Police Brutality

[Redheart]

The media likes sensational news.
"Innocent unarmed black man murdered by white police officer."

They just must make it about race. When whites are killed by police, heck, that's nothing new. People die all the time. But black? That's controversial. It will draw more eyeballs to their websites. I think the media negatively contributes to all this. If you label police the bad guys then eventaully people get inured to police brutality. They accept it as the norm.

 

[Aree Wongwanlee]

True, the media likes to sensationalize what's happening. That's how they make money. True, the people who are involved in the rioting are hooligans who are there to make trouble, not protest anything. However, that doesn't hide the truth which is that there is a problem with the police system in the US. I have seen pictures of the police in Ferguson. They look more like soldiers than police to me. There is a vast difference between soldiers and police. Soldiers are trained to shoot first, talk later. Police are supposed to talk first and shoot only as a last resort.

 

[tournique]

I agree that it is definitely not a race issue. It is a national crisis! These cops are already acting like Nazis and it doesn't matter whether you are black or white. If they don't like you, they could do stuff to you. There are white people who also got in trouble with the cops but they are not sensationalized on the news like African Americans.

News sensationalism is a different thing. Don't go too far comparing cops to Nazis because that is not the case. There have always been problems with the law officers and it's not a new issue. Just wish Obama would address internal problems for the moment and leave external affairs alone for a few months.

 

[Aree Wongwanlee]

Just wish Obama would address internal problems for the moment and leave external affairs alone for a few months.

It would be even better if Obama would bring all the troops home, save all that money on overseas deployment and use the money on helping the people who elected him instead of people in other countries.

 

[tournique]

It would be even better if Obama would bring all the troops home, save all that money on overseas deployment and use the money on helping the people who elected him instead of people in other countries.

You think Obama would do such thing? Or the next elected president? It's highly unlikely that they will recall troops when the middle east is turned upside down at the moment.

 

[Peninha]

When I am passionate about an issue, I can come across as being harsh, but I cannot understand why people are so ignorant to the fact that ALL organisations have good and bad in them. Any organisation be it the police, the army, medical staff or social services etc, needs to be lead by a strong moralistic person. Respect is not given it is EARNT!!!! If we all understood this simple principle the world would be a more peaceful place?????

I don't think it's a harsh view Catherine, but in fact there are good and bad in everything, it's a part of the human condition, but if we don't punish the bad people will start confusing the two.

 

[joshua minaya]

While America is busy fighting wars overseas, there is a war going on in its own soil and I'm not sure if the President even really cares about this whole thing. I'm talking about the Againt the Cops protests happening in many different states now. This is pretty much leading to nowhere, the way I'm seeing it by the way. What's your opinion about it?

I certainly agree with you on this America should be thinking of removing the speck in their own eyes before they remove the speck from another.

 

[Peninha]

It doesn't matter though, because the Eric Garner case was captured on video! And the one who got in trouble with the law is the guy who posted the video. Let that sink in for a second. -_-



The guns are not the problem here. It's the people who trigger them. People who think they are above the law.



I kind of agree on this one. Obama has to focus first on the inside and stop meddling with foreign affairs for now. His business should be America and that should be the priority.

Sure, I don't question that musicmonster, people are the problem, but if they didn't have a gun they would not trigger anything right? Like the case of the dad who killed his kid because of an argument about the allowance...

 

[Gelsemium]

I agree that it is definitely not a race issue. It is a national crisis! These cops are already acting like Nazis and it doesn't matter whether you are black or white. If they don't like you, they could do stuff to you. There are white people who also got in trouble with the cops but they are not sensationalized on the news like African Americans.

That is why a major intervention need to be made at the highest level, a crisis in the security forces can lead to a civil war and that is unthinkable in the US. Is it?

 

[003]

Police brutality is really inhumane. But how can you expect one to react just right with all that surging of intense pain and other emotions. Police only just get over. How could they be inhumane if that brutality only expresses what they feel? Because we are humans who are able to rationalise, I think brutality, more than an expression of what you feel, is the product of your instincts. And to say that police are humans, they should at least be able rationalise and screen their instinct right before they execute them. Yes, we are talking about instincts. Some might say that it can't be controlled. Well, I would agree for animals, but we're humans!

 

[galmal]

If I remember rightly, policemen in the UK do not carry firearms on duty. Perhaps if the US police department take a closer look at how their UK counterparts get the job done without using firearms, it might be a step in the right direction.

There's an old saying about bringing a knife to a gun fight. The atmosphere is vastly different between the UK, which has very strict gun control and few citizens own firearms, and the US where anyone is easily able to obtain guns, whether legally or illegally. The vast majority of criminals in the US not only have firearms, they carry automatic weapons with huge magazines, and they don't hesitate to use them. In a perfect world, our police force wouldn't need to carry guns - but in the perfect world there would be no crime either. I'm not saying that police brutality doesn't exist, but what no one has mentioned is "criminal brutality". How do you deal with the armed criminal element, who have no regard for life, and would just as soon shoot a cop rather than behave themselves? Would YOU wade into an angry, armed mob unarmed? Would YOU respond to a call concerning an armed robbery with no way to protect yourself? There are a few bad apples in our police force, but the majority of our cops are brave men and women who are doing their best to protect and serve an ungrateful public.

 

[kittyworker]

The guns are not the problem here. It's the people who trigger them. People who think they are above the law.

I hear this all the time and yet when you look at countries that have tougher gun control laws their violent crime rates featuring a firearm are far lower. If fewer people had guns police would be less inclined to shoot first and ask questions later as they would be less fearful that someone is carrying.

 

[KimberlyD]

KimberlyD, I think you should apply for the job of adviser to the president!!!! You makes great deal of sense in your video. I am originally from England and now live in Switzerland (my husband got a job here), but will return home in the next couple of years. The only thing I would add to your amazing video is the word RESPECT. I do believe respect starts at home. I was fortunate to be blessed with a daughter. The main thing I taught her was to respect herself and others, where respect is due. I treated my daughter as my equal and with respect. This pays off, she is now 18, gone off to college in England and I don't need to worry about what she says and does because I hope I have done a good enough job of teaching her respect her peers and elders. Stand up on the bus and give your seat to an old lady, remember your pleases and thank yous (it costs nothing to be respectful of others). Of course through her life people may not respect her, but she has learned to turn away and not engage with these people BECAUSE it takes a bigger person to turn the other cheek. Thank you for your words of wisdom KimerlyD, now remember apply for Presidents assistants job...

LMAO, your the first person to advise me to be the Presidents adviser. I have been told I should run for President. I got talked into running for President of my Student Government. I would never want the Presidents job and as for being an adviser.... with our current President, I would end up in prison my first day... That guy ticks me off just looking at him. But thank your for your encouragement. Who knows... maybe I will try for the position one day.

 

[Onionman]

No one should be above the law and it's about time that there was more accountability. If more police wore cameras maybe we would get a fuller story more often rather than having to take a police view (usually accepted) versus the attacked. There has to be a line drawn.

 

[vegito12]

People have shown they will fight back against cops who misuse the law and even shoot if needed to stop cop from entering house or car with force and more violence will occur. I think in recent times, cops have thought they are above the law and tried to do false arrests and this has caused people not to trust them. If this a lot than, people will start riots and want cops moved and no one will trust them and will always oppose them