Have-a-go policemen.
The police keep the people they are trying to protect in a constant state of nervous fear, at least if you're male and semi-young. The bottom-rung "beat" guys always seem to come from the Dudley Dursley stock, complete with large, spherical heads (pure skull thickness accounting for at least half the diameter, I'd guess), an over-obvious need to prove their manhood, and just plain lack of good manners. Now, now, I'm sure there are some really wonderful men and women serving our country who follow each law to the letter, act conscientiously and show good judgment and restraint, and perhaps even have a soul, but if there are I haven't seen any. I suppose they get the desk jobs, or get proper jobs period. We're left to be bullied for the rest of our lives by the same crowd that was sniffing paint and glue in shop class while we were taking trig and advanced English.
I've been wrestled to the ground and forced to remain on hot pavement for at least 15 minutes while my ID was checked and I was patted down, ostensibly because the shop owner believed I was shoplifting something and there happened to be one of these pork-products nearby when he make his secret call. Needless to say he found nothing on me, but a lot of customers got a good look at an innocent person being manhandled, very lovely. Then as he stood up and spoke into his magic-phone (I'm sure that's what they're told they are), any reasonable questions I had such as, "may I get up now?" "Can I have my ID back?" "Am I free to leave or are you gonna charge me with something?" or "Were your parents both men?" were summarily answered by the always clever "shut the fuck up." Good thing he didn't find the 60" widescreen television in my back pocket. And did I get an apology when I finally was let go? Of course not, just a mumbled, "have a nice day sir" with no eye contact as he seemed to struggle with the complicated workings of his ball point pen. He got more than a "nice day" from me, though, as I hurled his way every insult that occurred to me for a minute or two, then gave him the Double Deuce for good measure before proceeding to my car.
This happened not all that long ago actually, and I had a run-in with the police last year as well where I was treated with actual violence where none was needed, though it was nothing I could prove because it happened at night with no pesky witnesses around to see. It seems that as my beard and hair grow out, I've shifted into a different category for these types—homeless and/or violent characters who obviously steal and commit petty crimes or sell drugs and advertise it loudly by dressing the part. Funny, I don't remember having any problems with the police whatsoever when I was clean-cut and in my 20s, when I actually did tend to have drugs or contraband on me. Ok maybe not contraband. It really makes me feel safe knowing that this sub-human lot of wannabe Bruce Willises is the "interface layer" the law enforcement agencies have with the people they rule over. Excuse me, I meant serve. There was yet another story in the paper yesterday of a policeman in this area beating a guy for "resisting arrest"—only this time someone was on hand to take a bunch of pictures and the dude on the ground was way past the point of being able to resist anything. Being that it was caught on film, it is now being Officially Looked Into and the officer in question is on leave of absence, even though he's apparently had a number of similar complaints filed against him in the past, just not accompanied by juicy photographs. Officers protect their own; I'm sure they'll drag this out as long as they can, hoping people lose interest.
Even if this asshole gets fired to pacify the public, it will mean nothing, because another one genetically identical to him will step out of the factory and replace him on that beat. Hell, a judge and jury and the rest of the world watched a clear videotape running a considerable length of something like six police-thugs standing around kicking and billy-clubbing Rodney King to a mush all those years ago, and THEY were cleared of all charges. W in the F is going on here? It reminds me of one of those blaxsploitation films of the 70s where a woman walks in on her husband and another woman in bed, and the man jumps up and instead of apologizing or making up some pathetic story, goes on the offensive and says, "Who you gonna believe baby, me, or your lyin' eyes?" It would be funny if that weren't pretty much the case of our government versus the people it reigns in terror over. Good thing we're free and have constitutional rights (you get those when you hire an attorney, but not before). Imagine if we were one of those bad-guy countries where the governments, police, and intelligence services actually wiretap, read email, and otherwise spy on their own citizens out of paranoia. Sheesh. Haven't these guys watched "Other People's Lives" yet? Oh wait, it's in German, half of them would need to be able to read to understand it.
9 comments:
Cool! Let's form a bad ass rap duo and make us a million Euros. 10-4 on the Law though. Recently here, 6 different 190 lb coppers were caught on camera 'arresting' a 110lb girl. She was probably guilty of something, maybe full of foul language or whatever. But isn't that what all the training is about, being able to take down perps 1 on 1 with the minimum of force necessary? Yeah right. Point is, as you know, they love it. It makes them feel big and strong like some W.W.F. steroid junky. There are some good cops out there somewhere, but they get weeded out bit by bit. My bro in law (deceased) was not a bad guy when he started. Soon changed into somebody who'd lie through his teeth to protect the racist, violent, homophobic misogynists he had joined. I've never been arrested, just got lucky on enough occasions and am not very naughty at all. But by the letter of the law, I should have done about 70% of my adult life inside by now. I used to go on demos. I saw a 60 year old woman run down by a bike cop, seen baton charges at very close hand, watched as coppers on huge horses rode straight through a crowd which had nowhere to go. Friends have had their homes destroyed by these assholes. They're used as a political fist globally. And like you say, prosecutions against them are as rare as hens teeth. I'm too vexed to go to sleep now but must try.
Adios, and I'm glad you back on better form, old bean.
I like the rap group idea Rex, we could be like Public Enemy 2: Bush and Brown's Worst Nightmare. 16 million American blacks and a few million British blacks and one white guy from each country CAN'T BE WRONG!! As long as I get to be Flava...
http://www.adampwsmith.com/gallery/flava.jpg
That guy always used to crack me up. What was UP with the Viking at and the huge neon clocks? Maybe he has some kinda diabetes and NEEDS to know the time at all times. Oh yeah, and the gold teeth ruled too.
I agree with all the other shit you said too, I forget what it was but I remember reading it and nodding my head, so it must have made sense (which is actually kinda weird though...) =]
I believe you now about being in Cali for cricket, you know too much US slang and people and places and stuff not to have been here. Also, Mags told me :)
See you on the dark side of the sun!
*wanders off quietly freestyling, warming up to start writing the raps...*
Viking HAT*
Also, about your late brother (condolences), your story of him getting into it for the right reasons and then changing remind me a bit of some of the right-wing side of my family... I've got a grandpa and uncle (his son) who both served in the military, and then who both worked for civilian companies with military contracts like Rockwell and maybe another one, like Northrop or something. My grandpa was a sheet metal worker and mechanic and actually worked on the Space Shuttle as well (riveting I think, though he probably thought it was dull). My uncle painted and worked with external materials and coatings (the B1, B2, F117, etc).
Neat and all, especially since he knew about the Stealth stuff way before anyone not on the project did, including all of us of course, whom he couldn't tell a thing to. But the end result is that having "served" they're both pretty blindly patriotic, and people like that just get under my skin. I still love them and my Uncle was one of my heroes growing up - he was so funny, and taught me to juggle, used to ride a unicycle, fly RC model airplanes, all kinds of nutty stuff. You'd like him. But the brainwashing ANY government service does, military or civilian law enforcement, is terrible. Things haven't changed since the Romans, or the Cave-Romans before them.
'V For Vendetta' was a good movie if you're a fan of Guy Fawkes. Why do you guys burn him up every year? Is he sort of an antihero or a hero? I thought he wanted to overthrow to reform for the better... I admit my British history is almost as bad as my American History... Well, it's got Natalie Portman in it, so it's a good flick no matter what =P
Yep. I'm getting the military thing in dribs and drabs. One blog I visit is written by a daughter of an ex-military dude. You can't argue against anything American with her, it just gets responses like 'at least I chose my husband and I don't have to walk behind him in the street' There are great things about lots of countries, bad shit too. All that flag saluting and tubthumping leaves me fuming whoever is doing it to whatever flag. I saw more of it in the U.S.A. than anywhere I've ever been and I'm very sad about that because so many other things seemed(to me as a tourist) to be cool or at least tolerable.
They play the hymn 'Jerusalem' each day before an England cricket match now. AAARRRGGHH!! Bloody Nora!! Tubthumping AND Christianity. Cricket IS a religion. We don't need another one mixed into it. I always want England to win, though that's where my patriotism ends fairly abruptly.
Anyway, it's tea time over there, so it's sleepy time over here.
Perchance to dream of a borderless world?
Very well said my good man, and said very well too, come to think of it.
I've never bought into -isms. One needs to think for oneself and live according to one's conscience. Maybe some are born without one, or more likely it gets engulfed at a young age by much stronger indoctrination into "this is how you ought to believe."
World peace at least on the national level I don't think is something to written off derisively as unattainably Utopian. There will always be personal conflicts between people, and inevetibly, since there are more followers than leaders, probably the 'my village/company/choice of car is better than your lot's'.
There seems to be no way around this fundamental groupthink, which is really just laziness and abdication of the responsibility to think as an individual, as thus make yourself believe you're not responsible for what this larger-than-you group does to another group, or the the environment, or to animals.
And depressingly it seems genetic, at least that's the strong feeling I have now after having read most of Richard Dawkins' books, assorted fiction and non-fiction commentary upon societies throughout recorded history (and pre-recorded ones that haven't happened yet). It's our species' genes that seem to ensure conflict and group behavior, because in that past that was an advantage. That advantage seems to have disappeared in a post-darwinian society, or at least become an undesirable thing that creates opportunity for tyranny of all sorts.
But I do think that if we could start by working exclusive religions and nonrational belief systems out of the world, we could break down many of the nation-state strife, though even with a world where there is much more mixing of race and a big break from past traditions so that everyone is sort of on the same playing field and at least playing by the same rules, even if those rules are competitive, that would keep the real atrocities and genocides out of the picture.
I dunno. Do we want a homogeneous world culturally, though? It would be pointless to travel. I already find my interest in visiting other cities and states in my own country much less interesting because they all look the same now - suburban sprawl with strip malls featuring starbucks, wal-mart, and take your pick of a drugstore (chemist) and a couple of fast-food franchises. It really depresses me that I could drive for three days and end up in a city on the other coast that would probably look just like mine.
So either the world is a really boring place with no variety, or the excitement of variety exists, but also the brutality of intolerance of differences. I'd like to be optimistic about the future but I'm not. Maybe future societies will change so radically with the electronic world community and genetic engineering of the mind that even our most basic natures can be altered. But that's a whole other topic, and an even scarier one.
Depressing.
Think I'll have that tea you were talking about, only mine will probably be a beer or some juice. Not a big tea drinker - you guys all say our tea is rubbish anyways so why even start, I tell myself. We just don't have that tradition here, although many do drink tea, just not in the same ritualized way.
Bah, feeling wordy tonight! Sorry for the long read but if you made it this far, thanks for the continued patronage and now go hang yourself in your living room.
Just kidding =)
Ah, bollocks. Countless spelling and grammar errors in the above comment, oh well.
I'd rather be pasture-ized than homogenized...variety is essential unless you truly want to be a cop, a storm trooper, a sheep (sorry Meta), just another depressed person in line to see a psychiatrist......oops, told on myself. But variety helps us to think in different ways, so what was your question? Oh yeh, why Americans don't know the tea ritual. I think it's a shame really.....shame on us. Tea time! It has a good ring to it, plus you get little sandwiches and cakes. PG Tips? We can get that and our grocery stores carry Tetley and Twining - probably not your best but the tea bags are cuter than ours. I know there are lots of types and brands. I used to be a tea drinker - didn't care for Tips, but Earl Grey is fabulous. My favorite is Mango Ceylon (loose) from The Republic of Tea, probably from U.S. but not for breakfast - more of an afternoon delight. Anyway, tea came from China and is a drink that has been around for 5,000 years! Wow, apparently discovered when an emperor was drinking boiled water enroute to conquer someplace probably, and anyway some dried leaves fell into the water and created a brown liquid - ta da, tea was born. So England and the U.S. both need to thank China for acquiring tea to drink (plus all the unnessary plastic objects we buy) - until coffee came along and blew them all away -quicker High I guess, nasty flavor though! Add chocolate and you have a masterpiece! Police must drink lots of coffee laced with testosterone.....! I wish their training included dressing like a homeless guy and getting harrassed just to know how it FEELS. I'm glad John Lennon was with us(and others of course, like Abraham Lincoln .... can't believe such a downhome country boy got to be president, even taught himself to read by god, good ol' Truman ~ president when I was born! and proud of him for doing what was right! the last President to have such strong morals: right from wrong, - those were better days) Our generation started to realize there's more to life than trying to beat the next guy to the punch. PEACE is another option! Imagine! Iraq, England, USA, the whole world stops at 2 pm not to face MECCA or whatever but because it's TEA TIME!
Brilliant post! I could leave another Rowling-length comment here but I'll say I agree with everything you said and I think the three of us (make it four, I'm your mags would agree too) are on the same page about all this. We're pretty liberal, which means individualistic and intelligent.
The Brits take their tea with milk, which "we" don't - As I said, I'm not a tea drinker, but I think I like the idea of milk. Would give it more body and creaminess. Otherwise I like some of the smells but the flavor seems boring. Then again, I'm learning more subtlety as I get older. I've just finally gotten to the point in my life where I find Mountain Dew to be TOO SWEET! Lol.
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