what the future of American policing could look like, I don't know what to say. They were firing tear gas canisters at people standing in their own back yards for God's sake. How can you possibly defend this?
Damn near every single police shooting in 2014 in America was deemed justified. SWAT teams used to be deployed a few thousand times a year, now they're used a thousand times a week, often for low-level crimes. Countless people have been brutalized, traumatized and killed by cops with zero accountability and they're only getting more heavily armed and aggressive despite crime being at record lows. You have a lot of nerve saying the police need to be using more force, not less, but again, that's what happens when you live a completely insulated life from any kind of interaction with the increasingly militarized police in this country. You get to sit in your bubble and use every possible explanation for why the cops are always right and the people whose lives they ruin are always the bad guys. It's ignorant, juvenile and pathetic. |
That video proves a lot. Talk about being an airhead. You truly are if you think that video proves anything. There is absolutely zero context. We have no idea what occurred before that. Why would you believe the protest was peaceful? After the grand jury decision, CNN was saying the protest was peaceful as buildings were being burned down. You may think throwing rocks, bottles, and molotov cocktails is peaceful. That's not my definition of peaceful.
You say that nearly every single police shooting in 2014 was deemed justified. I have some shocking news for you. Practically every one of them was justified. I'm sure there were a few that weren't and those cops were prosecuted when there was evidence. I hate to break this news to you but there has to be evidence to prosecute. Cops are entitled due process just like everyone else. We don't lock cops up just because mindless left-wing airheads like you and Al Sharpton say that a crime was committed. You guys want due process for your criminal idols but not for the police. I want due process for everyone.
By no means do I favor the use of heavily armed police (whether local or federal) for trivial and non-violent offenses. If you remember, I was outraged when some heavily armed government agency raided that animal rescue place (I think it was in Ohio) because they were fostering a baby deer.
I have no idea where you come up with the characterization of "zero accountability". There is always accountability. The definition of accountability is having to answer for your actions. The police always have to answer for their actions. If there is an officer involved shooting, there is always accountability. There is always an investigation, many times by outside agencies. There was accountability with regards to the case in Ferguson. The officer had to answer for his actions. Just because he wasn't convicted of anything, that doesn't mean there was no accountability. We only convict people based on evidence, not on your opinion, Al Sharpton's opinion, or the lynch mobs' opinion.
I think you must be the one living in the bubble. The vast majority of Americans don't have interactions with "hostile police" all the time as you do. The vast majority of Americans have an overall positive opinion of the police. You are acting like I am in the minority, when in fact most people would agree with me. I live in a big city and I occasionally have interactions with the police. Some of them are jerks, but there are jerks in every occupation. The percentage may be slightly higher in law enforcement, but what can you do? What is the solution? The system isn't perfect. By the way, ever since I left the bloods, the police have stopped harassing me.
I will use your words and say that it is ignorant, juvenile, and pathetic for you to think the police are always wrong and are always the bad guy. You may not have said that, but you accused me of saying that the police are always right and are never the bad guy (even though I never said that).
By the way, I'd like to see your source that documents SWAT teams now being used a thousand times a week instead of a few thousand times a year.
With regard to your characterization that crime is at record lows, what bubble are you living in? In Los Angeles, violent crime was up 14% last year.
"By far, the most dramatic rise was in aggravated assaults — serious attacks that typically involve a weapon or serious injury — which rose 24.2% compared with 2013."
How big of an airhead would a guy have to be to be more concerned with a few cases of police misconduct than with the tens of thousands of violent assaults and murders that occurred last year across this country?
http://www.latimes.com/local/crime/l...231-story.html