What I Really Hate About America and Americans
EEE
location: Landscape Challenged Illinois
listening to: 16 Horsepower, black music from the 70's & and still going broke from Paste Magazine
registered: 2002.08.26
posts: 3227
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The thing I really detest about America and Americas is our inability to talk about complex issues like adults should be able to. In America, Americans are so lousy at discussing important things because it seems those with differing ideas are so intent upon winning an argument or disagreement, that they look for any opening to "win" the discussion. We are so quick to label the other side to make idiotic points. I am so frustrated over the entire coverage/discussion/attention being given to criminal justice (though, this is of course nothing to compare to ANY person that has lost a loved one in ANY of these encounters) because so often, to make apparent points with their respective side, only parts of the story are truly examined. Both sides deserve sincere scrutiny and this includes all aspects of these encounters - from before the start, to the encounter, to the aftermath of the encounter. Behavior of all those involved, before, during and after, must also be examined, as well as how those involved think and for the police, were trained, need to be examined. Motives also need to be discussed.But right now, what we have is a continual inclusion of false equivalents to make points. I can't tell one how many times I have been SENT to a call by dispatch, and the first words out of the black person's mouth were, "You are here because I'm black" and then have that person refuse to even listen when it is tried to be explained to him or her that I am present because I was SENT for whatever reason. On the other hand, it is troubling for me that many police officers and white people think there is not a problem in American policing. And this gets back to false equivalents of groups like BLM. For example, the police had nothing to do with the death of Trayvon Martin, but he is used to hammer the police for their racial killings. Then there are the other cases that have been adjudicated and information in those cases has refuted the first thought perceptions, i.e. "hands up" (the killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, MO). Over the years, I've often struggled with the concept of basing one's perceptions on one's own experiences over the years and how these perceptions can be BOTH accurate and distorted. I have repeatedly told others that in policing in an urban area, what a conservative sees each day often only reinforces their beliefs, while to a liberal, it is a constant argument against their beliefs. My point to this observation is that human deviance and behavior is so complex in both its development, arrival and presence. And in America, Americans are just so shallow when discussing these things.
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EEE
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The thing I really detest about America and Americas is our inability to talk about complex issues like adults should be able to. In America, Americans are so lousy at discussing important things because it seems those with differing ideas are so intent upon winning an argument or disagreement, that they look for any opening to "win" the discussion. We are so quick to label the other side to make idiotic points. I am so frustrated over the entire coverage/discussion/attention being given to criminal justice (though, this is of course nothing to compare to ANY person that has lost a loved one in ANY of these encounters) because so often, to make apparent points with their respective side, only parts of the story are truly examined. Both sides deserve sincere scrutiny and this includes all aspects of these encounters - from before the start, to the encounter, to the aftermath of the encounter. Behavior of all those involved, before, during and after, must also be examined, as well as how those involved think and for the police, were trained, need to be examined. Motives also need to be discussed.But right now, what we have is a continual inclusion of false equivalents to make points. I can't tell one how many times I have been SENT to a call by dispatch, and the first words out of the black person's mouth were, "You are here because I'm black" and then have that person refuse to even listen when it is tried to be explained to him or her that I am present because I was SENT for whatever reason. On the other hand, it is troubling for me that many police officers and white people think there is not a problem in American policing. And this gets back to false equivalents of groups like BLM. For example, the police had nothing to do with the death of Trayvon Martin, but he is used to hammer the police for their racial killings. Then there are the other cases that have been adjudicated and information in those cases has refuted the first thought perceptions, i.e. "hands up" (the killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, MO). Over the years, I've often struggled with the concept of basing one's perceptions on one's own experiences over the years and how these perceptions can be BOTH accurate and distorted. I have repeatedly told others that in policing in an urban area, what a conservative sees each day often only reinforces their beliefs, while to a liberal, it is a constant argument against their beliefs. My point to this observation is that human deviance and behavior is so complex in both its development, arrival and presence. And in America, Americans are just so shallow when discussing these things.
