06-27-2020, 08:24 PM
(06-27-2020, 07:15 PM)Snarl Wrote:(06-27-2020, 06:58 PM)Schmoe1 Wrote: In my lifetime I've always had positive interactions with police, minus one, but assholes exist in all facets of employment across the globe. He may be a great person, and I just caught him on a bad day, who knows.
The problem with Law Enforcement boils down to one thing: the law.
See, if a good guy totally smashes a bad guy ... the good guy knows there's a tremendous likelihood he'll be prosecuted for his actions.
When I was a kid, my dad would beat the living Hell out of anyone who was a public nuisance or a public menace. People feared my dad. People who didn't even know him would feel grave danger just being in his presence. Now, I say this about my dad, but it wasn't uncommon for this to happen around any man of his time.
These days men behave like this (skip right to :29)
Now the cops are 'looking' for the two thugs who threw that wimp a beating. But that's the way it is. Had the guy pulled out a gun and shot those two thugs to death (like good ol' Bernie Goetz), he'd have gone to jail just like Bernie did. Because ... you got it ... the cops would have been sent 'round to arrest him.
Ya know, people would be a lot more behaved in public if good old fashioned beat downs were allowed. I know that's a slippery slope, you can't just go around assaulting people all willy nilly.
On the other hand, I would feel justified in knocking some common courtesy into the douchebag on the train blasting his rap music, after being asked to turn it down and didn't.
But nope, can't just start beating him for fear of prison, so myself and all the other riders have to suffer through it?
Getting off topic here, but technology is a blessing and a curse. On the positive side, it enables you and I to have this conversation. On the negative side, it's created the Facebook-esque "look at me! Look at me!" culture of self absorption. I don't know what it was like in the 50s, but consideration of others has steadily taken a nosedive, because people know they can behave like assholes and you can't do anything about it without serious consequences.