al-rawandi wrote:lionheart wrote:Watch the video on this bbc page, the guy says that the man wasnt part of the protests but you can tell by his body language he aint doing what the cops are saying. Its our medias fault and whining fucking liberals that are messing up our police force.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7989027.stm
Based on this video alone it seems the behavior of the officer was inappropriate. What is even more inappropriate is the incessant whining here about how cops are small dick assholes who are simply insecure. Recently in my city two police officers were shot then shot again execution style by a child rapist and life long crook, two more were shot attempting to apprehend the suspect. These were family men who served with honor in a very tough city. Being a police officer is a tough job, you are exposed to the worst of society and you have to watch as these people cycle through a permissive justice system only to continue to victimize the innocent.
I quite agree with you up to this point. The actions of a single police officer do not justify the vilification of the entire force. There are naturally going to be a few bad apples in any collection of individuals. One can only hope that they are in the minority and that their excesses are properly addressed with the same unbiased legality that they are supposed to be upholding.
al-rawandi wrote:As for the officer in the video, he did NOT use lethal force, he shoved a guy to the ground. The man's actions could be deemed obstreperous or simply harmless, but this would depend on context. It seems to me a lot of protesters who get arrested were just "on the way home". It is understandable that the police are thoroughly fed up with protesters in the UK, as these protesters are generally anti-Semitic, polygamous, welfare leech, fanatical Muslims or whiny liberals who disdain their own society out of feelings of rejection and attempt to provoke the authorities to establish their "victim" bona fides.
OK. Here's where you lose me. You rightly decry the demonisation of the police and then apply the
same sweeping generalisations to the protestors. I dare say that there may well be a few protestors that fit one or more of the charges you have laid against them. I find it hard to believe that they
generally fit into any of those categories however. Apart from a few agitators, the majority of the protestors were there to make a peaceful protest about the excesses of capitalism that have led to the current financial fuck-up that we are suffering, their numbers swelled by many more that were there simply to see what was happening. The worst that one can accuse
the majority of, is being too naive to realise that the protest was likely to turn nasty due to the agendas of a few anarchists (aided by the itchy baton fingers of a minority of the police.)
And, while not privy to a demographic breakdown of the protestors, I doubt that the crowds in that particular protest were over-represented by the moslem community (let alone fanatical, unemployed and bigamous members of that community.) If anything, they were mainly white and middle class.
al-rawandi wrote:None of this excuses the officers behavior, but I can certainly understand how he felt. He should be investigated, tried, and possibly punished, because the only police force that can be trusted is one subject to the laws it hopes to enforce.
I am back with you 100% here - especially with that last clause.
al-rawandi wrote:And finally in college it was more than once I wanted to punch an obnoxious hippie. No one is above the impulse.
I think we all know that feeling. Although I would not limit it to hippies exclusively. There were a number of young conservatives and quite a few sport science students that inspired similar feelings back in my college days.