You are free to hate President Obama, President Bush or President Clinton. You are free to hate the entire Democratic party for its wasteful spending, its terrible economic policies and nanny-state attitude. You are free to hate the entire Republican party for its antagonism to gay people, its shameless war-mongering and particularly irksome radio show hosts.
Many of the members of the Democratic or Republican parties, and certainly our presidents, have worked hard their entire lives to serve this country, whether you believe they do a good job or not. I may hate what they do, but I can’t dispute that many of them work hard. Many of them are highly educated and diligent, and devote countless hours to public “service.” Yet you are free to hate them because ultimately, it is your life that is affected by their actions and policies, and this is all part of the process of Democracy which we are forced to abide by.
Yes, indeed you are free to hate Obama, Bush, all Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians, Tea-Partyists, Communists, etc. because these are all parties or groups that seek to influence policy and affect your life, and no one bats too much of an eye when you criticize these people because you are entitled to your opinion. They may disagree with you, but they will ultimately understand that you are entitled to hold that perspective.
But god forbid you say anything bad about the police.
If you say you hate the police, or spend even a little too much time criticizing them, then you are an ungrateful bitch. Just wait until you get raped, and the police walk by and laugh at you; you will really deserve it (feel free to contact me for further examples of absurd comments I have received in response to my articles).
Well, that seems strange. I thought I was entitled to my opinion?
That must be because the police are different. They aren’t a political party or organization that tries to influence policy. Oh wait, the very powerful Fraternal Order of Police, which lobbies for drug prohibition and other causes certainly indicates that they in fact do influence policy.
It must be because they are not paid as much as other politicians. Well, seeing as how they have the 12th most dangerous job behind behind logger, fishermen, farmers, construction workers, sanitation workers, pilots, roofers, millers, miners, merchant mariners and powerline installers (all very important services), but get paid quite a bit more because they have the luxury of coercing tax money, I’d say that that’s not true either.
But they work so hard! But apparently working hard is irrelevant when criticizing the policy and influence of Democrats, Republicans, Communists, Socialists and Tea-Partyists. So why should it be relevant when criticizing police?
The “hard work” justification is a particularly laughable quality of cops that is used time and time again in defense of police. ”They work/worked hard.” What exactly does that mean? Why should it even matter?
I worked hard too. And I continue to work hard. I like, went to college and law school and stuff. If I want to put it the same way cops and their defenders put it, as an attorney, I dedicate my life to working with and upholding the laws of this nation! By god, I should get certain perks and get away with crimes for my work!
Do I get to rob, taser, abuse and kill people and get away with it because of the incredible stress of being an attorney, and all the hard work I suffered all those years? I don’t think so.
Do I get to take liberties with clients’ money, or commit malpractice every once in a while, and get away with only some “paid suspension” (i.e. vacation) because being a lawyer is so hard, and I had to make complex, difficult decisions on the job? Maybe I should even be able to assault an opposing counsel here and there, since the nature of the job is such that opposing counsel can really grate on one’s nerves (because seriously, who likes lawyers)? No, I don’t think so.
I am not saying I am being treated unfairly, and that I really, really wish that lawyers could rob, beat and taser people without consequence too. Forget lawyers. Is there any other profession out there, in which you can break laws, avoid consequences, and blame it on the “nature of the job” and then lobby to have laws written in your favor?
This whole nation, on average, works quite hard, especially compared to European nations. Should everyone be able to commit a few crimes here and there, because of how hard they work?
For christsakes, the President of the United States is not exempt from criticism; why should police be? Regardless of whether you like the President, you have to admit he “works hard.” Have you seen how a term of presidency ages a man? The before and after pictures are not pretty (Clinton here, Bush here).
What it comes down to, is there is a certain category of people out there, and a certain category of police out there, who simply do not want to take personal responsibility for their actions. They want to play up their training and job as a difficult task, so that when they beat, rob and murder, they need not face the consequences like everyone else would.
Police, like Democrats and Republicans, are a political entity. They not only enforce laws, many of them belong to organizations like the Fraternal Order of Police which actively lobbies for and shapes law.
Police are the law. Without police, the legislation drafted by all those Democrats, Republicans and other political entities would have zero meaning and no practical effect. Police are the very foundation of politics, since without them, government policies would merely be a toothless morass of philosophy and hypotheticals.
We are forced to give them tax money, whether we like how they enforce the laws or not. We are forced to support them and have almost no say about how they conduct their business.
Their political actions and presence affect our lives. Their everyday business has wide-ranging implications in terms of a person’s personal ethics, morals, philosophy and politics.
To say that they are particularly above reproach, any more so than the average person, or the President of the United States, is simply asinine.
It made me smile that according to your source the European nations of Poland, Czech Republic, Greece and Hungary work as hard or harder than the US. :)
> The “hard work” justification is a particularly laughable quality of cops that is used time and time again in defense of police.
Indeed.
I ** MIGHT ** tolerate that line from someone who makes a mistake in the midst of volunteering to help children with cancer, or starving Indians, or something, but it’s supposed to be a (pardon the pun) get-out-of-jail-free card for unionized government employees who get high salaries, overtime, amazing pensions, and more?
!@#$%, we might as well forgive Donald Trump for his next sin because he “works hard” too.
I was referring to the other 12-13 European countries on that chart. It was a generalization meant to show the ridiculousness of cop’s attitudes about “hard work.” It was not meant to be a statement about the work ethic of Polish, Czech, Greek and Hungarian peoples.
If you want a better source, here, under the “follow the money” paragraph:
http://itotd.com/articles/351/work-week-and-vacation-variances/
Good points Jenn!
They don’t work harder than any other person. You know who worked hard? The people who majored in engineering or biology in college to get a job in a field that doesn’t bully people. People who gravitate towards police work do so usually because: 1. It’s easy. 2. Requires little education. 3. They couldn’t learn an actual skill or trade that helps society. In fact, police get paid rather well, after all the tax breaks and the pension they receive, that’s one sweet gig in a USA economy that cannibalizes it’s workforce after 15 years. Both my parents worked in the private sector of silicon valley tech companies and they never once had job security. Cops enjoy a job security that just baffles common sense. The behavior that would get a person fired in one job is not only tolerated in your average police department, it’s celebrated. I have rarely seen cops who have trampled on people’s civil rights lose their job or go to jail, but that’s exactly what needs to happen more often.
Brilliant piece, Jenn! Enjoyed it thoroughly.
This is another example of the kind of thoughtful, intelligent, and reasonable response this movement needs to advance the cause.
Great write up Jenn, blew it out of the water. WOW!
>>>Is there any other profession out there, in which you can break laws, avoid consequences, and blame it on the “nature of the job” and then lobby to have laws written in your favor?
“The most stunning statistic, however, is that the total number of deaths caused by conventional medicine is an astounding 783,936 per year. It is now evident that the American medical system is the leading cause of death and injury in the US. Using Leape’s 1997 medical and drug error rate would add another 216,000 deaths, for a total of 999,936 deaths annually. Our estimated 10-year total of 7.8 million iatrogenic* deaths is more than all the casualties from all the wars fought by the US throughout its entire history. Our considerably higher figure is equivalent to six jumbo jets are falling out of the sky each day.”
—Gary Null, PhD; Carolyn Dean MD, ND; Martin Feldman, MD; Debora Rasio, MD; Dorothy Smith, PhD, “Death by Medicine”, March 2004 (plus 1-Million annual aborticides in USA)
http://www.lef.org/magazine/mag2004/mar2004_awsi_death_01.htm
Of course police never arrest those serial killers, when theyre too busy suing 100-million traffic tickets every year against safe drivers who dont crash.
Cops get $200,000 salary, city goes bankrupt
http://piratenews-tv.blogspot.com/2008_02_01_archive.html
COP.
2. to steal; filch. 3. to buy (narcotics). 4. cop out, a. to avoid one’s responsibility, the fulfillment of a promise, etc.; renege; back out. 5. cop a plea, a. to plead guilty or confess in return for receiving a lighter sentence. b. to plead guilty to a lesser charge; plea-bargain.
-Random House Unabridged Dictionary
“The US Supreme Court said in Miranda that there’s 40,000 police jurisdictions in America. We expect one civil rights crime in every one of those agencies every day. 40,000 times 365 days a year is 14,600,000 crimes committed by police every year. Hell, there’s only 14,200,000 crimes committed by the criminals. The police commit more crimes against the People than the criminals commit!”
-George Gordon Radio Show, “The Policeman Is Not Your Friend, He Is Your Adversary”
http://db.georgegordon.com/index2007.html
Tortured by Cops in TN: Waterboarding, Baseball Bat, Gun in the Mouth Inside Your Own Home, to Extort Signature on “Consent to Search” Contract
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3386531596598980684&hl=en
http://piratenews.org/tortured-by-copsters-in-tn.html
Dragonator, you are using the word “caused” in a misleading way. If you go to the ER having been shot 10 times, the doctors operate on you and are unable to save you, I suppose you could say that ultimately, it was the doctors who “caused” your death. Similarly, if you had a terrible, rare cancer and underwent a risky procedure, and died, you your death could technically be considered iatrogenic. However, clearly, these are not situations doctors can help. People die, and sometimes there’s nothing to be done about it. To say that doctors are serial killers or murderers is really quite absurd, in my opinion.
If anything, all that overprescription of drugs and over use of certain surgical procedures is not due to bad faith by doctors, but is due to litigious people in society, who force doctors to practice defensive medicine, and overprescribe and over-use certain procedures due to fear of being sued (c-sections are a great example of this).
Serial killers… come on. I guess I’m biased because many of my friends happen to be, er, serial killers.
Thank you everyone, for reading and for the encouragement.
Really good points Jenn!
Am I right in sensing that this might be related to the criticism by Penn Jillet in part? His latest Penn Point kinda irked me. He was trying to justify police actions but also trying to somehow support Pete, Adam, and FSP participants.
All I can say is he has advertisers, and he was probably taken out back and told to straighten up about this situation. Otherwise, why would he go back to the issue again?
Yes, his little harangue irked me a bit as well. It was rather incoherent. Oh woe are the police! They have to deal with “annoying motherfuckers”!
Gawd this was great! I think I love you, Jenn. I am linking this on every site I am a member of.
Hi Michael,
Thanks for reading! I really appreciate it!
so, alot of talk about how much cops need to be put in check. so, whats next? we have identified a problem, the next corse of action is action. i say instead of bloggin like bitches, we orginize a movement, and stop these insecure individuals were they stand. im tired of this shit. for all cops reading this, i was the kid in high school that beat your ass thus making yo want to become a cop to get back at the rest of the world….weenie. i cant wait till there are a million pissed off ppl marching in the street willing to charge into a barrage of swat. i cant wait for one of you to be on the ground with the most terrifiing look right as your about to take your last breath. a feeling of no remorse, i can tell you that.
i take it back. i would never wish to watch anybody do that to a police officer, or anybody. but what goes around comes around, and the people will bully you one day.