I still believe that those are good things and that it hurts my heart that our species has not yet achieved any of these ideals.
I was one of those students, fighting the "establishment" that represented the War in Vietnam.
I'll never forget, in my sophomore English class, when I was in High School, the teacher read us what must have been an op-ed article from the NY Times.
It referred to the War in Vietnam as a war with a small "w", since it had never actually been declared a war. It went on it that vein and I thought it was very clever. I had not yet developed any awareness of the world in a political sense.
Fast forward to my sophomore year in college. Riots on campuses. Demonstrations. A boyfriend who could be drafted. Things changed quickly for me. This is a picture of me in Boston, during the summer of 1970.
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Of course, living at home and going to college afforded me the ability of my indignation at what was happening to our young men and the people being killed over seas. I'm not suggesting that I didn't strongly believe in the values that "hippies" espoused. It was just that it was easier as a person, who came home every day to a house where I had food, shelter and an allowance.
I hated the police because they came out in riot gear [scary as hell] and beat and arrested students, who were for the most part demonstrating peacefully. At least that's what my memories are telling me. With the exception of Kent State, where four students were shot to death, the police did their jobs. I may have disliked them at the time, but I couldn't understand that they were just doing what they had to do. I was too caught up in being self-righteous. They may have been overly zealous at it, but, then I expect they were wary of what they might be walking into.
The war, eventually ended. Most of us who didn't drop out of school, or life, went on to be part of that world that we did not like. Some of us chose professions that we believed would make the difference we were looking for. Some of us just took whatever jobs we could get, because that's what you have to do when you grow up.
As a psychologist, I will tell you that there are many sociopaths in the world. I've mentioned this before. Most are not serial murders or killers. They are just individuals who don't believe the rules apply to them. And unfortunately, they like power, so they go into careers like law, politics, military and policing. [I apologize if I left out other professions or included yours.]
That would mean, that like elsewhere in the population, there are policemen who are sociopaths. They are the rotten apples on the force. They are the ones who have received too many complaints. They are the ones who should not be allowed to wear a badge and carry a gun. They are not every cop.
I am a lot older and wiser now. Policemen are of course, not pigs. Most of them are good people who want to do their jobs and do not want to hurt others or be hurt themselves.
I absolutely understand why the Black people are so angry. As a Jewish person, I am watching my Israeli countrymen being on the shit end of the stick just because of who they are. However, I do not understand why they are throwing every officer under the bus.
Isn't that what they are against? It's no different from racial profiling. What's the difference here? They are Police Profiling. Any black is a bad person. Any cop is a killer. Does it make any sense? It doesn't to me.
Having worked for the city of New York as an employee, with a strong union, I now how hard it can be to get rid of people who are unfit to do their jobs. It was nearly sinful that people could be allowed to work with other people when they had no skills for what they needed to do their jobs.
I don't know if this is a problem in all cities, but it may well be. And it wouldn't surprise me, if the departments are afraid of their own sociopathic officers.
The police departments need to have a way of getting rid of the officers who are going to make things bad for the department. We are seeing the results of what happens when they either can't, or don't.
We need our policemen. They help us and defend us. We are obviously incapable of policing ourselves.
- Perhaps if the media did not make things so inflammatory it might help.
- If there were some way to keep people from uploading the videos until after there has been an investigation, maybe that would help.
- If people stopped harassing the police for doing their jobs, maybe the police wouldn't be so scared that they shoot first and ask questions later.
- Just a few things to think about.
THEORY:
There are good people and bad people. Most people tend to stereotype groups other than their own. Stereotyping kills.
Enough is enough.
