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Is asking for reform disrespectful to police?

Or is criticizing a legal system that allows cops to kill citizens whenever they feel like it more nuanced than that? I guess that depends on whether you think or knee-jerk.TMW2015-01-07color


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  1. theaveeditor #
    1

    ” criticizing a legal system that allows cops to kill citizens whenever they feel like it ” IS NOT the same as demonizing the cops as people.
    To date, I have not heard any part of the vocal crowd calling for legal reforms.
    All I hear is that cops are bad, cops are rednecks, cops need sensitivity training or body cams the way pit bulls need choke collars.
    Add in the media profiteering we get from the hatemongery of Fox’s panoply and Al Sharpton and any real change seems unlikely.

  2. Roger Rabbit #
    2

    The protesters are objecting to the failure of grand juries to indict cops who killed unarmed citizens. That looks like criticizing the legal system to me. Does the protesters’ frustration spill over into personal animosity against the cops who did the killing? Of course it does, that’s human nature. Last night I watched some YouTube videos of citizens saluting the Boston police after the bombers were caught. Cops, like everyone else, are judged by their actions. When they do good things, we like them. When they do bad things, we don’t. This cartoon is a social commentary on our contemporary society. It’s not a generalization about cops in general. It’s a commentary on that portion of our policing system that isn’t working well or is downright dysfunctional. That’s fair game for social commentary. Now we’re seeing hundreds of New York cops disrespecting their civilian superiors, in part because they don’t like the protesters being allowed to protests (i.e., exercise their constitutional rights to assembly, free speech, and petition government for redress of grievances). Are you saying that criticizing the behavior of these cops is equivalent to demonizing them? I don’t think so. Their behavior is being judged. No one is above that.

  3. TaylorB #
    3

    I’m glad this “comic” was posted…it captures the matter with more understanding than many “pundits” have been able to do while using many more words.

  4. theaveeditor #
    4

    I am going to dip into your own stands. Asa a lawyer you always stand by the system. I do not.

    You never hear me saying lawy6ers as thugs. But I do say that the legal system protects lawyers who act as thugs. No amount of calumny vs all lawyers or retraining in ethics will change that.

    The same is true of the police. Unlike you I have no telepathic input into the demonstrator’s intent. All I can do is listen to a few that I know and otherwise listen to what seem to be reputable sources. These DO show the demonstrators demonizing the cops. Why else did Sharpton boycott the funerals? Show me one leader of the “movement” who is advocating legal system reform or removal of the cops as an occupying force. NADA.

    BTW .. the same is true on the right. Yes these backwards facing cops did something awful. If I had my way they would all be punished for disobeying a legal order. At least the cops have a personal stake, but there is no excuse for the behavior of their union leaders or the Fauxies ..both are interested only in money and power.

    So back to my first comment .. show me the site promoting actual legal action f0mr the left or bemoaning the executions of these officers. Show me a leftie site that doe snot paint the occupation as occupation rather than as a license for racism.

  5. Roger Rabbit #
    5

    What the protesters are protesting is the legal system’s refusal to indict cops who’ve killed unarmed black men. They may not be using the term “reform,” but the substance of their demands is reform. Do I always “stand by” the legal system? I don’t see how you can say that when I heartily attack the legal system every time another wrongfully convicted person is sprung from prison by Innocence Project lawyers. Just today I posted another commentary calling our criminal justice system a “miserable failure.”