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Let's look into the recent police video that's been going viral on Twitter.
In the video, a lone man is being harassed by a group of foreigners, and they knock him to the ground and hit him. Even before he gets up, a nearby police officer, who has been doing nothing up until then, tackles him into the wall. Understandably he resists somewhat. As a result of these events, the victim in this incident has been arrested and charged, and is now having the book thrown at him. Meanwhile, no effort at all was put into catching the original attackers. The police have released a statement saying they "have no concerns over the officer's actions." They have also asked for people not to share the footage.
This event seems to echo the vibes of a recent incident in Germany where a police officer tackled a bystander, getting himself stabbed to death by a terrorist as a result. It also seems to vibe with the murder of Henry Nowak, where the mortally wounded victim was arrested by the police while his killer was right there gloating.
In the context of culture war it seems like the "right wing" has firmly swung against the police in Europe, which is a big difference from in the United States, where a large portion of the right still is on side "back the blue". Of course there is still an anti-law enforcement wing of the right in the United States, pointing at politically motivated prosecutions, as well as the kid gloves for left-affiliated rioters. I also haven't heard about any similar incidents in the US where where police intervened in a situation on the "wrong" side (though plenty of police brutality in confrontations between police and others). And often American departments are very willing to throw their officers under the rug when the do something that looks bad.
I think to the public, there's a huge difference in police arresting, beating, and killing right wingers, versus being seen as taking the side of a group. Because it's no longer state vs crime (with a sprinkle of biased treatment) but directly being seen as taking a side, though the left has always seen the authority as evil nazi thugs.
Not sure if anything will come of this trend or it's a nothingburger. Maybe increased riots and disorder among the native population, who have historically been quite docile in the last century.
There's really not much excuse for this. There was a verbal confrontation, the white guy made an abortive aggressive move. One of the black guys clobbered him after that (ETA: and another rabbit-punches him after), and while he's still staggering, the cop runs in from out of frame, pushes a bystander woman out of the way, and clobbers him against the gate. At which point he reacts to being clobbered by hitting the cop in the back of the neck, and thereby makes himself a felon (this trick works in the US and conservatives defend it, I might add).
Does anyone know what they were saying at the beginning? "Move, move", but also I think "No more [something]", it might be enlightening to know what the something was.
I think the defense solicitor in front of a jury has a relatively easy job. Here was a guy who was just attacked by a group. He is getting up from that attack and someone rushes him and shoves him into a wall. He instinctively defends himself but stops once when he realizes it was a cop.
Law-n-order conservatives turn their brain off when they find out the defendant hit a cop (or a woman, for that matter). Nothing more matters; the circumstances are irrelevant, in their minds you Don't Hit Cops. Everyone else likely to be on the jury was already against him.
I know conservatives who hate cops (or at least think they’re buffoons). But conservatives who go, “we gotta get this big government under control!” and then lick boots completely bewilder me.
ACAB, but whose bastards? They're bastards whether they serve the left or the right. The left don't hate UK cops because they are their bastards. In the US, the situation is more mixed depending on where, but cops tend to be more culturally on the right. This is the difference.
Also, in a smaller town the cops are more local. They coach my kids in peewee sports. I know some of them, and more by name. Others will at least recognize my last name. "All cops are bastards" is a bit of a different question when I'm asking "are Matt and Justin bastards?" Maybe. But they don't seem particularly more inclined to bastardry than I am.
And give you a ticket on the way home from the game. And then you have to see them again and either pretend you don't hate them for ruining your day, or win the victory over yourself and accept that you did wrong.
I've actually never had that experience. The one time I was viciously fucked over by a police department, it was up north, outside a very Blue college town.
The few other run-ins were either resolved with some humanizing small talk (including a different one at the college town, in which I was a huge prick), or straight up Good Old Boy favoritism (which is basically all of my small town encounters).
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