Thursday, October 29, 2015

Sounds Legit!

I had to vent a little and write something out to calm my nerves. This is me writing of the cusp, so I apologize if it has grammatical/mechanical errors, you get the gist. :)  Thanks!

WTF?  I swear people grow more and more ignorant by the minute. While I don’t typically allow things I see online to get a rise out of me, because, let’s face it, that’s a lot of grief, I am however moved to jot some notes and thoughts I have on this particular matter that’s got everyone in a tizzy.  There are these debates unfolding on social media around this teenage girl who gets ripped from her desk by a police officer, with excessive force.  Yes, it was excessive force, period.  If you saw it in the video, (unless of course it was shot in Hollywood in front of a green screen, which I’m sure there are people who believe that conspiracy), there’s no denying the obsessive force.  This type of force was absolutely the type of disciplinary action that’s not needed in the compounds of an academic institution. That’s just scratching the surface as to what went wrong here.  There are so many other issues with this scenario.  Since when do police officers answer calls from teachers and principals, who apparently have no control over their students, to come in and enforce the law?  I’m being somewhat elusive here, but you get the point. What law was being broken? There was a rule broken, yes.  The girl was a brat, no one is doubting that, I’d hope. However being a brat doesn’t mean you’re a criminal.  Nor do defiant high school kids who are acting out, constitute a call to law enforcement. This is absurdity in its finest.  All this incident did was add fuel to an already raging fire across the U.S., one in which is necessary to spotlight when valid and appropriate. Unfortunately, they’re plentiful. There are several justified and documented incidents, particularly of racial discrimination that had, beyond a doubt, needed more attention before now. And this story, of the high school girl ripped from the desk? This absolutely deserves disciplinary action and, yes, perhaps even some of the media’s attention, however it’s such a slippery slope.  The story and the comments in reference, quickly spin out of control with “everyone now hates cops/ the sky is falling” type of scenarios.  I feel as if it’s taking one large step backwards in the light of an already complicated and exhaustive debate on police brutality, especially in terms of race.   Listen, as many know, if it bleeds, it leads.  It doesn’t take a journalism major to know that the media highlights what’s important, and typically that’s the negative in the world.  You don’t get the feel good, cop saves a kitten out of tree story any more. However, with the advent of social media, there’s no reason why we, the common public, can’t highlight and emphasize goodwill stories.  I love seeing the stories of the cop holding the hand of a fragile, homeless guy or the cop who helps the elderly Muslim lady across the street. Unfortunately, these just don’t make the cut, as many people feel so compelled to make an exclamatory statement, even if it’s full of loopholes and ignorance.  I get it, it’s a tough time for law enforcement and, like many fields of work, and there are bad apples among good apples. However, the fact that many individuals deemed that excessive force the officer used as justified, that there in it of itself highlights a huge flaw in what’s going on in this country.   Further, people choose to exasperate the issue by posting these cute, little memes that say something along the lines of “the problem isn’t the police force, it’s bratty kids who need reality checks…” or my favorite, these links they share which lead to the most ridiculous articles on the web.  You know, those credible sources, (Mad World News?!? ) that have the ads down the side of their webpage that have links and pictures to go along with  “Obama is a terrorist” and “Judge Judy caught prostituting.” This. Is. Nonsense.  People should be ashamed of themselves for buying into this sort of tabloid diarrhea and trolling propaganda.  It’s mind boggling to me how this shit comes about.  People think it’s so red or blue, left or right, that they fail to see the issues on both side of coin.  They fail to put their own egos and ignorance aside to really look into what’s fact vs. fiction. People fail to have their own voice on the matter. Ultimately, people fail to see the bigger picture, period.  

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