George Zimmerman found not guilty

[Peeps]

while i cant speak for bugs but i think the opinions hes speaking of are guilty or not guilty only

i dont see how anyone can have a opinion that is any more valid than others given that the media pretty much force fed us that martin was helping little ladies cross the street to cash their social security checks while zimmerman was an evil racist with a itchy trigger finger who wanted to be a cop all his life.

[harmless]

I just don't see why any opinion isn't allowed, and the media has no right to have a monopoly on opinion. I guess I'm just fed up of the 'Well he / she would say that, he / she is black / gay / disabled / a woman.' I hear it all the time. I'm not sure if that's what was going on here, but it's what I heard.

[simple schoolboy]

It is interesting that in this context, wanting to be a cop is a bad thing. In any other context cops are heros with difficult jobs (and presumably their actions should be emulated). There are so many questionable police shootings that are deserving of more scrutiny than this case. Perhaps the difference is, in this case it was remotely possible to imprison the 'offending' party.

[harmless]

I think cops are racist a lot of the time, there's nothing unusual about the conjecture or possibility here. They're also ablist, homophobic and misogynist sometimes. Some people have that experience so they air that view. Personally I'm cynical whenever a serviceman of any kind is 'hailed as a hero'. They're just human beings, and governments very often take advantage of the hero worship they attract by the general public. They get let off for some crazy shit all the time, simply because it would look bad for the ones in power if they weren't. I don't know much about this case at all, but I won't denigrate anyone coming at this from that point-of-view.

[i got bugs]

my opinion

was g zimmerman a somewhat racist wanna be cop?? probably

was t martin a wannabe ghetto thug?? probably

put them together, thats a bad combo.. and the guy with the guns gonna win 90% of the time

as for kanye having more expertise on predjudice, probably (altho being hes been worth millions for a long time, those days are way past).. im still sticking to what i think until i see him tweeting about rips to white kids who get shot in the hood by street thugs

[clavian]

I think cops are racist a lot of the time, there's nothing unusual about the conjecture or possibility here. They're also ablist, homophobic and misogynist sometimes. Some people have that experience so they air that view.

Do you have any sort of logic to back up this opinion? Certainly there are bad cops (racist or otherwise) out there, but the media and public are awful quick to play the race card in just about any situation they can--and before they have any idea whether or not is was a factor or not, which can be horribly damaging to reputations. In order for our society to truly make it further down the path towards being a post-racially divided country, sooner or later we're going to have to acknowledge the fact that crying "RACIST!" over situations involving people of different races is probably doing much more harm than good.

But, hey, certain entities have a vested interest in making sure the notion of racism is peretuated into eternity.

[malice]

I think cops are racist a lot of the time, there's nothing unusual about the conjecture or possibility here. They're also ablist, homophobic and misogynist sometimes. Some people have that experience so they air that view.

Do you have any sort of logic to back up this opinion?

does it help to know I have an older cousin who was a cop for close to thirty years (he's retired now) who told me once that cops and criminals are of the same psychological/sociological make-up and the only real difference between them is a badge?

[harmless]

I think cops are racist a lot of the time, there's nothing unusual about the conjecture or possibility here. They're also ablist, homophobic and misogynist sometimes. Some people have that experience so they air that view.

Do you have any sort of logic to back up this opinion? Certainly there are bad cops (racist or otherwise) out there...

That's all the 'logic' I need, because that's all I said. There needs to be balance and perspective, and it saddens me that the ones always crying for 'balance' are the majority, white, male, able-bodied... you get the story. I don't think I need to back up that claim with statistics. It's not about 'bad cops'. Perfectly 'good', upright and morally-upstanding people, people who are law-abiding citizens and people who are best friends with government for all the right reasons, have done some pretty horrible things and got away with it because minority views are repeatedly silenced. My own window into that is to do with disability rights and the UK government at the moment. There is a lot of fascistic spin and media whitewashing of some disabled rights abuses going on. And it always falls to us, the minorities, to bring 'proof' to the majorities. It is more than annoying.

[harmless]

I think cops are racist a lot of the time, there's nothing unusual about the conjecture or possibility here. They're also ablist, homophobic and misogynist sometimes. Some people have that experience so they air that view.

Do you have any sort of logic to back up this opinion?

does it help to know I have an older cousin who was a cop for close to thirty years (he's retired now) who told me once that cops and criminals are of the same psychological/sociological make-up and the only real difference between them is a badge?

Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

[harmless]

We know for a fact that some soldiers are just jumped-up kids straight out of college with a fetish for violence. We've seen it.

[harmless]

I think cops are racist a lot of the time, there's nothing unusual about the conjecture or possibility here. They're also ablist, homophobic and misogynist sometimes. Some people have that experience so they air that view.

Do you have any sort of logic to back up this opinion? Certainly there are bad cops (racist or otherwise) out there, but the media and public are awful quick to play the race card in just about any situation they can--and before they have any idea whether or not is was a factor or not, which can be horribly damaging to reputations. In order for our society to truly make it further down the path towards being a post-racially divided country, sooner or later we're going to have to acknowledge the fact that crying "RACIST!" over situations involving people of different races is probably doing much more harm than good.

But, hey, certain entities have a vested interest in making sure the notion of racism is peretuated into eternity.

And LOL @ 'the notion of racism'.

[clavian]

I think cops are racist a lot of the time, there's nothing unusual about the conjecture or possibility here. They're also ablist, homophobic and misogynist sometimes. Some people have that experience so they air that view.

Do you have any sort of logic to back up this opinion?

does it help to know I have an older cousin who was a cop for close to thirty years (he's retired now) who told me once that cops and criminals are of the same psychological/sociological make-up and the only real difference between them is a badge?

I don't know, is he a psychologist?

[harmless]

I think cops are racist a lot of the time, there's nothing unusual about the conjecture or possibility here. They're also ablist, homophobic and misogynist sometimes. Some people have that experience so they air that view.

Do you have any sort of logic to back up this opinion?

does it help to know I have an older cousin who was a cop for close to thirty years (he's retired now) who told me once that cops and criminals are of the same psychological/sociological make-up and the only real difference between them is a badge?

I don't know, is he a psychologist?

What are you, to have the ability to contradict someone else's opinion and experience? You have credentials you'd like to declare?

[clavian]

I think cops are racist a lot of the time, there's nothing unusual about the conjecture or possibility here. They're also ablist, homophobic and misogynist sometimes. Some people have that experience so they air that view.

Do you have any sort of logic to back up this opinion? Certainly there are bad cops (racist or otherwise) out there, but the media and public are awful quick to play the race card in just about any situation they can--and before they have any idea whether or not is was a factor or not, which can be horribly damaging to reputations. In order for our society to truly make it further down the path towards being a post-racially divided country, sooner or later we're going to have to acknowledge the fact that crying "RACIST!" over situations involving people of different races is probably doing much more harm than good.

But, hey, certain entities have a vested interest in making sure the notion of racism is peretuated into eternity.

And LOL @ 'the notion of racism'.

Take it to the "Let's take quotes out of context thread". I'm not suggesting that racism isn't a thing. It is. I'm suggesting that racism is recklessly injected into situations where it maybe never existed by overzealous media and certain entities who clearly benefit from perpetuating the problem instead of working towards a solution.

And you knew this.

[malice]

I think cops are racist a lot of the time, there's nothing unusual about the conjecture or possibility here. They're also ablist, homophobic and misogynist sometimes. Some people have that experience so they air that view.

Do you have any sort of logic to back up this opinion?

does it help to know I have an older cousin who was a cop for close to thirty years (he's retired now) who told me once that cops and criminals are of the same psychological/sociological make-up and the only real difference between them is a badge?

I don't know, is he a psychologist?

isn't that a kind of a dick question?

the point I make is that even people on the inside of the police force see that there's specific personality types that will opt to become cops in order to feed that desire to dominate, abuse authority, discriminate even because of the inherent power associated with being a cop.

and while I'm sure there are people who fall outside of that stereotypical personality typing, I don't think it's too far fetched to find oneself abusing a position of power once one obtains it - even those with the best of intentions to begin with - it's a terribly human characteristic, isn't it?
or does that require a degree to determine as well?

[harmless]

I think cops are racist a lot of the time, there's nothing unusual about the conjecture or possibility here. They're also ablist, homophobic and misogynist sometimes. Some people have that experience so they air that view.

Do you have any sort of logic to back up this opinion? Certainly there are bad cops (racist or otherwise) out there, but the media and public are awful quick to play the race card in just about any situation they can--and before they have any idea whether or not is was a factor or not, which can be horribly damaging to reputations. In order for our society to truly make it further down the path towards being a post-racially divided country, sooner or later we're going to have to acknowledge the fact that crying "RACIST!" over situations involving people of different races is probably doing much more harm than good.

But, hey, certain entities have a vested interest in making sure the notion of racism is peretuated into eternity.

And LOL @ 'the notion of racism'.

Take it to the "Let's take quotes out of context thread". I'm not suggesting that racism isn't a thing. It is. I'm suggesting that racism is recklessly injected into situations where it maybe never existed by overzealous media and certain entities who clearly benefit from perpetuating the problem instead of working towards a solution.

And you knew this.

I don't know anything about you, nor about your motivation for playing down my opinion about minority voices compared to the privileged majority.

[clavian]

I think cops are racist a lot of the time, there's nothing unusual about the conjecture or possibility here. They're also ablist, homophobic and misogynist sometimes. Some people have that experience so they air that view.

Do you have any sort of logic to back up this opinion?

does it help to know I have an older cousin who was a cop for close to thirty years (he's retired now) who told me once that cops and criminals are of the same psychological/sociological make-up and the only real difference between them is a badge?

I don't know, is he a psychologist?

What are you, to have the ability to contradict someone else's opinion and experience? You have credentials you'd like to declare?

Sure.

My father served in various levels of law enforcement until about 7 years ago (he is 57 years old, and he now serves as a DOT chairman for an entire state. He began his career in the 1970's when he served as a highway patrol officer. In the early 80's he served as a police officer, where he worked his way up the chain of command until he eventually took a job of chief of police in another city. He served in that capacity until 1998 when he left to take the position of Colonel of the Highway Patrol--the same department in which he began his career.

I grew up around police officers and their families. I saw the dedication and hard work they put in--at wages that are pretty low by most professional standards. I witnessed, first hand, the integrity that he demanded of his officers and watched as he worked dilligently to find ways to interact with the community in a manner that sought to show the public that the police are present to serve the community, not simply pull people over or arrest them.

I've had numerous discussions with my father about his profession. I can tell you that the stereotypes that cops have to deal with weight heavily on the minds of the majority of them. In my experience, they are fundamentally good people who have a desire to serve and make their cities and towns better places.

Now, all of that said, there is no way my experience gives me the right to assume every cop is that way. And I'd never imply that. There are horrible people in every single profession. Teaching, pro sports, banking, government...the list goes on. Cops have an incredibly difficult job, and it is made more difficult by the fact that people love to take pot shots at them--calling them corrupt, or racist (often times police are unable to defend themselves due to privacy policies and the like). And there are certainly situations where thay may be true, but my point is that it can an incredibly reckless thing to do unless you have facts to back up your claim. I can't think of any other profession where people are lumped into a huge group of "bad apples" as cops are.

[RisingTides]

does it help to know I have an older cousin who was a cop for close to thirty years (he's retired now) who told me once that cops and criminals are of the same psychological/sociological make-up and the only real difference between them is a badge?

[---]

.

[clavian]

I think cops are racist a lot of the time, there's nothing unusual about the conjecture or possibility here. They're also ablist, homophobic and misogynist sometimes. Some people have that experience so they air that view.

Do you have any sort of logic to back up this opinion?

does it help to know I have an older cousin who was a cop for close to thirty years (he's retired now) who told me once that cops and criminals are of the same psychological/sociological make-up and the only real difference between them is a badge?

I don't know, is he a psychologist?

isn't that a kind of a dick question?

the point I make is that even people on the inside of the police force see that there's specific personality types that will opt to become cops in order to feed that desire to dominate, abuse authority, discriminate even because of the inherent power associated with being a cop.

and while I'm sure there are people who fall outside of that stereotypical personality typing, I don't think it's too far fetched to find oneself abusing a position of power once one obtains it - even those with the best of intentions to begin with - it's a terribly human characteristic, isn't it?
or does that require a degree to determine as well?

I didn't really think it was a dick question. His take just seemed wildly over generalized, so I guess I responded in kind.

I don't completely disagree with your take on the matter. In fact, I can't really find any fault with it at all. Those sorts of people absolutely do exist. No question about it. In my experience, though, those types of people are generally the exception and not the rule. This is of course compounded by the unfortunate fact that you will rarely hear or read a story about the good things that police officers do (outside of some "heroic act" or whatever).

I think most departments could do a much better job at relating to the community. That is the one thing that I would fault many departments for--they probably don't spend enough time relating to people in a non-police manner. A lot of departments have "community policing initiatives" in place to do jsut that, and I think that is one thing that could go a long ways towards improving perceptions.