Apologies in advance for the long post but it's something I have thought about a lot lately and truthfully I'm worried about the future of this country no matter who wins the upcoming election. Police brutality has been going on for decades - if you can't understand why you're seeing it more in the news during an election year and you truly believe it's Trump's fault then you have blinders on and are easily influenced by the media. Actually do some research and form your own opinion rather than read CNN and posts from Lebron James...or better yet read what I am about to say. As I mentioned, it's been going on for decades and for obvious reasons the media is pushing the agenda that all of these shootings are racially based. I'm not saying all of them or that none of them are race incentivized but at the end of the day most of these cops managed to go years without shooting someone, or it wasn't reported, when it wasn't called for so I find it hard to believe they are all racist. Because everyone is focused on the "racism issue", that becomes the focal point every time one of these shootings occurs...and no one ever talks about the actual issue... The police force/system is broken and needs reform. All it takes to become a cop is a GED and 12-18 weeks of an underfunded training academy. How about actually requiring a four year degree that's solely focused on the job? Here's another idea - how about in those classes show videos of actual situations and have testing over it like any other degree? Oh and maybe we shouldn't allow people who are 18-20 to become cops like you can in several states - even 21 is ridiculously young to give someone that kind of power. I know I wasn't mature when I was 21... How about actually paying them a salary that is worth risking their lives and putting up with the bullshit that's currently going on with the job given the state of this country? And how about promoting and giving out pay increases based on an actual annual review system similar to major corporations where you progress and get paid based on performance instead of the "following the code and waiting your turn through years of experience" system they currently employ. Further, here's some fun facts: having a master's degree is "often rewarded by a bump in pay. In Burbank, Calif., for example, earning a master's degree is rewarded by an extra $150 per month or $1,800 annually. Terrill's research revealed that officers with college degrees are less likely to use unnecessary force. So while a degree isn't required, it appears there is a benefit to hiring officers with advanced education."...WHO WOULD HAVE GUESSED?! Here's the link for those interested. https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-us-canada-36741858 Finally, sadly people like LeBron, who is supposed to be a "leader" and has millions of followers including kids who think anything he says is right, immediately turns everyone of these police brutality instances into a racial thing because he takes what the media spoon feeds him. And it's because he's uneducated and never learned how to actually form an opinion on his own by actually doing some researching and independent thinking - he proved that with his Hong Kong comments. Where was his disgust when this happened? i Because of the media and famous celebrities/athletes that people look up to, I'm absolutely terrified that this country will continue to become more divided and I wouldn't be shocked if the police eventually says screw this and they go on strike because you'd have to be out of your mind to want to be a cop right now, especially if you have an education which is even more worrisome. Who is their right mind would choose to be a cop over say a teacher right now if they have a college degree? Finally, I'm getting so sick of these millionaire athletes who have been babied and pampered their entire lives with more privilege than I've ever seen or will ever seen complain. Today was absolutely ridiculous and I feel terrible for guys like Kendrick Nunn who worked their ass off to make it to the NBA finally and could potentially miss out on a playoff bonus that he likely actually needs after years of not making anything. It's easy for LeBron to make a stand when he has enough money for 100 lifetimes. Oh and then there's Kawhi who's become the best player ever at not playing half the games but still getting paid for all of them - not surprising he voted no. It's even more hilarious to me considering the moron just won a ring in Toronto and could be living in Canada but instead chose to move to LA and once again has enough money for 100 lifetimes. Since they are so disgusted with the current system why don't they all donate their annual salaries the next three years to the police academy with the stipulation it only goes to college educated people and then we could actually pay them enough to make it worth risking their lives. Oh and since Mark Cuban is such a great guy why doesn't he go ahead and sell 40% of his stake in the Mavs...there's another billion to the fund. P.S. - I know this board hates the Cowboys but Dak Prescott's donation of $1M to police education and his IG post about hating the violence and the looting...that's a real leader. Edit: Forgot to include the below where Obama says "This is not just a black issue, it's an American issue" and I couldn't have said it better myself. That said, other than adding body cams in some cities, literally nothing has changed over the decades other than their is now footage of what's been going on for all of those years. https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-us-canada-36741858
Haha apologies for the rambling hopefully it was concise enough. I can't sleep as Hurricane Laura went through my hometown tonight and my mom just bought a brand new house so I'm worried about her not to mention all of this...I can't take much more in 2020.
police brutality has been going on for decades and cell phones allow more videos. its not really that hard to understand. on the flipside everyone has seen cops tv show and knows being an officer is a challenge. my internet opinion is to legalize all drugs and make that aspect a medical / social concern not law enforcement. law enforcement focus on robbery rape murder drunk driving.
Mostly disagree. But I do agree with you about police education, training, standards, and pay. Policing is an important role in society, but we don't respect it like it is.
good question. my internet spidey sense tells me no and that as a society inherently people do not want to not do meth and be all bugged out. this notion of sky falling chaos world seems just as presumptive and sorta overstates overplays what it is. besides, meth is something you need to have like 3 days set aside for. most people will catch on to that themselves. the legalize all ..I admit the one that scares me a bit is heroin since it is highly addictive and deadly. i stil think in the end addictive use is fringe and in some ways ( my opinion of course) the usage of weed or relaxed pill laws would cause an uptick in weed use that would offset an uptick in meth and other hard stuff. police cant play nice so as a society we have to look at trade offs. unless its dui robbery assault rape murder there is no reason to look to forcibly detain / police also with technology as it is do we need to even arrest people for much of anything? most stuff could be moved to online trial. it could unclog courts and actually jail real shoplifters,stealers or criminals doing actual crimes. im not saying police state on technology but leverage technology within realm of rape murder robbery and determine threat. too often it is a heavy handed. the floyd deal was over $20 it needs to be simple law of is this a murder, a robbery, a rape, assault, or someone driving drunk ( aka endangering lives) and allow those 5 to be forcible detain. all else civil matter . and if robbery in case of floyd it needs to be seen as violent/non violent... even in robbery the person can be rightftully charged and caught without the show that is forcible arrest and detain.
I don't agree with the OP, but he did make the exact same case that the "Defund the Police" activists have been making that the structure makeup of how policing is organized in the US is the issue. The term "defund" is meant to be provocative to spark conversation (I don't agree it's as productive as they might have hoped) but the primary issue is restructuring and training for the types of roles in community service that can serve particular issues. We all know the saying "When you are a hammer everything looks like a nail".... that's pretty much the concept here, and the need to control these reforms by shifting around the finances. This change is made at the state house level where they control the power of the purse for police units, and can spark the changes the OP is talking about. I do however think race or class is definitely an issue though. Think about our culture for a minute. Think about movies like Training day that have these scenes where they present two cops going into a cul de sac of a black neighborhood like it's Captain Willard entering the deep jungle in Cambodia to kill Coronal Kurtz. The fact is cops are trained and have muscle memory to shoot first ask questions later when they engage with what is perceived as a "dangerous" black man, or a dangerous black or brown neighborhood. That racial bias in the culture of policing and in our larger culture in general is a problem, and puts these cops in the mental state when they engage to forget any training they did go through if they did, and just start blasting away because they are the ones who are scared.
Honestly, it's bigger than that. Legalizing drugs is only one step in the chain...even if you legalize them, their cost will still be prohibitive to many Americans...which will basically do nothing to stop those that try to sell it on the side. If you legalize drugs, you also need to implement a health care system that will ensure everyone is covered and the prices of medications, such as these will become, are low. You will also need to setup counseling, training, medical spots, etc to be able to handle those that don't use properly and overdosers. On top of that, you have to get to the root of why many turn to drugs...a lot of it boils down to income inequality in this country and an evr expanding lower class at the expense of the middle class. As inflation has gone up considerably, salaries have largely stayed the same. Add in modernization of equipment and some jobs completely going away and you have many in society that can no longer support themselves. Many turn to drugs, crime, etc in order to get through the day to day stress of living with little money to support themselves. This will need to be fixed as well (UBI!) All of it is an extremely complicated issue that will require money to fix...right now, many in office, especially those blocking progress on these fronts, choose to not do anything about it. They lock themselves in their world, houses, neighborhoods, away from it all...having money put in their back pockets by special interests...and no care about their fellow Americans. Until those folks are voted out, we can't progress on anything.
LeBron didn’t grow go rich and privileged, and I think the same is true for the majority of NBA players. They see this through a racial lense because of their experiences as black men. I think it’s presumptuous of you to think that they are doing it out of ignorance or because the “liberal medial” is spoon feeding that narrative to them. As for your suggestions for improving policing in this country, I think you make some good points.
i agree with everything you said (not just because its you grin)and the medical / healthcare side goes hand in hand with full legalization..it needs to be moved from a criminal problem to a health problem ( with complexities of course) the legalize is one part but if we are talking police brutality the solution is to take drugs out of it. it is not a catch all solution but would mostly resolve it. you are trying to get to the why and we arent there yet
Dude what is your problem with Lebron? Why are you picking him out over everybody else who is speaking out about this? I agree with a lot of what you posted but you Lebron hate kind of drowns it all out. The fact that you called the players spoiled and entitled shows how ignorant you are about the players motivations and where they come from and the real fear they have for themselves and their loved ones.
Police in major metropolitan areas make way more than their garbage truck driving or teaching fellow public servants. They start very low but it escalates quickly. NYPD starts out at 40k but it jumps to 85 by their 5th year on the force, then goes up as they amass senority. Teachers start out a bit higher(60 or so, which is barely livable) but it doesn't increase nearly as quickly. Garbagemen, who do dangerous, utterly essential work make less. (though obviously, there are exceptions that people use, the rubber room teachers or the garbageman with a billion sick days pay - FEW BAD APPLES) I don't think Police are underpaid relative to the risk. As many have noted, there are otehr far more dangerous jobs that pay way less (roofing, commercial fishing, etc)
Cops have had a weird year. We put them on the parade wagon as an "Essential Worker" up until the first video dropped and we remembered all the other individual blood drops in the past 5 years. Yet, they're still doing what we propped them up for doing in most of the country... I imagine the situation for them is zombie apocalypse level with their most hardcore of meatheads sleeping with a shotgun cradled by their shoulder. Hmm, wasn't an "us v. them war" part of their training? No one sane will think about signing up even if the base pay was doubled or tripled. How in the world do we solve that crucial first step? Seems like this is a solid answer but are usually the first to be cut. I guess a good smell is to ask yourself, "if I were to privatize this industry, would I get filthy stinkin rich and dream of an IPO? No? **** that"
it’s not even just in the United States, black people get treated differently no matter what country they’re in this was in Canada...stuff like this happens all the time here as well, we just don’t hear about it because it’s not a shooting or the person didn’t die So many black people are murdered by police every year, but how many more are brutalized like this in an a disgusting act of excessive force that we just don’t see or hear about?
