09-26-2016, 01:01 PM
(09-26-2016, 12:15 PM)Duchess Wrote:
Why are cops, who are supposed to be trained, can panic and act on impulse and excuses are often made for them, the biggest one being they have only a nano second to act and yet when an untrained civilian has guns pointed at them they are supposed to remain calm and immediately follow orders that are being shouted at them. Why are they viewed so differently?
In my opinion, the people who always automatically defend and make (or make up) excuses for police officers are emotion-based and/or fear-based, instead of ration-based.
Speaking from my interactions and observations, the ones who create justifications and/or blame the victims in even the most egregious examples of wrongful killings by police are stuck in a mindset that all people (even kids) who get hurt and/or killed by police must be bad people or must have done something to deserve what they got. While that sometimes is true, it's far from always true.
But, people with that mindset are conditioned and don't have the interest or ability, in my opinion, to consider the concepts of case-by-case evaluation, probable cause, self-defense, due process, justifiable use of deadly force, systematic discrimination and corruption, militarization of police, etc.
"Police officer good public hero; person killed by police officer menacing thug" -- that's simple and comfortable thinking for such people to apply to every fatality at the hands of police, even though it's irrational, false, and enables continued unnecessary deaths to loved ones of all ages and colors, all across the country.