I've been suspecting that the glare of social media is also fueling more brazen behavior on the part of police forces because of the way it reinforces an "us vs them" mindset. There has always been a tendency to bunker in and support your fellow law enforcement folks because it is a job where you are often trusting your life to those coworkers and it is a job that is often misunderstood.
With more eyes on social media, more phones recording their moves, I wonder whether it reinforces that bunker mentality by making it seem like more of an "us vs them" situation. That would then provide more support for the worst elements (the 10% of people who are total jerks) and embolden them. A case I'm thinking of in Portland is an officer named Mark Kruger. He is a Nazi sympathizer. And by Nazi sympathizer, I'm not doing a Godwin-like embellishment. I mean that he was erecting memorial monuments to famous Nazi officers in public parks, he has a history of role playing Nazis, and he was married near Hitler's home. And, in spite of the fact that he is not only a Nazi-sympathizer, but he also has cost the city millions in settlements for violent and abusive behavior toward citizens, he's still been repeatedly promoted within the police department. There have been additional incidents that have embroiled the department from bottom to top and the department is now part of a DOJ consent decree because of it's ongoing historical violence toward the mentally ill. And the same people in the department keep getting caught up in these controversies and the same people keep getting employed and promoted. It's weird to me. Judah On Thu, May 22, 2014 at 11:09 AM, GMoney <gm0n3...@gmail.com> wrote: > > Yes, this. +100. Well said. > > It's like when that first cockroach shows up. Then the second one. Then you > see several of them at once. And you think "my God, I suddenly have a > cockroach problem." > > No, you've had a problem for awhile....and like any problem, you have to > expose it before you can dispose of it. > > > On Thu, May 22, 2014 at 12:48 PM, Cameron Childress <camer...@gmail.com > >wrote: > > > > > On Thu, May 22, 2014 at 1:37 PM, Judah McAuley wrote: > > > > > Maybe these sorts of stories are just being covered more now but it > seems > > > to me that police have been taking an increasingly brutal line toward > > > anyone that questions their actions. It's been like this for a long > time, > > > of course, for minorities and poor folks, but the behavior seems to be > > > spreading and becoming more and more brazen as time goes on. Maybe I'm > > > just projecting, though. Regardless, it's fucked up. > > > > > > 10%(?) of any given group of people is a jerk. I really don't think "it's > > getting worse". I do think that recursively fed headlines via sites like > > Facebook are making many people feel like "it's getting worse all the > time" > > since people are increasingly silo'd into echo chambers and groupthink on > > social media. > > > > Add in the polarization of TV and other media not to mention politics and > > really the only think you are ever going to see is this unending stream > of > > how bad XYZ thing is because the group you are surrounding yourself with > > (or who is surrounding you semi-against your will) keeps repeating it > over > > and over like a brainwashing chant. > > > > I think it's super easy to look around and think things are so much worse > > today because of this. In the case of police, I think social media and > > exposure is actually making the police think twice before each action - > not > > grow bolder in misbehavior. > > > > But what kinda shocking leading headlines does that make? > > > > -Cameron > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Order the Adobe Coldfusion Anthology now! http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Coldfusion-Anthology/dp/1430272155/?tag=houseoffusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:370350 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
