The one group I am feeling more sympathy for is the police forces who are having to sit and take shit from both sides because of the mess of a few bad apples. We all know that just because one person on a team is bad that the whole team isn't necessarily bad, but we are playing like we are stupid against a great big force that deserves more respect than we are giving them. Right now, as we sit comfortably in our air conditioned homes while the protests go on for an 8th or 9th day, cops are out there trying to keep the peace. In their valiant effort, a few take a bad turn and after taking a bit too much abuse from random unemployables, they strike back. We should be glad they strike back so hard, because 99% of the time, they are doing it for our protection. The people getting shot should be thankful cops have beanbags and rubber bullets at their disposal, it could just all be lead and copper.
Yes, bad things happen, but that is why I told Boy and Sweetie that I didn't want them out there. It would break my heart to see my son take a rubber bullet to the temple just because he was out there trying to scream angrily. Even Wife looked at me after hearing of the 70 year old man getting knocked down by the cops. My dad is in his 70's, if that old fool tried standing in front of strong healthy men half his age to scream nonsense and insist that what he had to say mattered, I would expect his ass to get handed to him. That old fart should be sitting in his rocking chair screaming at the TV, the rioters have turned it almost into a battle zone in places.
We keep hearing of different police officers getting suspended or even fired for activities going on amongst the mayhem and I don't think it is fair. We see bits and pieces in videos and then we draw conclusions from them. There are only so many cops in a city, I am sure most of them are being used right now, probably getting paid OT, going on little sleep, having no time off to rest and reflect, at least enjoying some huge paychecks, but that isn't everything all the time.
What if the police forces decide to go on strike themselves? Who would stand between the rioters/looters and so many buildings? Without someone out there to say no and fight for the common good, many buildings would just get burned down because these people don't care, they own nothing, they pay nothing, what do they care about city pride? What does it matter to them that a building has stood for 200 years? "If it burns bright for 10 minutes, let's destroy it!" is their motto.
Nobody is perfect but I think the cops are doing the best they can. Here in Austin, we rarely even see cop cars, but I am glad they are out there. This morning, we went to get tacos at 7:00am after staying up all night. A cop car got behind me and followed me for about 5 blocks, even though there was another lane going the same direction. I just kept the car at 35MPH and after awhile, the cop got bored and sped off. I can assure you, if he had stopped me, I would have pulled over and said a bunch of yes Sir, and no Sir. There wouldn't be any "I smell bacon". As a person, they may not deserve instant respect, but as a representation of our protection, we should always give them the benefit of the doubt.
I hate to add this at the end, but I always watch the Active Self Protection videos on YouTube, and there was another situation where cops pull up on a young black guy. The cop suspected that there was a gun involved between the two people he saw walking, he called for back-up, as he goes around and comes back, the officer steps out of the car and yells hands up. That is a very simple command, the young guy sticks his hands in his pocket, pulls the gun out of his pocket in a very fast motion apparently to show the cops he had a gun, but what would you do? If you see a young guy on the street with a weapon, you yell hands up and suddenly he is armed, would you wait to see if he was going to shoot you or do you self protect? The kid was not a bad guy, but his actions there were pretty naïve/stupid, never move fast with a gun in the presence of the police, you just won't win.
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