What The Hell Is Going On In This Country?
Thursday, 14 August 2014 14:35![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dr_phil_physicsThe other day I saw a cryptic Facebook post with the hashtag #ferguson. I wondered what controversy late late night show host Craig Ferguson had committed. It took a few hours to equate Ferguson with suburban St. Louis, which is how the original story had been mentioned.
Of course people are going to get upset when anyone guns down an unarmed kid. Sadly I barely had to consider that the teen in question would be black and have no criminal record. Or that police would immediately claim resisting arrest and reaching for an officer's weapon.
We've seen this before. We can't even distinguish between real events and those from Law & Order any more. A timeline from USA Today on the Michael Brown shooting, is confusing and presents statements as fact. And the protests? Rachel Maddow last night showed the region's state senator asking the police chief if she was going to be tear gassed.
What is wrong with you?
And by "you" I am looking at the police, who dolled up in their black riot and SWAT gear seem to be spoiling for a fight. And yes, bring war to the neighborhood and some will respond that way. But it doesn't have to be that way. And those in charge knew that and escalated anyway.
Look, I know how this looks. Fat, academic, middle-aged, handicapped white privilege dude speaks up. He doesn't have a dog in this fight. Or maybe it's shit that some will not speak up until the white guys speak. God knows there is a large chunk of the American public and politicians who won't listen when That Black Man In The White House™ speaks out.
Or we can just dismiss Dr. Phil because he's having a pissy day and swearing all over the Internet today anyway.
People are fighting and dying to escape the gangs, corruption and governments to try to get their children in this country. And we're shooting our own kids who might look like them. Here. And then trying to shut down the reporting, the peaceful protests, the people who will stand up -- and egg on the violence.
Stop it.
Just stop it.
That's not what this country was founded on. It's not what's in our Constitution. And by God, it's what we bitch about when other countries do it.
This is going to leave scars. And we're not even over it.
Dr. Phil
Of course people are going to get upset when anyone guns down an unarmed kid. Sadly I barely had to consider that the teen in question would be black and have no criminal record. Or that police would immediately claim resisting arrest and reaching for an officer's weapon.
We've seen this before. We can't even distinguish between real events and those from Law & Order any more. A timeline from USA Today on the Michael Brown shooting, is confusing and presents statements as fact. And the protests? Rachel Maddow last night showed the region's state senator asking the police chief if she was going to be tear gassed.
9 p.m. – Police begin to throw tear gas at protesters in Ferguson in order to disperse crowds. During the commotion, police also force media to move back out of the area and throw tear gas at an Al Jazeera America crew.Washington Post and Huffington Post reporters are arrested while quietly trying to file reports and charge phones in a McDonald's and an Al Jazeera team is tear gassed... in America? Goddammit, we send reporters around the world and depend on their stories and cell phone video and Twitter feeds to expose the world to terrors all over and you trample on THIS Constitution to dick with the media in THIS country?
What is wrong with you?
And by "you" I am looking at the police, who dolled up in their black riot and SWAT gear seem to be spoiling for a fight. And yes, bring war to the neighborhood and some will respond that way. But it doesn't have to be that way. And those in charge knew that and escalated anyway.
Look, I know how this looks. Fat, academic, middle-aged, handicapped white privilege dude speaks up. He doesn't have a dog in this fight. Or maybe it's shit that some will not speak up until the white guys speak. God knows there is a large chunk of the American public and politicians who won't listen when That Black Man In The White House™ speaks out.
Or we can just dismiss Dr. Phil because he's having a pissy day and swearing all over the Internet today anyway.
People are fighting and dying to escape the gangs, corruption and governments to try to get their children in this country. And we're shooting our own kids who might look like them. Here. And then trying to shut down the reporting, the peaceful protests, the people who will stand up -- and egg on the violence.
Stop it.
Just stop it.
That's not what this country was founded on. It's not what's in our Constitution. And by God, it's what we bitch about when other countries do it.
This is going to leave scars. And we're not even over it.
Dr. Phil
