But stand-your-ground would apply here to Mr. Fortson, not the policeman. In the end this appears, typically, to come down to skin color, whoever holds the gun.. Gov. Abbott is merely rubbing our faces in it, since he can, with impunity.
But stand-your-ground would apply here to Mr. Fortson, not the policeman. In the end this appears, typically, to come down to skin color, whoever holds the gun.. Gov. Abbott is merely rubbing our faces in it, since he can, with impunity.
The problem, as I see it, is that it applies to everyone in such a situation. Racism may or may not have been a factor in the policeman's quick shooting. (Also worth bearing in mind: any such racism could be explicit or implicit.)
A separate problem is the law and its interpretation. The pattern I'm seeing is "whoever shoots first wins". It seems all that's required is for the shooter to mumble 'I feared for my life'.
Finally, while these are two separate issues, certainly the former can influence (and change the outcome of) the latter.
"I feared for my life" is permitted only to white people, particularly when a cop is being defended against. I submit this is the consequence of intentionally created racism.
It is undestandable that police fear the populace, given the now multi-decade multi-pronged campaigns to create and exacerbate racial animus and resentment, and implant ineradicable pre-cognitive subconscious associations in white minds of [minorities<==> crime<==>violence<==>existential menace]. Given the inevitable effect this program has had on the overall culture, it is even more understandable that the populace (the non-white populace) justly fear the police.
It is in the interest of those who drive this antagonism to maximize its emotional effect and suppress as much as possible of what Kahneman calls System II cognitive processing that could mitigate it. The goal does not differ in essence from the goals of the wannabe rulers in Yugoslavia after Tito's passing opened up paths of advancement the compromise post-war regime closed off. When people are at one another's throats, they can be readily led by the nose. At first.
This is not accidental, although of course these campaigns take on lives of their own; and their provocateurs generally don't set out to bring down their entire civilization, but merely to rearrange the parts to their benefit. In their folly, they always seem to imagine, as the otherwise forgettable Leroy Pope Walker famously said, that all the blood spilled will be manageably collected with a handkerchief or two.
And of course sometimes the instigators really are psychopathic monsters... Robespierres, Pol Pots, Stalins, Hitlers. But mostly they are just blinded by personal hubris. In Charlie Sykes' brilliant analogy, they breed little alligators... and fail to recognize the day the reptile has grown past the point of manageability. In their blindness and folly they keep feeding it... and come only far too late (if ever) to "oh my god what have I done".
You can't fix this with police training. Once the entire culture has been poisoned, its momentum and an energy generates its own fuel.
What is most disgusting about this is how petty and miserable the immediate objectives of the perpetrators really are. The NRA abandoned its gun safety mission and turned to preaching a cult of firearm worship ... because its leadership found doing so brought in a stream of boodle to spend on themselves... and the weapons industry wanted to goose up demand. The racism was just an instrumentality so that fearful white people would want ten guns where before they only owned two. And of course politicians found that the race terror helped them obtain political office and turn those offices from elective positions into de facto sinecures -- in which, once installed, they could aggrandize themselves with graft and privileges. Vide Duncan Hunter -- committing multiple felonies and what he got out of it were souvenirs from Disney world... and some adulterous ski trips.
At bottom one has to say it is pathetic and sadly stupid and small. It's not even dignifiable, as the John Goodman character says of National Socialism in the Big Lebowski, as a malign ideology. It's just fuck-dumb petty assholery and tiny minded greed. Which in the end results in a stupid war of all against all for no reason whatsovever.
Those of us fighting this may see ourselves as Horatii on the bridge, or doomed Leonidases holding a pass without hope against a magnificent foe; but what we really are up against is a horde of cheap three card monte tricksters and high-BMI split pants bullies whose highest aspirations reach to the level of looking up pornography on the internet.
It has been justly said that one may be judged by the measure of one's foes. In which case, big disappointment...
I'm fairly ignorant on Tito (just the basics), so I'll skip that bit.
Re: systemic racism, pretty much yep. Re: "pre-cognitive subconscious", I often think this aspect is overlooked. One of my phil profs had a term he liked: racialist. The idea of implicit, often inchoate racism. There are plenty of folks that, if asked directly, would claim they aren't racist. And, in most ways, they don't appear to be. Representative of a particular segment, "White resentment" is a phrase we've heard a bit recently. Anyhow, I agree with you, the point being the incident under discussion doesn't require loud-mouthed belligerent (stereotyped) racists.
"You can't fix this with police training." - agreed, yet you gotta start somewhere. And/or, try to tactically address the manifestations of the deeper issue where you can.
"It's just fuck-dumb petty assholery and tiny minded greed." - yeah, this is the sad, but big, take-away for me. ("what we really are up against is a horde of cheap three card monte tricksters and high-BMI split pants bullies whose highest aspirations reach to the level of looking up pornography on the internet" - ha, OK, 5 pts for that; very funny! You may not like this, but that struck me as something KDW at the Dispatch would write.) We often imagine Lex Luthor as our evil enemy, but instead it's someone like Trump.
Throw in the uphill asymmetry we face (it turns out "rape and pillage" is easier than nation building) and, well, here we are. On the flip side, I guess we should be happy and impressed that we've managed to create so much for the barbarians to destroy! ;-)
I am trying to understand and anticipate what a future Thucydides (my ideal ancient historian) would write of us and our age. I am not coming up with an encouraging narrative.
He was no democrat. I think today he would say тАЬI told you soтАЭ.
But stand-your-ground would apply here to Mr. Fortson, not the policeman. In the end this appears, typically, to come down to skin color, whoever holds the gun.. Gov. Abbott is merely rubbing our faces in it, since he can, with impunity.
The problem, as I see it, is that it applies to everyone in such a situation. Racism may or may not have been a factor in the policeman's quick shooting. (Also worth bearing in mind: any such racism could be explicit or implicit.)
A separate problem is the law and its interpretation. The pattern I'm seeing is "whoever shoots first wins". It seems all that's required is for the shooter to mumble 'I feared for my life'.
Finally, while these are two separate issues, certainly the former can influence (and change the outcome of) the latter.
"I feared for my life" is permitted only to white people, particularly when a cop is being defended against. I submit this is the consequence of intentionally created racism.
It is undestandable that police fear the populace, given the now multi-decade multi-pronged campaigns to create and exacerbate racial animus and resentment, and implant ineradicable pre-cognitive subconscious associations in white minds of [minorities<==> crime<==>violence<==>existential menace]. Given the inevitable effect this program has had on the overall culture, it is even more understandable that the populace (the non-white populace) justly fear the police.
It is in the interest of those who drive this antagonism to maximize its emotional effect and suppress as much as possible of what Kahneman calls System II cognitive processing that could mitigate it. The goal does not differ in essence from the goals of the wannabe rulers in Yugoslavia after Tito's passing opened up paths of advancement the compromise post-war regime closed off. When people are at one another's throats, they can be readily led by the nose. At first.
This is not accidental, although of course these campaigns take on lives of their own; and their provocateurs generally don't set out to bring down their entire civilization, but merely to rearrange the parts to their benefit. In their folly, they always seem to imagine, as the otherwise forgettable Leroy Pope Walker famously said, that all the blood spilled will be manageably collected with a handkerchief or two.
And of course sometimes the instigators really are psychopathic monsters... Robespierres, Pol Pots, Stalins, Hitlers. But mostly they are just blinded by personal hubris. In Charlie Sykes' brilliant analogy, they breed little alligators... and fail to recognize the day the reptile has grown past the point of manageability. In their blindness and folly they keep feeding it... and come only far too late (if ever) to "oh my god what have I done".
You can't fix this with police training. Once the entire culture has been poisoned, its momentum and an energy generates its own fuel.
What is most disgusting about this is how petty and miserable the immediate objectives of the perpetrators really are. The NRA abandoned its gun safety mission and turned to preaching a cult of firearm worship ... because its leadership found doing so brought in a stream of boodle to spend on themselves... and the weapons industry wanted to goose up demand. The racism was just an instrumentality so that fearful white people would want ten guns where before they only owned two. And of course politicians found that the race terror helped them obtain political office and turn those offices from elective positions into de facto sinecures -- in which, once installed, they could aggrandize themselves with graft and privileges. Vide Duncan Hunter -- committing multiple felonies and what he got out of it were souvenirs from Disney world... and some adulterous ski trips.
At bottom one has to say it is pathetic and sadly stupid and small. It's not even dignifiable, as the John Goodman character says of National Socialism in the Big Lebowski, as a malign ideology. It's just fuck-dumb petty assholery and tiny minded greed. Which in the end results in a stupid war of all against all for no reason whatsovever.
Those of us fighting this may see ourselves as Horatii on the bridge, or doomed Leonidases holding a pass without hope against a magnificent foe; but what we really are up against is a horde of cheap three card monte tricksters and high-BMI split pants bullies whose highest aspirations reach to the level of looking up pornography on the internet.
It has been justly said that one may be judged by the measure of one's foes. In which case, big disappointment...
Good comment, thanks. Lots to unpack.
I'm fairly ignorant on Tito (just the basics), so I'll skip that bit.
Re: systemic racism, pretty much yep. Re: "pre-cognitive subconscious", I often think this aspect is overlooked. One of my phil profs had a term he liked: racialist. The idea of implicit, often inchoate racism. There are plenty of folks that, if asked directly, would claim they aren't racist. And, in most ways, they don't appear to be. Representative of a particular segment, "White resentment" is a phrase we've heard a bit recently. Anyhow, I agree with you, the point being the incident under discussion doesn't require loud-mouthed belligerent (stereotyped) racists.
"You can't fix this with police training." - agreed, yet you gotta start somewhere. And/or, try to tactically address the manifestations of the deeper issue where you can.
"It's just fuck-dumb petty assholery and tiny minded greed." - yeah, this is the sad, but big, take-away for me. ("what we really are up against is a horde of cheap three card monte tricksters and high-BMI split pants bullies whose highest aspirations reach to the level of looking up pornography on the internet" - ha, OK, 5 pts for that; very funny! You may not like this, but that struck me as something KDW at the Dispatch would write.) We often imagine Lex Luthor as our evil enemy, but instead it's someone like Trump.
Throw in the uphill asymmetry we face (it turns out "rape and pillage" is easier than nation building) and, well, here we are. On the flip side, I guess we should be happy and impressed that we've managed to create so much for the barbarians to destroy! ;-)
I am trying to understand and anticipate what a future Thucydides (my ideal ancient historian) would write of us and our age. I am not coming up with an encouraging narrative.
He was no democrat. I think today he would say тАЬI told you soтАЭ.