Blind Authority

 

There were two polarizing events that occurred this past week (okay, there were lots, but I’m focusing on these two).

One is that the cop who shot and killed Philando Castile at a routine traffic stop last year was found not guilty of second degree manslaughter. The other was that Otto Warmbier, the 22 year old college student who spent 17 months detained in North Korea undergoing forced labor, died after being released to his family.

I’ve been reading a lot about both of these cases, as both are absolutely horrifying to me. A young man was tortured to death in a foreign county for allegedly stealing a poster. Another was shot to death with his girlfriend and child in the car while reaching for his wallet, after informing the officer, as he was supposed to do, that he had a legal firearm in the vehicle. One man is dead because of a fascist government and the other because of a jumpy, poorly trained cop, and justice was not, and will not, be served in either case. I simply can’t understand how anyone could excuse either event.

However, because this is the age of the internet, there are always the comments to make one second guess the logic of humanity.

I’m not editing out any names as the following obviously felt strongly enough to post these opinions using their real names on public pages.

Disclaimer: This is not an anti-police post. My degree is in Forensics, and during my education and internship I met and worked beside many good cops. I know people who are good cops. My best friend is married to a good cop. I am grateful for the job they perform, and admire their bravery in doing so. It’s not something I would have the balls (or physical stamina) to do, hence why I wanted to work in the labs and not on the streets. I used the above image because Cartman’s voice is funny to me.

There’s an interesting trend that has always existed, but I feel has become more and more prevalent in the last few years. And that is the idea of, “If they hadn’t done x, y wouldn’t have happened” in regards to authority figures, specifically the police. “If they had followed orders–if they had obeyed–they wouldn’t have had to die.”

That said, police officers are not infallible and they are not to be blindly obeyed ‘or else’. They are meant to protect, not cause fear. They are there to uphold the law, and make arrests if needed, but the determination of guilt and sentencing is left up to an entire different part of the justice system.

It is not reasonable to tell a populace to unquestioningly obey a police officer to avoid being shot. It simply isn’t. That is a long, slippery slope that we, as a country, do not want to go down. Yet I feel that, more and more, we are expected to.

I am not afraid of police officers. I’m also a white woman, so I have the privilege in that area in that I’ve never had to be. If I am pulled over, I will be polite and I will be respectful, just as I would any other person. However, if a police officer orders me to do something I don’t feel I have to do, I won’t do it. I won’t leave my car if alone and if the cop is alone–it may be unsafe for me to do so, as there are many cases of people posing as cops and pulling women over for nefarious purposes. I won’t let them search my car or purse or person without a warrant. That is within my rights. It’s also within my rights to refuse a breathalyzer or field sobriety test.

I know refusing these things could get me arrested. However, what one should not have to worry about is that doing any of the above would get you shot. And the people who think that that is totally okay–that being killed is just a logical consequence of telling an officer “no”, or of reaching for your wallet while the officer knows there is a legal firearm in the car…I don’t know what to do about those people. Because I’m honestly more frightened of them than I am any police force. Blindly obeying authority can be dangerous.

Correction: it is dangerous. And so we move onto North Korea:

Otto Warmbier was accused and convicted of stealing a poster. He shouldn’t have done it and maybe he should have been more aware of what could happen if he did. There is a certain privilege that Americans have where we think everywhere in safe and should cater to us, which is the wrong attitude to have for many reasons and on many levels. But that doesn’t mean that he was at fault or being beaten and tortured to death.

Now I’m not saying that laws shouldn’t be obeyed (within reason). Both here and in other countries, one should be cognizant of what is and is not acceptable wherever you are. But it makes such little sense to me this idea that anyone who breaks the law anywhere–even as minor as stealing a poster–is just going to get what’s coming for them, and that’s that. That it shouldn’t be challenged or questioned. That people shouldn’t have the right to simply be alive either way.

Except that there are other people to blame–the North Korean government for their harsh and inhumane practices. They murder their own people daily and we turn a blind eye–that is bad enough. But now folks can’t even bother to care when it’s their fellow countryman, either? What is it going to take for some of these people?

Stealing a poster should not be death sentence. People should be outraged that it is, not just brush it away with “well, that’s how it is over there.” Carrying a legal firearm is not a death sentence. Not complying with the police is not punishable by death. And complying and having the cop think that you aren’t certainly isn’t. I can guarantee that not a single thing Philando Castile  or Otto Warmbier did are on the list of charges punishable death in any state that has the death penalty.

How anyone can look at these cases and say “Well, it’s their own fault. They got what was coming to them” is beyond me. Yet here we are. And while this looks like a handful of people, this is a small selection of hundreds that I read. And, since I did not read every post on the internet, and not everyone who has these opinions comment, there are potentially thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions of people who share these views–that these two men deserved to die. Or that, if they didn’t, they at least are to blame for their own deaths.

And that’s disgusting.

Scare Tactics

I find the way Trump speaks interesting.

Not enough to actually physically listen to him speak–his voice is the perfect timbre to make me want to stab broken plastic forks into my ears, and his tone tends to sound like a petulant six year old who thinks “I know you are, but what am I?” is a witty retort.  I choose to read the transcripts of his speeches and press conferences, instead. This ends up lending an extra level to said speeches because, when you see someone’s words in print, you can find patterns.

I fucking love patterns.

When something can be easily categorized and listed and organized in nice little boxes in my mind, it takes the normal rapid highway intersections and Amtrak trains of my thoughts, pours them a glass of wine, lights a fire, puts on some Barry White and says “Relax, baby. I got this”.

Actually, within this context, that analogy is kind of horrifying.

Ahem.

Now, Trump is not an eloquent speaker. At all. He’s at his worst when he’s speaking off the cuff in interviews and when answering questions from the press. His sentences are short, his words are simple and, honestly, there’s nothing wrong with that in general, but with him, it just sounds like he’s reading his tweets out loud. It’s jarring. There’s a difference between ‘plain speaking for plain folk’, and having the linguistic patterns of a rejected Dick and Jane manuscript (“See Trump. See Trump hate. Hate, Trump, Hate.”)

Last week, I was reading the transcript of Trump’s press conference, and I found myself counting repeated words, phrases, and ideas, because it began to read like inspiration for a drinking game.

And if there’s anything I love more than patterns, it’s a good drinking game.

(Actually, that’s not true. Drinking games are ranked under patterns. It goes patterns, baby sloths, dark chocolate, Kraft mac and cheese (don’t judge me), and then drinking games. And then 90s cartoon theme songs. Because Darkwing Duck needs to get dangerous).

Within my counting, I found the following information:

Marching with Artemis

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I’ve been thinking for the last few weeks on how to start this blog. I’ve come up with numerous topics because, let’s face it, every day since November (hell, even before that), has been a plethora of “what the fuck is this shit” topics to choose from. However, I decided to start out simple, as I feel this will give an idea of a bit about me, as well as the type of information and ideas this blog will be discussing. This is mostly because I need to get these thoughts out of my head, and also because, while I’m just one voice, and while blogging is what people call “slackivism” at it’s finest–if I reach one person, I have accomplished something. Because that one person can influence another person, who influences another and from there, who knows? Even if we can’t directly change the climate of the country we live in–after all, none of us are elected officials, we can’t make good laws or veto harmful ones–we can help each other, and maybe sew seeds of both knowledge and kindness.

In a little over a week, I will be driving five or so hours to join the Women’s March on Washington. The moment I heard about it (which was the day it was announced and spread on Facebook), I knew I had to be there. There was no question. I needed this movement, and I know many other women who felt the same. And as the day grows closer, and as my boyfriend (who is also a feminist and a wonderful ally) and I solidify plans and details of our trip and our stay, I find myself excited and empowered, but also worried and frightened all at the same time. Because I don’t know, and can’t know, what we will come across. I don’t know if we will march freely, or if we will be flanked by riot police, or flanked by angry people who want nothing more than stamp out the “whiners” and “libtards” and “femnazis” and “Social Justice Warriors” who dare to stand up instead of taking this election and everything it symbolizes lying down. I don’t know if there will be people paid and planted to start trouble, so that arrests are made and tear gas replaces the breathable air. So that, just like most other protests and rallies lately, the thousands of people there will all be painted as “troublemakers” and “rabble-rousers”, because the best way to silence the people is to vilify them, and make them feel their first amendment right to protest is useless.  I hope that none of this is the case–that, instead, we will be met with support and encouragement, and maybe even love. But I don’t know that, and I can’t know that, so all I can do is be prepared for the worst, hope for the best, tame the butterflies in my stomach, and be thankful for my friends and love who will be marching at my side.

But let’s talk about the why’s, since I’ve noticed that many people don’t understand why I, and others, are taking this stand. For brevity’s sake (haha), I’m just gonna focus on two of the most important reasons.

Disclaimer, btw: trigger/content warning for descriptions of sexual assault/harassment. It’s minor, but still figured the courtesy.

Patience.