tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2224204979128038089.post1876429260699203981..comments2023-09-24T04:49:37.439-07:00Comments on Randy's Rag: CHANGING THE BLUE CULTUREA. Randy Naborshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16582652319512391777noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2224204979128038089.post-41892159271134333142017-06-27T12:36:22.960-07:002017-06-27T12:36:22.960-07:00Randy, in typical police academy training, the emp...Randy, in typical police academy training, the emphasis is on "officer safety," and "neutralizing" a perceived threat. Furthermore, look at the use of passive voice in police reports, and especially those reports when police have shot an unarmed person or put a beat-down on a citizen.<br /><br />The literary device (or whatever one calls it) essentially makes these events just happen, as opposed to police officers having done them. The lesson is this: the officer is not responsible for anything bad that happens to someone else in a confrontation. All the blame rests on the victim.<br /><br />Culturally, all sides are to blame. Conservatives are forever touting police authority and citizen obedience, while liberals promote government labor unions and in the process have helped to create powerful police unions that have become an authority unto themselves, ensuring that there is little or no accountability for police behavior.<br /><br />I could not agree more with you. In fact, police supposedly are trained to be able to detect real, versus false threats. Yet, we see police getting a free ride for actions that would get a civilian imprisoned. <br /><br />Is police work especially dangerous? Well, according to statistics, as a line of work it is less dangerous than a whole host of other occupations, such as logging. Most officers that die in the line of duty are killed in car crashes, not gunned down by criminals. This is not to say that police can be vulnerable to criminals (We remember the Julie Jacks murder in Chattanooga a while back), but the notion that every cop is always on the verge of being gunned down is a false narrative.<br /><br />I am not "anti-cop," but I do understand that cops are going to see young black males as being threatening. My two sons are black and I have had "The Talk" with them regarding if they ever are stopped by police. My Hispanic daughter was pulled over a while back and had an officer put a gun in her face. She was unarmed, and I am sure that had the cop killed her, there would have been a million posts on social media justifying the shooting. (And the officer would have claimed he shot her because he "feared for his life," the standard line every cop is taught to say.)<br /><br />As Christians, we both need to be law-abiding and respectful of those in authority, but we cannot let that part of our faith allow us to overlook right and wrong. I don't want my faith to mean that I become part of the Adversary Culture and spend my life protesting and demanding the expansion of state power in order to deal with, well, excesses of state power.<br /><br />But I do believe that as Christian citizens, just as we are held accountable by God for our actions, so we must hold those in authority accountable, too. Thanks, Randy, for reminding us of our own obligations to others.William L. Andersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01802990642236807359noreply@blogger.com