Two cops are dead because we don't do the Rational Thinking thing much any more.
And this doesn't help:
“Unfortunately, I don’t believe anyone connected to law enforcement is surprised this happened,” said Gary McLhinney, a former Baltimore police union president and former chief of the Maryland Transportation Authority police, who is now a labor negotiator for police unions. “Political rhetoric and lies have consequences. When our leaders make statements that encourage lawlessness and demean an entire profession, this is the result.”
First, I have to indulge myself with a tiny bit of Media Criticism - what “Political rhetoric and lies..." are we referring to here, Gary? Wingnut Media have tried hard to paint Obama and Holder as "anti-cop" because they've been critical of the way some departments have seen fit to fund themselves by operating a shakedown racket primarily aimed at "the black community", but there's nothing in the WaPo story to indicate where that bit came from. So it falls outa this guy's yap and just sits there - no challenge; no followup; no context. Nuthin'.
Anyway, let the record show that "The Legion of Race Baiters" have all, or pretty much all, stepped up and condemned the cop killer in no uncertain terms.
Obama: “I unconditionally condemn today’s murder of two police officers in New York City,” the president said in a statement released just after midnight on Sunday morning. “Two brave men won’t be going home to their loved ones tonight, and for that, there is no justification. The officers who serve and protect our communities risk their own safety for ours every single day — and they deserve our respect and gratitude every single day. I ask people to reject violence and words that harm, and turn to words that heal — prayer, patient dialogue, and sympathy for the friends and family of the fallen.”
Holder: (labeled the killings an) “assassination” and “an unspeakable act of barbarism.”
He said the attack underscores the dangers police officers face each day in their jobs and that “we must not forget this as we discuss the events of the recent past.”
Holder called for communities and their police departments to forge closer bonds, “so that public safety is not a cause that is served by a courageous few, but a promise that’s fulfilled by police officials and citizens working side by side.”
Al Sharpton: “Any use of the names of Eric Garner and Michael Brown, in connection with any violence or killing of police, is reprehensible and against the pursuit of justice in both cases,” the statement said. “We have stressed at every rally and march that anyone engaged in any violence is an enemy to the pursuit of justice for Eric Garner and Michael Brown… The Garner family and I have always stressed that we do not believe that all police are bad, in fact we have stressed that most police are not bad.”
But none of that matters anymore. The Authoritarians have a coupla more very timely and convenient martyrs now. We've already begun seeing what looks like a push on social media to turn every cop into a saintly figure with the purest of intentions faced with the lawless brutality of the unwashed hordes of the ghetto blah blah über alles blah.
The use of violence by an authoritarian government is intended to elicit a violent response from the governed in order for the government to gain sufficient rationale to use violence against the governed.
And round and round we go. Thanks for playing.
We're supposed to have set ourselves up to be the exception, because we were supposed to have recognized that we deserve better than to be perpetually stuck in the kind of cycle of violence that had been going on for a thousand centuries before us.
Maybe we figure it out and maybe we don't, but if history is any guide at all, we know we'll prob'ly be dealing with some even heavier shit before we get to the good stuff.
Here's to hopin' on the shortest darkest day of the year.
