I Know, Right?

 

Whatever the merits of this meme, it has the advantage of speaking to the way a lot of people feel — not just about the events in Uvalde but about the entire past couple of years.

There is a visceral sense that, when it came to the highly questionable mandates imposed on the law-abiding populace, law enforcement energetically and eagerly enforced the mandates, even with some excessive enthusiasm and relish. But when it comes to doing their job against actual lawbreakers, well, not so much.

Someone might argue that the behavior of the cops in Uvalde was in some way an artifact of the demonization of the police we’ve seen the last few years. That argument has some potency and might carry the day were it not for the egregious and overzealousness that has been on display these last months where Covid was concerned.

I doubt that we really know yet all of the details regarding what happened in Uvalde. Perhaps some exculpatory things will come out. But the fact that this kind of meme immediately resonates with people would, in a sane world, give politicians pause. But we don’t live in a sane world.

H/T Instapundit for the meme.

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  1. Cassandro Coolidge
    Cassandro
    @Flicker

    Bryan G. Stephens (View Comment):

    Cassandro (View Comment):
    Nonetheless, I am forced to presume that many or most cops are the good guys.

    Any cop who participates in CAF is not a “good guy”. Any force that uses it to enrich themselves are not “good guys”.

    Maybe “mostly good”.

    • #61
  2. Cassandro Coolidge
    Cassandro
    @Flicker

    Franco (View Comment):

    Bryan G. Stephens (View Comment):

    Cassandro (View Comment):
    Nonetheless, I am forced to presume that many or most cops are the good guys.

    Any cop who participates in CAF is not a “good guy”. Any force that uses it to enrich themselves are not “good guys”.

    And this came from the Drug War zealots to seize “drug money” then, it became any arbitrary amount of cash over a few thousand dollars.

    Not just seizing drug money, but cars and homes, regardless as to whether the owners were involved.

    • #62
  3. GrannyDude Member
    GrannyDude
    @GrannyDude

    Franco (View Comment):

    GrannyDude (View Comment):

    Well, guess what? And things have been getting much, much, much better.

    I’ll give you an easy example: Google the Edmund Pettus Bridge, 1965 (Barack Obama and I were both three years old).

    Now try to imagine a civil rights march, circa 2022, in which fifty American law enforcement officers go completely berserk, attack unarmed, genuinely peaceful (not just “mostly peaceful”) protesters of all ages, breaking heads, breaking limbs, riding their police horses literally into the homes of fleeing people…

    That happened then.

    It is unimaginable now.

    I was 12 in 1965. You cite one aspect of policing and riot response that’s gotten much better. But there are a thousand things I can cite as evidence it’s gotten generally worse. Police abuse and corruption is rampant across America.

    Police Departments routinely protect their officers from civilian oversight. Police have almost zero discretion anymore. They are brain-dead functionaries.

    Police can lie, and they lie routinely and casually. Police can and do STEAL. If you travel with a large amount of cash they can just take it and they will no matter what you tell them it’s for, and good luck getting it back.

    The leftist attack of Defund the Police resonated because of the growing general deterioration of relations between citizens and police forces. Nearly every claim they made was bogus and police ‘did the right thing’ , but somehow the general population were quite primed to believe these tropes because of the general zeitgeist of how police interact with people.

    I am personally against all of those movements BLM etc. However, these things wouldn’t get traction if there weren’t an underlying schism, which I contend police officers and their bosses fostered for years. Even I, as a relatively law abiding citizen (zero felonies in 68 years and barely a traffic ticket in the last 20 years despite many miles driven) I have had some bad experiences with police. I can only imagine what it’s like to be a black teenager in a city who is similarly law abiding. In fact I think the police have been contributing to gang recruitment and forcing young city residents to choose a side.

    Maybe it’s just now that we are seeing the extent of the corruption because of cell phone, CCTV footage and body cams (which are released years later when police look bad) that we can see absolute EVIL coming from police officers and departments across the country. Maybe it’s always been that way, although I doubt it based on my own experiences as a juvenile with police. Ironically in those days when I was breaking the law, cops were pretty cool. Now not-so-much.

    When the eager enforcement of lockdowns and mask mandates manifested I was livid. Because I knew how reluctant many police officers and departments in general are to do the real police work citizens expect, and we see it here in a perfect meme.

    Ummnnn…Go ahead. Cite the thousand things. I want links. 

    • #63
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