ABC News describes the beer sitdown between Cambridge Police Sergeant James Crowley and Professor Henry Louis Gates to discuss differences between them as “Frothy Diplomacy”. Describing the froth is the easy part. Gates will have Red Stripe or Beck’s.” Crowley is drinking Blue Moon. The “diplomacy” component is more problematic. The fundamental problem in diplomacy is “who’s talking to whom?” It traditionally connotes a dialogue between two nations. The problem is, what are the two nations? Black and White? Town and Gown? Or elite and working class? Just as with the beers, there’s a wide selection on offer.
The coming White House meeting would be incomprehensible unless somehow each of the beer drinkers was emblematic of some point of view or there would be no point to the meeting. The saddest commentary on the state of public discourse is that it while would be completely inappropriate to even speculate on what those banners might be, its easy enough to take a guess: a cop’s pride, a black academic’s deeply rooted fears, the President’s interest in what he has already purportedly transcended. It’s a teaching moment in which the blackboard has been left blank, where the entire curriculum is typed between the lines, where everything often is. The message is in the drama; the sound is off, but that’s OK. Everybody knows the lines.
“Today is the day to move forward,” City Manager Robert Healy said at a news conference. … The committee, led by “nationally recognized experts,” will not investigate the arrest of Gates, nor will it “make any judgments” on the officers involved, Healy said. The committee “will identify lessons to be taken from the circumstances surrounding the incident” and will advise the police department on how “those lessons can be applied” to its policies and practices.
One of the reasons the 1981 movie Chariots of Fire was so interesting was that it proved you could have a story even when everybody had a different script. It was an exploration of the ethnic, religious and class motivations of British athletes in the 1924 Olympic race. Each protagonist was driven by different things. The Cambridge dons urged undergraduate Harold Abrahams over a glass of sherry — no beer in house master’s rooms — to do without the demeaning use of a track coach. The dons want him to carry the banner of the British upper class, whose power depends on the impression of effortless supremacy, for gentleman are to the manner born, and to strain even in the pursuit of a Gold Medal would be shameful. But Abrahams valued success above class and for him the shame would be in the loss. Offstage the other British Olympic star, the missionary Eric Lidell, is determined to win a medal for the honor of God. Each entered the Olympic stadium with his own agenda.
Track is perhaps the only sport where the competitor runs not only against the men in the lanes around him, but against himself and men still unborn. The British statesman and Olympic athlete Philip Noel Baker knew this and said that “Harold Abrahams was the only European sprinter who could have run with Jesse Owens, Joe Candito, Ralph Metcalfe, and the other great sprinters from the U.S.” For Baker, Abrahams was running against the book, whoever else was in the stadium with him that day in 1924. In the same way, maybe neither Gates, Crowley nor Obama will really be speaking to each other. They will be speaking for the Press, and through them to a wider audience, who will make of it what they will.
But as for Lidell, he played another game. He famously refused to run his event at the Olympics when it was scheduled on a Sunday and yet managed to win another event anyway, in a substitution. For Lidell, the race itself was the point. “I believe that God made me for a purpose, but He also made me fast. When I run, I feel His pleasure.” He went on to be a missionary in China where he was interned when World War 2 broke out and died in a concentration camp just a few months before Japan surrendered.
It was recently revealed by the Chinese authorities that Liddell had given up an opportunity to leave the camp and instead gave his place to a pregnant woman. Apparently, the Japanese did a deal with the British,with Churchill’s approval, for prisoner exchange. Therefore, because Eric was a famous athlete he was one of the chosen as part of the prisoner exchange. However, he gave his place to another. This information was released near the time of the Beijing Olympics by the Chinese government and apparently news of this great act of sacrifice came as a surprise even to his family members. Fifty-six years after the 1924 Paris Olympics, Scotsman Allan Wells won the 100 metre sprint at the 1980 Moscow Olympics. When asked after the victory if he had run the race for Harold Abrahams, the last 100 metre Olympic winner from Britain (in 1924), Wells replied, “No, this one was for Eric Liddell.”
What’s this one for? Black and White? Town and Gown? Or elite and working class? Just as with the beers, there’s a wide selection on offer.
Abrahams watches Lidell in an qualifying event.
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I fear that this will be a discussion likes ones I have had in the past where somebody tries to explain to me that I am racist even if I show no symptoms and make no judgement based on color. “See, you are to deeply entrenched in the racist culture of your past to even notice that you are doing it so are unable to judge your own actions. We on the other hand have a better perspective on that matter and can see it plainly.” What is left unsaid is the “when it benefits us.” portion.
There is no compromise on this. No shared frame of reference to begin to understand each other. They both will look at the same table, one will see it round and the other square. The table does indeed have a shape. Just one of them finds it inconvenient and so wishes to change the definition of ’round’ and ‘square’.
Karen Kelly does a real teaching moment!
The disciple of Rev Wright has much to teach so many of us.
Pinot Grigio for the Prof, please.
Blast from the Past:
Cocaine bust of tiger attack victim
Kulbir Dhaliwal recently split with his younger brother Amritpal “Paul” Dhaliwal what remained of a $900,000 settlement the zoo paid them in connection with the attack.
Black Cops in Cambridge Support Crowley, Won’t Vote for Obama Again (Video)
Kelly King, or Michelle Obama:
You Decide!
We can only imagine the pressure that the Cambridge Police Department has been under to “fix” this so that Obama can stop his public self-immolation. As usual, Wretchard nails the absurdity of this “healing moment” where Gates and Crowley meet over a beer. Gestures. Not even gestures, because a true gesture is at least connected to some underlying value or viewpoint. Here we are not even allowed to know what those are. Just a shell of a feel-good moment that is already known to be so.
If I were Crowley I’d refuse to play. But easier said than done: I’m sure the Machine has dozens of ways of making his life miserable if he doesn’t go along in Obama’s game.
Sickening.
The committee, led by “nationally recognized experts,” will not investigate the arrest of Gates, nor will it “make any judgments” on the officers involved, Healy said. The committee “will identify lessons to be taken from the circumstances surrounding the incident” and will advise the police department on how “those lessons can be applied” to its policies and practices.
- City Manager Robert Healy
Sentence first, verdict afterwards
- The Queen of Hearts, Alice in Wonderland
They intend to advise the police department on how to apply lessons that are derived without bothering to investigate what actually happened. The deal I suspect will be that nothing goes formally into Crowley’s Official File and the municipality spends money on counselors and interveners, possibly with kickbacks to Gates. Of course the next time there is a reported crime and the police do not respond effectively the city will face a lawsuit. However it will be hard for the victims to prove that best practices were not used. Consider what would happen if a lawsuit faced every teacher, either in a public school or in a prestigious college, who talked nonsense in front of a class. Proving malpractice in a law enforcement or any government administration setting is much harder then in a medical setting. Otherwise lawyers would be terrorizing bureaucrats and school teachers instead of physicians.
Of course there is more money in shaking down doctors and insurance companies but there is a nice living to be made from shaking down the police and City Hall. Teachers seem to have less to offer the legal profession.
OT, India has launched a nuclear submarine.
oMan:
0 goes out for Burgers and Fries,
shares Beers with the Guys.
What’s not to like?
He’s just like us!
Trust Me.
“The committee “will identify lessons to be taken from the circumstances surrounding the incident” and will advise the police department on how “those lessons can be applied” to its policies and practices.”
This is the number one lesson to be learned from the incident: Harvard University “elites” are a bunch of idiots. Police officers must learn how to deal with such intellectually challenged and spoiled individuals. Many Americans are finally realizing the overall low quality of an Ivy League education. There are obviously some exceptions. After all, the host of this very blog graduated from Harvard. When everything is said and done, however, the typical graduate of this grossly overrated academic institution is probably more like Caroline “you know, you know” Kennedy.
Regardless of the issue of the diplomatic mission, I think the final statement made by President Obama, flanked by Gates and Crowley, will reside along other great and useless statements such as “Peace in our time”. The sides are what they are, and there’s not enough beer in the White House to change that.
The statements of Cambridge police force members are commonly dismissed by Charles Ogletree and others of similar political bent, but the fraternity of people in dangerous situations like policing and the military seems to regularly transcend race better than any other government program or sensitivity session. My impression is that Sgt. Crowley is genuinely respected by his fellow officers and police officials, he’s not honorable (for a white guy) or decent (for a white guy) he’s just honorable and decent in their eyes — eyes that see him much more frequently than those of the Harvard faculty.
Other than the President’s endorsement and that of his lawyer, I’m not seeing a fraternity come out to openly praise Dr. Gates’ temperament and honesty. Maybe that’s not the way it’s done at the academy.
Either way, it’s great to see The One not only trip a bouncing betty, but ask for it to be placed in his path. When your communications guru asks for a question to be raised at the press conference, it should be batting practice for someone of Mr. Obama’s facility with language. The concerning issue is that his response may actually represent his considered feelings regarding the situation. If this is his way of oiling the waters, I can’t wait to see his efforts to defuse an Israeli-Iranian collision.
Come to think of it, I’d like to wait until I have a fallout shelter built.
Obama, hubris, and all that. The sad thing is, once the cat is out of the bag, well, the harder you chase the damned beast, the harder it is to catch. Gates and Obama will loudly proclaim something about racist behavior, but most folks will just hope that they shut up. There isn’t anything Obama can do that will undo his revelation as a race baiting hustler.
The ever delightful Mary Katherine Ham links to the Cambridge PD whose black members are disavowing Obama.
http://tinyurl.com/llhths
The birds of prey are circling, but they aren’t sure what the quarry is going to do.
“On the Waterfront”
Terry: You know this city’s full of hawks? That’s a fact. They hang around on the top of the big hotels. And they spot a pigeon in the park. Right down on him.
Be a contenda, Michael Crowley.
Manor born Wretchard.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_the_Manor_Born
Lets see, the police acted correctly so Cambridge will spend a couple million on a committee and come up with some comdemnation of unconscious racism in even the most respectful of police behavior. Even private behavior will be subject to comittee review. We all remember the expensive commissions after the Duke Lacrose players were almost railroaded into lengthy jail sentences and the press prejudged them, all on the basis of nothing more than the race of the parties.
I came across this comment on an Amazon discussion group about the Louis Gates affair. The writer was supportive of President Obama’s “stupidly” comment and responding to a previous anti-Obama post.
“I’ll bet that my IQ, that of the president’s, and of Professor Gates are all higher than yours. I bet that all of our educational levels are higher than yours. The world is getting better. Get with it.” George Davis
There it is. American Progressivism laid out in front of you. If you disagree with George Davis not only are you wrong – you’re stupid. In fact, you’re too stupid to even know what’s good for you.
Mr. Davis and his friend are going to make the world better for you whether you like it or not. Or so they think, anyway.
When you contrast the comments of the black President, the black governor, and the black mayor with the comments of the Cambridge PD members, the gulf between the politicians and the people on the street is huge.
A winning slogan for 2012?
Nobody owes you a damn thing.
Why Some Phds are Jerks
didn’t we know it from the get-go. The party is pathology-bound to give us grandiose psychodrama presidencies –have been since the mob-flirt somehow managed to get himself shot in Dallas. Been a Big Show in the Therapy Tent ever since –and out of the office the show goes on in the street outside.
This time around, the time was right, they could’ve given us a Frederick Douglass. But no, no way, let’s have a Malcolm X instead.
They are a children’s party (Pelosi the mentally arrested eleven year old) and as such, anywhere near the levers of power will always guarantee an all-fronts ongoing national disaster.
Business has ever less confidence? The world has ever less respect? Chart the rise of the far left, all three lines are braided. Little good it does to throw in a conservative or a neutral from time to time as planning is always about tomorrow.
All I need to know about these folks:
Red Stripe = fashionable, but bad, beer
Blue Moon = beer worth drinking
‘Nuff said.
If Obama is comfortable going around the world to apologize to other nations for what he perceives as arrogant and insensitive American behavior, surely he can apologize to the Cambridge PD to restore his image as the post-racial president.
I think there are two issues at work here. This first is simple: the profound ignorance of intellectuals. Professor Gates knows nothing of basic police work, or he would have spoken to Sgt. Crowley when asked to do so. (Under those circumstances, the primary responsibility of the police at that point would be to ensure there is no one threatening the occupant from within.) I would also venture that the good professor knows little or nothing about most blue collar work.
The second issue: It’s not black versus white or town versus gown. It is black versus authority. This is where the teaching moment has been completely lost, and is always lost when stories in this genre emerge. I would have guessed that someone of Gates’s education and income would have a trust in police authority that mirrors most white middle class attitudes. In poorer black communities, there is no trust in the police, so the impulse to flee, argue, or ignore police instruction is great because they feel they will be mistreated regardless.
And therein lies the problem. Whenever a black man is gunned down for ignoring police orders and holding up his wallet (they make holsters in the shape of wallets, by the way), this instance is used to illustrate that nothing has changed since 1959. (Which of course is retarded.) No one bothers to use the moment to instruct young black men what most young white men already know… When a cop says stop, you stop. When a cop says lay down, you lay down. When a cop asks a question, you answer. When a cop says shut up, you shut the hell up.
The culture of distrust among the black community doesn’t bother me half as much as the President of the United States, a black man, ignoring the opportunity to teach a very important lesson to young black men all over this country, some of whom will listen to what he has to say.
#15 Tony B,
I saw that also but concluded Wretchard was playing with meanings as well as with words.
For some strange reason this episode bothers me more than Team 44′s stance and responses to the Iranian uprising and Zelaya’s expulsion. Not sure why. Perhaps it speaks more directly to the old liberal, feelings based side of my brain. Seeing a good man just trying to do his thankless job and getting caught up in a sh*t storm.
There are youtube videos available showing Gates hustling race and dropping n-bombs…Crowley tried to revive Reggie Lewis in ’93 but failed. It is likely that POTUS knew the question was coming in his press conf., which makes his response that much more difficult to square. To what may “those lessons.. be applied”, twenty years in the pews of Rev. Wright?
I think the committee is a way to dis both Gates and Baraq. They’ll look the PD’s policies and say there fine except that somewhere there’s a comma used instead of a semicolon. They’ll also say that Presidents should keep their trap shut about these things in general. (Nicely, of course)
I still maintain that O’bamma knew the question was coming new most of the facts and fired from the heart.
Cop and civilian?
Cop and suspect?
Cop and perp?
If I was Crowley, after the beer was gone and it was time to go home, I’d wait for Gates to start home and then I’d do a traffic stop and breathalyze him.
Hahvahd professors aren’t the only ones who can be petty and snotty.
W: Interesting the way you see it:
“a cop’s pride, a black academic’s deeply rooted fears, the President’s interest in what he has already purportedly transcended.”
I would have reversed the first two: “an academic’s pride and a cops deeply rooted fears.” My reading of this is that Gates let his pride get in the way of rational discourse (or at least not raising the ante), and I know cops are wary of what could well turn out to be domestic disturbance calls (because what starts as two people shouting at each other turns quickly into two people both shouting at the cop). And every call to a private home has the potential to be a domestic disturbance call.
And I have to agree with oMan: this is not an invitation that I would accept were I Crowley. To begin with, the majesty (and security requirements) of the White House will play against him. Then no matter what is said, the President’s spokesman will spin it the way he wants to. Finally, Obama has not yet shown an ability to say “sorry, I was wrong,” which I think is warranted here. I just do not believe this will be any more than a photo op for the White House to say “we were right, the Cambridge PD was wrong.” F
As oMan basically said upthread–it is probably easier said than done–but it would be nice if Crowley could somehow respectfully decline the invitation. Say something along the lines of, “with all due respect Mr. President, I’ve moved on, I can’t get away from my busy schedule of serving the people of Cambridge…” somehow levitate above the fray. In other words, do his best Lidell impression.
Blue Moon > Red Stripe, and neither beats a Guinness. Though surely there would be some sort of racial undertones if Guinness were on the menu.
Maybe they should all have dark and tans instead?
Wow, viewing the world through the kaleidoscope of skin color is tiring. I need a beer.
Somehow this brings to my mind the retributions in baseball. How it used to be done in the old days, and the now more ‘compassionate’ response.
We have here Obama being the referee (even though he already ruled against one party) trying to difuse any tension. And thinking because his ruling, the issue had been ‘solved’. Both sides could and will put the incident behind and completely forget about it. The rest of us (fans in the baseball analogy) will also do so, otherwise we are (filling in the blank).
“”"”"After all, the host of this very blog graduated from Harvard. “”"”"”
Wretchard went to Harvard? I missed that.
Ooh, Ouch! And I said many snarky things about Harvard in an earlier post!
What’s this one for?
Lipstick application, and this time the cop isn’t the pig.
White guilt can be exploited to different degrees. For instance:
Level ONE: At work you just raise your voice often enough to blackmail everyone else on the team, lest they become the target of allegation of racism, and your get your own sitting spot in the cafetaria.
level TWO: You make a big-words fuss of the negro’s indelible grievances, and you get tenure at Harvard.
level THREE: Reserved for those who really know how to milk it to the hilt: You raise almost a billion dollars and get propelled to the white house by millions of folks trying the cleanse their politically correct self-image of any future application of the dreaded racist label.
Is there anything a white policeman do about any of this? Yes, as a matter of fact there is, arrest the bastard when his tantrum gets out of bounds. Then you go to the white house triangular beer party, knowing full well that beer drinking at the pinnacle, with miscalibrated egoes, mikes and cameras around is not quite as relaxing as the same in your backyard with your authentic buddies.
To what lenght one has to go to get to drink a beer while on duty?
Roderick @32:
Don’t sweat it. EVERYTHING that Harvard touches doesn’t turn to crap. It’s not like they’re congress or something.
One of the things I like most about W is he doesn’t have the elitist worldview like so many who have had his educational opportunities.
Jrod, you could have typed “black and tans” none here would have called you a racist….
I also wonder why Gates didnt just call the Harvard maint. staff instead of getting jiggy wit his own crowbar.
When will the committee recommend lessons learned to the Harvard professorship? Because, if all they do is lecture the PD that’s a pretty one-sided assumption of fault, isn’t it? Wouldn’t that suggest that Gates did nothing wrong, and need never change his behavior, and it’s the PD that ought to adapt to match? Should the committee offer lessons learned to everyone involved, including Obama?
Or can Gates and Obama do no wrong?
A great movie, Wretchard, thanks for the clip. Even though it certainly used some dramatic license, its treatment of Liddell, if anything, may not have been hagiographic enough. And per Always Right at 31, what a shame our president apparently hasn’t the character or the inclination to be a “referee” more like the Flying Scotsman. The following occurred during the Japanese internment:
It was also claimed that one Sunday Liddell refereed a hockey match to stop fighting amongst the players as he was trusted not to take sides by the two teams. One of Liddell’s fellow internees, Norman Cliff, later wrote a book about his experiences in the camp called “The Courtyard of the Happy Way” which gave details of all the remarkable characters in the camp. The writer stated that Liddell was “the finest Christian gentleman it has been my pleasure to meet. In all the time in the camp, I never heard him say a bad word about anybody.” The camp was originally a mission school named The Courtyard of the Happy Way.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Liddell
There is a pair of videos on YouTube by some law prof that explains to you why you should never talk to the police. Its an interesting lecture. It may be legally correct, but its wildly impractical. My take is that the cops are generally on my side. They have a difficult job and should be treated with respect, as all people should be. But if they get belligerent or upset it should be recognized that they are armed. For that reason alone you should never do anything to upset a cop.
Now as far as talking to them, the lawyer points out that there are something like 10,000 federal laws that can be applied to you. Instapundit linked to this along the same lines With respect to the whole idea of talking to police, the best idea is to keep below their radar, particular if they are federal. Ask Scooter Libby.
How about a big televised debate –with a panel of nationally known nationally knowns –where the cop and the prof take each other’s side –argue from opposition –? The cop repeats the black man’s beefs, the black man repeats the crime statistics, and on like that? Then at the end they announce they’re going to change places for a semester –cop teaches victimology course at Harvard, prof puts on the badge and rides shotgun. THEN they co-author a BOOK and announce it on OPRAH!
“I Think The Nation Is Doomed”
How come he didn’tget an invite to the big cocktal party the elites call home?
joe buzz
I also wonder why Gates didnt just call the Harvard maint. staff instead of getting jiggy wit his own crowbar.
Harvard, as Gates’ landlord, should charge him $2,000 for damaging their property.
BTW, I usually wear Black and Tan on St Patrick’s day. No one should be ordered to share alcohol with anyone. Crowley should decline to drink with Gates and Obama.
Addendum, members of the Foreign Officer core are paid to drink with monsters and smile.
Crowley is not a diplomat.
A diplomat is an honest man sent to lie abroad for the good of his country
Pretty fair description of what is going on. The FBie of mine to whom I regularly refer to, noted that it was just awful — a working class cop bothering an ivy league professor.
This is definitely one way it is being spun.
My biggest beef is with the neighbors. Do they not know each other there? Geeze, I am guessing the houses are pretty tight to each other and one would know who their neighbors are. But of course, racism is only for the working class.
As is amply noted, when a cop issues instructions you follow them. When they are proven wrong afterwards accept the apology, take the information, and complain. When I get pulled over (not that it happens often it has been nearly two decades now) I immediately get my drivers license out, place it on the dash (as well as the other standard paperwork), and keep my hands on top of the steering wheel. That officer doesn’t know if he is approaching a desperate guy with a couple of kilos in the trunk and a Glock in hand or just a guy.
As far as the beers go. I can’t stand Belgium style beers such as the Blue Moon. I’ll have one or two and anymore than that is *VERY* annoying, I’ld opt for the Red Stripe or the Bud over the Blue Moon better yet would be a heffe weizen or a cold can of Lost Lake!
How to make a “Teaching moment” a real “Learning Moment”.
Obama wants to teach us, to tell us. He needs to shut up and listen and learn.
Crowley should accept his invitation to meet with Gates and The O. He should just choose his own bar as the meeting place – after Gates has joined him for an 8 hour shift on the streets. Then they can meet “The O” at the bar and hang out with the rest of the cops too. It could be a real “listening Moment” for The O if he’ll just use his lips for drinking.
The next day Crowley should go to Harvard and attend Gates’ classes as a guest lecturer. He can explain to the Ivory Tower what life is like in the moat.
THEN, after that real learning, they can go hang out with The O at the White House and discuss repainting and renaming the inherently racist building.
The final report to the nation, from the studios of home improvement, The O can teach us what he knows about how to “jimmy” a door.
Can we still say “blackboard”?
Maybe I’m being cynical, (see previous thread, First time commenter, five year lurker) but Red Stripe is Jamaican Beer. Gates is staying true to form.
Gates needs to take a lesson from Chris Rock.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uj0mtxXEGE8
So now there is going to be an investigation. Pretty explicit threat to a police officer. It is lose – lose for Office Crowley.
Play ball or else.
This is not about truth or justice; it is about getting enough cover to allow the true racists in this story to slide away.
Crowley should do no beer, its all downside and legally dangerous.
#24 TxCharley
#15 Tony B
Re: “To the manner born” vs. “to the manor born”
You see both forms from time to time, but “to the manner born” was the original quotation from Hamlet.
HORATIO: Is it a custom?
HAMLET: Ay, marry, is’t:
But to my mind, though I am native here
And to the manner born, it is a custom
More honour’d in the breach than the observance.
I am somehow reminded of a Midwestern comedy duo called Williams & Ree.
Ree: I am from the Lakota Nation of South Dakota…
Williams (interjecting): And I am from the Bruce Nation of San Francisco!
PhilD you beat me to the punch. Of course Gates selected Red Stripe. It’s a “black beer.” More curious is the alternate choice of Beck’s. Perhaps that’s a totalitarian’s beer, who knows? But I don’t think you’d have to scratch too deep into Gates to find an anti-semite.
As for W’s comment on Gates’ “deeply rooted fears.” I’ve always found the “deep fear” argument unpersuasive. I want closed borders because I “fear” non-whites. I’m against gay marriage because I “fear” homosexuals. And on and on. It’s the easy copout blame game that the Left likes to play.
Gates doesn’t strike me as being afraid of much of anything. Why should he be? He’s untouchable and he knows it. Just like Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, and all the other race hustlers. I’d bet a thousand bucks that sooner rather than later he’ll proudly be hanging a copy of his mug shot on his office wall. It’s the best thing that ever happened to him. Oh the frisson of being hassled by The Man! And how the story will grow as he retells it at cocktail parties.
Nor do I think he’s particularly insecure. I think he’s just a bigmouth jackass who pulls the black card out automatically. I remember once decades ago when I worked in a drug store on 57th St and 8th Ave in Manhattan. There was always a deal of shoplifting going on, and naturally most of the lifters were black. One day, this old black guy is just aimlessly idling around, a strong tell for a shoplifter. So the boss sends this young white guy to keep an eye on him. The black dude realizes he’s being watched, turns to the white kid and in high dudgeon yells: “You think I’m black, don’t you?”
Yeah, he meant that to come out some other way. The point being I’m fairly certain he was there to lift something or other, but he was instantly at the ready with his “you’re just accusing me because I’m black” line, ready to mau-mau the white schnooks into letting him slide. Gates is no different. He’s probably pulled that schtick a few hundred times in his life. It’s automatic pilot for him. Only he tarts it up with his “black man in America” line. Because a black man in, oh I dunno, Cuba or Beijing or Riyadh would be treated so much better.
Send in the clowns? Don’t bother, they’re here.
desert rat said… (stolen from another, but friendly blog)
One wonders where the other man who entered the house was and why the Professor was uncooperative in providing any details as to his where-abouts….
I responded:
Face the facts…
2 black men… healthy….
one older, more wise, and yet so manly with that little blue pill coursing thru his body..
he just came home from a trip and was GOING to do some buck RIDING…
Ya know Bro’s on the DOWN LOW…
Oprah had a special on it so ya know it’s true…
The BRO’s had a little afternoon delight going down….
and wouldnt ya be pissed, just as a strapped a brother to a bench, the pigs pound on the door….
All that viagra going to waste…
lol
i just wonder when it ends. In the 1860s, a biblical seven generations ago, nearly 700,000 white people died in a war to make 3 million black people equal before the law.
That’s one white boy dead for every 4.3 black people made full citizens.
Oh i know there’s since been oodles of racism –on all sides –but since the war it has been unAmerican –it has been against American law and against the common ideal –and it would die quickly if only the race industry would just let it.
Meanwhile there’s that statistic, “one for four”.
How many times in human history has any people anywhere ever done anything like that for another people? And gotten so little in gratitude?
With the whole war –the central event in American history –stuffed down the memory hole in favor of a fixation on the status quo anti-bellum (as if those 700,000 didn’t die at all) for no other reason than the easy politics of the Endless Guilt (or is that Original Sin?), and despite that politics’ certain degradation into a permanent opposition to the very national culture that paid the “one for four”.
“”"”"Roderick @32:
Don’t sweat it. EVERYTHING that Harvard touches doesn’t turn to crap. It’s not like they’re congress or something.
One of the things I like most about W is he doesn’t have the elitist worldview like so many who have had his educational opportunities.”"”"”"”
35. Agoraphobic Plumber: Thanks, good points. Only some Harvard grads deserve to have me throw them down a flight of stairs. You all should try it sometimes, it’s very bracing!
And you want to know the best part about the aforementioned “stairs” incident? Before I grabbed him off of my female housemate’s bed he had turned to me and said “You don’t know who you’re dealing with!” How about them apples?
buddy larsen,
What percentage of Americans are even descended from the slave owning white inhabitants of the Union as it existed in 1850? The only person I can say with confidence is related to people who traded in human flesh within the last century is Barack Hussein Obama.
Dang buddy, you mean the War of Northern Aggression accomplished all that?
This commentary from Wretchard is why I love the Belmont Club.
Wretchard reminds us of great men, men who believed not in other men but God, men who transcended themselves and other men, for the glory of all men.
This is what we long for but most of us do not know it. For our lives to be heroic, to be true, we would have to abandon our politics, our race, our laws.
The media attention on this incident almost precludes a heroic outcome. Obama and Gates have too much to lose, Crowley less so. But I have no doubt that somewhere today someone is a hero and living the truth and being a man.
Headline snip: (Gates) wrote in his Yale application: “As always, whitey now sits in judgment of me, preparing to cast my fate….”
One dead for four free
that’s a fact of history
and so i ask Professor Gates
“who indeed is casting fates?”
The predictable result of the “friendly beer”?
“But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother.”
Last week our local Seattle Times, ostensibly covering the Gates story, really ended up illustrating the dilemma of America’ current racial confusion.
On the front page (I think it was last Thursday or Friday) along side the Gates article there was another article that also featured a small photo of a black man. Only this black man was young, 23 and had just cut a swath of murder and mayhem through the Pacific Northwest; looks like he killed two people in Tacoma in the arson of an apt building and then tried to murder with a knife two more people a couple weeks later in Seattle (one died, one survived). All this before the month of July was finished.
Neither Gates, nor the wider black community at large, wants to acknowledge that the real threat to the black (and white) community comes from angry young black males with some kind of brutalized childhood. Seattle has lost ten kids over the past year to killers of this profile. White politicians, journalists and social workers, forget it – they won’t touch this – they would be called racist and effectively bring their careers to an end. I am white and I can talk about it because I live in Seattle’s version of “the hood” and I have a black wife and a black son and I am foster dad to 6 black teens who fit this risky profile (or “at-risk profile” in social service jargon).
Comfy blacks have a built in fantasy margin whereby they can pretend that whites are still like Bull Connor of old – sicking dogs on blacks and spitting in the street when they walk by.
In reality racism in America is an embarassment and a shame to white people and they want to put great distance between it and themselves.
Meantime abused black children, whose drugged out moms abandoned them, whose fathers never stuck around grow up to be lethal bundles of muscle and anger capable of rendering many American neighborhoods Fallujah.
You can take Gates measure by noting which he prefers to do: call black fathers on the carpet or turn squishy liberal whites into Bull Connors.
Of course Gates selected Red Stripe. It’s a “black beer.”
What a poseur. When I attended a reggae festival in Jamaica a few years ago, all the locals were drinking Heineken.
Buddy, in fairness you might want to lump in everyone who died in slavery from 1776 onward. You can put some of the slave thing off on the Brits, after all they didn’t get around to banning it completely until after the Revolution. After 1776, it’s pretty much our party as a nation. There were efforts to do away with slavery within a few years after the ratification of the Constitution, yet it was four full Biblical generations and then some before the Civil War set things aright.
I’ve been told on other forums that as one of my grandparents inherited a farm in Kentucky that made me “landed gentry” in American terms, even if my family hadn’t been slaveowners. The person that told me this apparently had no idea regarding how little came of 250 acres of corn with a few acres of burley.
“As always, whitey now sits in judgment of me, preparing to cast my fate….”
Good Lord. Playing them like a fiddle, he was. When I used to teach high school, back in the Punic Wars, with a true rainbow coalition of students, I would frankly advise the students-of-color to play up their “impoverished” backgrounds on their applications. Born in a housing project, stuggling with oppression all my life, yadda yadda. Mostly lies, but it works. One girl got into Bryn Mawr with a fat scholarship as a result. Not that she wasn’t smart and a good kid, but a similar white girl would never have cut it. Play the system.
Years later I recall reading about some book that talked about behind the scenes at college admissions. One admissions board was deeply moved by a young woman who spent her spare time writing to prisoners. How utterly progressive of her. Just the kind of “diversity” we want on campus. Yes, we must be sure we get idiots of every race, color and creed.
No wonder Bernie Madoff had no trouble at all rolling the “best and brightest.”
LOTM,
Seeing as the Indian nuclear sub is a Soviet design, this should really be seen as more of a population control program than a military one. The same design recently killed several dozen people when the fire suppression system went off, flooding the forward compartments with the Russian equivalent of Halon.
das/60; you reminded me of Cosby’s effort a couple years ago, which brought to mind a question. I do not have information on whether Prof Gates ever remarked on Cosby or his initiative, but I would bet money he did, and that his intent was to belittle Cosby and/or his message. The question is, why would a reasonable person bet money ‘blind’ on that, and what does that say about the preferred condition of their people on the part of general black Democratic party leadership?
OT but noteworthy article up at American Thinker by a well connected gent discussing the 2007 NIE:
Did the CIA cook the….
Then: The poorest man may in his cottage, bid defiance to all the forces of the Crown. It may be frail, its roof may shake; the wind may blow through it; the storm may enter; the rain may enter; but the King of England may not enter; all his force dares not cross the threshold of the ruined tenement.–William Pitt
Now: When a cop says stop, you stop. When a cop says lay down, you lay down. When a cop asks a question, you answer. When a cop says shut up, you shut the hell up.–Urban B
Was William Pitt merely putting forth a rhetorical flourish, or was there actually once a time when a man’s unquestioned right to the defense of his home prevailed?
It makes no difference to me that Gates is evidently a jackass. The law ought to protect his interests, too. “Submit or die” does not seem to be the best way of accomplishing this.
Darren,
Wondering if the Israelis and the Indians might get together to improve the technology (they have experience improving soviet air and ground systems) for a production deal.
Darren/62; mid 19th century saw the end of the practice globally (more or less), but before that it was as old as human history –as you know. The general condition of whole swaths of humanity defeated in war or otherwise vulnerable to a stronger force.
It’s painful to look back at it but it was “everywhere all the time”, so we have plenty of company on the slaver side –as well as plenty of company on the slavee side too, since many of the Europeans who settled here were themselves serfs or bound-persons in some form –which is by and large why they left and came here of course.
The slaves in America who died naturally 1776-1865 would have died back home in Africa as well, of course. If you refer to murdering of slaves in that time span, i don’t have any info that would call that a feature of the system –i’m sure it happened, I’m sure of the oppression, i just don’t think –considering the chattel property value –it would numerically factor into the “one for four”. i could be wrong tho –call it “one for five”?
I’m not trying to deoderize history –just to help get it evaluated honestly in some small place.
“Today is the day to move forward”,
Any time a cop acts righteously and by the book but someone get hurt anyway, moving forward means restricting further the options police have to protect themselves and the community, so as not to hurt someones feelings.
The committee, led by “nationally recognized experts,” will not investigate the arrest of Gates, nor will it “make any judgments” on the officers involved, Healy said.
Citizen review boards are definitely a good thing, when done right they can make a difference between the public’s perception of the role of the police in volatile situations and how to act to stay out of harms way and assist the police. Blue ribbon panels are not citizen review boards. Blue ribbon panels are a jobs program for folks who don’t need a job.
The committee “will identify lessons to be taken from the circumstances surrounding the incident” and will advise the police department on how “those lessons can be applied” to its policies and practices. the committee has met already, made of citizens who probably wrote the book that the cops use as a guideline. The committee should probably agree the police did everything according to the book. But being a “BLUE RIBBON” Committee they will rubber stamp the notion that the cops were poorly trained to handle the nuance of confronting what could easily be a home invasion. Or maybe they should just not respond to call at that address in the future, and advertise that Mr. Gates has by virtue of his words and behavior declined further police protection the Cambridge Police are in no position to question his judgment and will comply. The effect for Mr. Gates will be nearly the same as the changes enacted by the “Blue Ribbon Committee” on the cops.
““Submit or die” does not seem to be the best way of accomplishing this.”
I missed the part where Gates was in danger of imminent death. I do agree that he was and is a jackass of the highest order, and no, that doesn’t really matter to me either, except that it makes me sick that this guy makes a LOT more money than I do, is showered with prestige, pretty much can’t be fired and apparently has the ear of the president.
I don’t think the cop would have bothered Gates at all if he hadn’t started with the ghetto trash-talking. Could the cop have just left? Probably. Maybe it even would have been the wiser choice. But I don’t think he was obligated to take a lot of abuse from a puffed-up empty-headed doorknob either.
I like that he hassled this piece of human trash beyond what he maybe could have. I hope he does it again when somebody thinks they’re above dealing with the kinds of things we all have to deal with. I hope all cops do the same, every chance they get.
I deal with cops from time to time in my capacity as a foster dad. I’ve turned cops down when they wanted to take something as evidence when it was on my property and I wasn’t sure it was the right thing to do. I’ve allowed cops to search parts of my house for evidence (and take it when found) when it seemed the right thing to do. I’ve stuck up for kids against the police when that seemed right, and I’ve let cops lay the smackdown on our kids when that was the clear choice (which is usually).
Not once have I ever treated a cop disrespectfully. Not coincidentally, not once have I ever been treated with disrespect, from either the city cops or the sheriff’s office. Also not coincidentally, I have a good working relationship with both. Gates should try this method. It’s called being decent. It works nearly every time it’s tried, and it doesn’t require giving up your rights.
Malthus,
The question that Officer Crowlet was attempting to get answered was if Mr Gates was in fact in his own castle. So if asked he did have an obligation answer. Once that matter had been settled and that he was not being coerced by an intruder lurking inside, a rule dictated by birrer experience, he could feel free to stand on his porch and insult anyone. If Obama comes to my door I would not let him in.
Eminent domain is another matter.
AP/71; amen –Golden Rule, when you absolutely without a doubt want to get up close and personal with doing the right thing.
darren, to finish the thought –we as humans have a history, it’s the story of us, how we were and what we were. One gets onto a different track than history when one begins the judging of its merits –it’s into religion or spirituality then. We don’t get angry at hurricanes or tornados –they are just artifacts of the natural world, as are we. So, when we lash ourselves over things done by long dead forebears, we’re in the spiritual realm, rather than the practical. However, the practical effects of long-gone slavery are yet with us –this very instant –in this thread. It just strikes me as weird, a displacement of some sort. Gratuitous pain, and destructive -in fact a continuation in the minor key of the very thing it decries. To paraphrase some obscure Bard line, it’s to be nourish’d by that which consumes, and consum’d by that which nourish.
Today is the day to move forward,” City Manager Robert Healy said at a news conference. … The committee, led by “nationally recognized experts,” will not investigate the arrest of Gates, nor will it “make any judgments” on the officers involved, Healy said. The committee “will identify lessons to be taken from the circumstances surrounding the incident” and will advise the police department on how “those lessons can be applied” to its policies and practices.
A perfect example of Polispeak. As a language its very close to that of “newspeak,” the qualities of which were detailed by the famous anthropologist and linguist George Orwell in his treatise on primitive cultures titled 1984. They are related languages, derived from the same roots, much like how French and Spanish were derived from Latin.
Culturally the groups that speak Polispeak tend to exhibit traits that are typically rare in most human cultures: cannibalism, sexual preferences for those with diminished mental or moral faculties, and an almost total inability to comprehend the notions of duty or honesty.
Hey, I’m not criticizing them–all cultures are equal –I’m just describing them.
American Exceptionalism to BHO means you disregard history wrt Slavery for all nations but one.
That would be US.
We Be The Exception.
heck, doug, that’s just like the transparency promise –which he KEPT. alas.
I think we’ll see a lot less enthusiasm for Mr. Obama once the market starts tanking again. Who knows? Maybe the loss of confidence in Mr. Do Right will be the thing that tanks the market.
AP/71 & 73/Buddy: I agree. Seems like I read somewhere that most cop fatalities occur during domestic disputes, that is, during home visits. We have our share of cop visits related to the kids so I know that basic courtesy works every time.
Why Gates would choose to get his scream on in a fairly – an in some ways humorous – routine visit is beyond me. All he had to say was, “Thanks for stopping by.” That would have immediately cleared the air. Cops are very sensitive to common courtesy in domestic settings. It changes the frame immediately.
But it looks like Gates has gotten far in life lashing out at liberal whites who only wish him well, so why should he change now…?
Gates is done. Prez. O is done. Black racists are done.
White racists were done quite a while back. I see progress. But…. it sure as hell aint happenin in the MSM.
The “Committee” is already seen as a farce.
Salaam eleikum Y’all!!
Penetrating as ever Wretchard. It is not a “dialogic dialogue” at all. Indeed, we cannot even agree on the lingua franca here. Might I suggest the following entry as the best commentary on the Gates Affair that is likely to be written by anyone:
http://iowahawk.typepad.com/iowahawk/2009/07/cambridge-police-profiling-still-a-grim-reality-for-harvard-faculty-assholes.html
I also believe it is the likely consensus candidate for the mid-western American lens on the issue. Our social betters have spoken.
Gates should try this method. It’s called being decent. It works nearly every time it’s tried, and it doesn’t require giving up your rights.–Agoraphobic Plumber
I expect the police to respect the law, not the man abusing them. There is clearly a proportional response to wrong-doing–lex talionis. I seems all too obvious that Gates is poorly equipped for a battle of wits. A barbed witticism is the proper tool for the job in this case, whereas handcuffs are an over-reaction.
The question that Officer Crowlet was attempting to get answered was if Mr Gates was in fact in his own castle.–Lifeofthe mind
Your response is well-considered. The proper course of action is to validate your ownership before inviting the police to leave.
Still, consider what actually took place here. This is clearly a case of mistaken identity. If you walk up to a woman who looks like your wife and give her an intimate squeeze, only later discovering her to be a complete stranger, you will cause no end of embarrassment for yourself.
The analogy holds here, except you can substitute an indirect means of ascertaining who’s who so as to preserve your dignity.
The police are heavily armed; the suspect was not. There were several of them but he was alone. They were in no immediate danger. There was plenty of time to make a call to police headquarters requesting additional information regarding the domicile, number of residents, owner, etc. If any glaring inconsistencies become evident after this investigation, move on to your arrest. This is pretty standard police work, after all.
I don’t want this to sound like second-guessing, but if the police had chosen a less confrontational approach, we all would have been spared these political theatrics.
Das,
As WIO said, Gates might well have already had his boy-toy properly trussed up and ready to go.
Easy to imagine how Trussedtus Interruptus might set the old boy off.
82. MALTHUS:
That is simply Wrong:
Police do not have the luxury of hindsight.
They had no way of knowing if an intruder was inside holding a gun on Gates.
They had no way of knowing much of anything except for the information the neighbor had provided.
78. Peter Boston:
Last I looked, the S&P was trading at a PE of around 130.
Just a tad out of the normal range.
I would not define Hope and Change to be market fundamentals.
Carrom Hole in One
You could make the argument that some problems simply take a long time to resolve themselves, and never completely. For example, if a man is unfaithful to his wife in the first year of marriage, it might still be remembered on their golden anniversary. The way problems of this sort are “fixed” is that they’re ignored. Of course its true to say the problem really isn’t fixed, but maybe it is a repaired as it is ever going to be.
On the other hand, the theory of curing cancers argues for excision; the disease must be laid bare and the patient put on the temple steps, for all to propose a remedy. And it’s always possible all will conclude the patient is terminally ill.
So whether you regard Henry Louis Gates, Sergeant Crowley or Barack Obama as agents of a cure or vectors of the disease will depend on the theory adopted. And the White House event would be either a help or a hindrance depending on the point of view.
Wretch–
well true enough, this is definitely an occasion on which we could benefit from Philip Rieff’s perspective, and indeed, a jigger of Whiskey´s insight on the feminization of culture. How in the hell is all this talking going to fix anything? Writing and reading are a little better, for one is forced to take more ownership when thoughts become text, but maybe it’s just better to shut up and drink beer. Just sit there and drink, and then go home and make the next generation that will have the benefit of bearing a lighter burden of less ill-considered stupidity that their elders’ had spewed.
“the disease must be laid bare and the patient put on the temple steps”
—
The Video serves that function, imo.
The question is, for how many others is that the case?
Urban B: great comment about walking in the other guy’s shoes. Very asymmetrical situation for Gates and Crowley. If Crowley took Gates’ place, he’d have to learn how to deal with the extra-high-stress-life-endangering problems of whether to keep office hours this week, and how to get the next grant proposal drafted, and maybe whether his game was on for teaching the kids about Amerikkkan Racism 101.
Whereas if Gates took Crowley’s place, he’d have to learn how to deal with a “burglary in progress” with no, repeat no, information worth a damn on how many perps, where they were hidden, what they were carrying, how doped-out they were, how many hostages or innocents were in the building. No information, no time to call a subcommittee to propose a study of the problem, just tachycardiac adrenalin-buzzing FIX THIS NOW tactical awareness and some ironclad rules about how to stabilize the situation and take the psychic energy out of the players. (I hope my imaginative re-enactment is not too far off the facts, and will help to blunt the complaints of those who think “a man’s home is his castle” can provide a simplistic solution to the more urgent question of who is in the damned castle.)
I am no cop but after a few years on the planet you begin to appreciate the crap they have to deal with daily daily daily. A bit like Fallujah with the chance of lawsuits if they misread the tactical problem. I think Crowley did a stand-up job. I think Gates failed.
Forgive my latent racism but I think it’s a shame that the situation is going to be whitewashed. This really isn’t about racism. It might not even be about classism. It’s more about the sheep and the wolves and the sheep-dogs.
87/Wretchard – your anaology is apt; I wonder if it comes down to this: a black woman friend of ours, elderly, 80 + (who suffered horribly as a young woman in the 1940s from white academics at the university of Washington – I didn’t learn about this from her but from reading a local history book) told me after her trip to South Africa a few years back: “South African blacks have forgiven whites; we, American blacks, haven’t.”
I’ve never been on the bandwagon for reparations, but after hearing that I’ve often thought, “OK, I could see some kind of reparations – but I want forgiveness in return. Forgive and then – the race thing over and done with, off the table; even-steven, done, over, gone, zeroed out, fini…”
Malthus 82: First to refute the Big Lie that I heard repeated by Obama, Gov. Patrick, and Rep. Barney Frank: Gates WAS NOT arrested in his home – he was arrested after following Sgt. Crowley out onto the porch. Crowley had trouble hearing his radio over Gates’ shouting. Second, at the initial encounter, Crowley was the only police officer on scene, and he had been told that there were two men in the house. He had no idea who they were, if they were armed, or even if either knew the other was in the house. It’s ironically fortunate that Gates didn’t make a sudden move behind his back (presumably for his wallet) in which case Gates might have tackled him or drawn his weapon, depending on the distance between them. Crowley would have been justified in either action, but the resulting blow up would have been orders of magnitude larger. Third, the “teachable moment” had better include the lesson that in any encounter with a law officer, the person in question IMMEDIATELY defers to the officer and allows him/her to take control of the situation. This is regardless of race, age, or social status. If the officer is wrong, it can all be sorted out in a lawsuit if necessary. Fourth, when a person chooses sides in a disagreement where he concedes in advance that he doesn’t have all the facts, and when he bases his opinion on an assumption that this case is automatically like others of which he has heard, he is pre-judging the argument, and his comments are evidence of PREJUDICE. From what I have heard and read in local media, Gates is a spoiled, egocentric asshole, and the absence of the deference he expected from Sgt. Crowley was what fueled his anger. The race card is merely his vehicle, he may not even believe it himself.
Crowley has not had one misstep since the beginning of this sorry affair, and the only way he could diminish the full measure of respect I have for him as a man and as a law enforcement officer is if he were to make any kind of statement that might be construed as an apology. He is owed an apology by his President, his Governor, and Prof. Gates. Talk about a cold day in hell!
Officer Crowley will be drinking Blue Moon, while Professor Gates will be drinking Red Stripe or Beck’s.
Blue moon, you saw me standing alone
Without a key to my door
Outside the home that I own
And then you suddenly appeared before me
The only one who knew that I was Black
And then you heard me whisper Please accord me
A little gentleman’s respect and slack
Blue moon, you need not taken than tack
There was no need to arrest
Except you saw I was Black
And now you suddenly appear before me
Drinking beer and claiming I was wrong
You say the station people did record me
I say you’ve got to listen to my song
Blue moon, I have big friends in high places
They’ve got my front and my back
You’ll disappear without traces
Don’t mess with me ‘cause I’m Black
With deep and heartfelt apologies to Rogers and Hart.
Is Gates related to Cynthia McKinney?
Well said, Fonman @92.
Those with the big chips on the shoulder will never appreciate that the officer arrived with the well-being of the potential victim(s) in mind. All this clown had to do was prove he owned the home, explain the situation calmly, and thank the officer for responding so quickly to the call.
End of story.
Walt 93: I bow down. Freakin’ brilliant. Somebody work this up with music and do a Youtube, right now.
Police do not have the luxury of hindsight.–Doug
Is it unreasonable to expect them to exercise foresight, either?
“They had no way of knowing if an intruder was inside holding a gun on Gates.”
They had no way of knowing that the Taliban were not building a bomb in the basement. The police were responding to a trespassing call–not a hostage situation.
“They had no way of knowing much of anything except for the information the neighbor had provided.”
Then why would you object to their getting more information before proceeding?
Interesting case in Los Angeles that I’m beginning to think has distinct racial overtones. 17-year-old fawn of a girl was kidnapped, robbed and murdered over the weekend by a “transient”. He evidently beat her to death in frustration because her credit card wouldn’t access an ATM, but was so lazy about how he did it, that he was in police custody less than 12 hours later.
Now, the thing that strikes me as interesting is … why have there been no mug shots published of the perp? He doesn’t have a Latino name. So what are the chances that a 50-year-old drunken black man is responsible for the murder of this 17-year-old white fawn from an upper-middle class neighborhood (and whose mother is an attorney)?
And why are the authorities trying to hide it by not publishing his picture (when all of Michael Jackson’s mug shots were zooming around with world within minutes of them having been taken).
Very asymmetrical situation for Gates and Crowley.–oMan
Yeah, Crowley and his two buddies were armed.
Malthus: give the guys a break: if they plan to stay alive they have to assume the worst of the situation, they have to stabilize it, this guy might be just a jerk or he might be trying to distract them from (or warn them about?) the situation in the rest of the house. Don’t think of it in such preconceived domesticated terms, Malthus. Next time you go into the deep woods, known or rumored to be full of carnivores who want your blood and kill at a distance without scruple, let’s see how willing you are to categorize the situation as “grumpy homeowner” and turn your back on it.
Malthus,
You are wrong.
And I say this as a 40+ black guy. I have had an interesting life.
The police are human. They get a call to respond. They have limited information when they get the call. They don’t have time to call HQ for more info. They have to deal with what they confront. If they confront a jackass, the cops will treat him as a jackass.
I have been confronted by cops, at gunpoint. I did not act like a jackass. And here I am, reading and responding on a blog.
You don’t have to believe I am black or 40+. You can surely search and find examples where the cops acted in a fashion that was admirable, despite circumstances.
I think you are a Moby. Please go somewhere else. These guys at BC are heavy hitters. I like reading everything on this site. I would prefer you go elsewhere to peddle your wares.
40+ = 40+ years.
[I]f they plan to stay alive they have to assume the worst of the situation.–oMan
It is ironic that a blog catering to social theories and ideas so readily finds an existential crisis lurking on a college professor’s front porch.
I am perhaps too ready to assume “the worst of the situation.” Would I have chosen Malthus–the most morose economist ever to afflict the “dismal science”–as my pen name if I had an innately cheery outlook?
I do not believe Crowley is stupid but he has been made to look stupid. This is the art of politics–contrive a crisis and exploit it.
I do not imagine the police had any evil intent in going to Gate’s house. The problem is not that they were overly suspicious; they were not suspicious enough. They fell headlong into a race-baiter’s trap and now we are all suffering the fallout from their miscalculations.
If you want to conflate a trespassing investigation into a military confrontation, as someone here have done, then by analogy, the troops just triggered an IED.
From your last response, I can assume you are a Moby. The call to the cops was about a breaking and entering, not trespassing. Totally different response by the cops is warranted.
I ask again, please go away. You are not following the rules of proper debate, even. Your presence here is a waste of your time.
mignon/103; you are right i think to be frustrated with someone who has taken the lofty word-cloud position. Domestic nightime calls are what gets most dead cops killed. The cop can’t be too careful. that’s the only black & white IN this case.
I understand the frustration with how the world should work.
But the world works differently. I have been lucky enough to see that, by travel. I learned that. And even with the intelligence-bell-curve debate.
Fool with that at your peril.
Stupid should hurt. There would be less stupid.
yessir –the “soft bigotry of low expectations” in the words of the
previous president.
Malthus,
Since I think you are dumb I will use small words. In the past the cop or the nice person has been found dead since there was a bad guy in the house when the good guy came out and said “All is OK” or looked angry or scared. If the cop did not search then he or the good guy could end up shot. So now the cop must search the house when sent to make sure all is in fact OK. Since Gates did not make clear he was the good guy and did act like there was a bad thing for the cop to fear the cop had to act like the worst might be true. Got it?
All in words of one syllable. Agreed you are a Troll but not on fact a Mpby. A Moby would pretend to be on the officer’s side and would in fact make outrageous statements, such as racist or violent threats, to discredit this site and the serious people who come here.
Domestic calls are incredibly dangerous. More dangerous then traffic stops.
LotM, perhaps a moby in the sense of being extremely anti-state on this an anti-statist site.
To Buddy L.
Sorry. I was foaming at the mouth. I have been reading BC for a long time. I had to say something after W’s recent posts.
I wish the world were different. Since it isn’t, gotta deal with what is. Ayn Rand said reality is axiomatic. While she was human, with failings, the truth of what she said isn’t disputable. So, here I am.
I have a lot of respect for the commenters at BC. Mainly because they have more experience than me.
Sorry for my self-indulgence.
Consider another public safety issue that is not a law enforcement one. You live in an apartment building on New York’s Upper East Side. You are worth a lot of money and so iare your apartment and possessions. There is a fire in another apartment below yours and suddenly the firefighters are banging on your door. Can you stand behind the locked door explaining to them that you have a very nice collection of Limoges porcelain and Hummels on the sideboard and Baccarat crystal on your tables? They will break down your door and smash everything in their way as they tear open your walls to chase the fire. They will smash open your windows and snake their hoses through to pour water out and you will be left with six inches or more of water on the floor of your ruined apartment. They are there to save lives and they love their work. Get in their way and a cop will drag you off in handcuffs.
didn’t see the foam, mignon. saw someone who’d rather deal with a dozen bull conners than one mealy-mouth poseur.
Y’all are very charitable. I screwed up the definition for Moby. I apologize.
Still, Malthus, despite my blunder, I still ask you to go away. You aren’t being charitable in your arguments. I don’t think you are being honest, either.
Yah, I am being presumptuous by asking that. But there is plenty of documentation of bad actors on the civilian side. I ask that you review that documentation before you show up and comment again.
I was reading Malthus just the other night, and was surprised at just how optimistic he was, metaphysically speaking.
For instance, this:
The idea that the excitements and impressions of this world are the instruments with which the Supreme Being forms matter into mind, and that the necessity of constant exertion to avoid evil and to pursue good is the principle spring of these impressions and excitements, seems to smooth many of the difficulties that occur in a contemplation of human life, and appears to me to give a satisfactory reason for the existence of natural and moral evil, and, consequently, for that part of both, and it certainly is not a very small part, which arises from the principle of population. But, though, upon this supposition, it seems highly improbable that evil should ever be removed from the world; yet it is evident that this impression would not answer the apparent purpose of the Creator; it would not act so powerfully as an excitement to exertion, if the quantity of it did not diminish or increase with the activity or indolence of man. The continual variations in the weight and in the distribution of this pressure keep alive a constant expectation of throwing it off.
“Hope springs eternal in the Human breast, Man never is, but always to be blest.”
Evil exists in the world not to create despair but activity.
Taken from Malthus, quoted in “The Price if Everything” Michael Lewis
Mignon510 at 105: “Stupid should hurt. There would be less stupid.”
Classic. And worth reading all the way through the comments to find. Thanks for your worthwhile input on this thread.
Heh, the cops woke me up one night, sleeping in a station wagon in my own field, by town, actually, in town.
I had taken a shower using some bottled gallons of water heated from earlier in the day, during harvest work, just at sunset, and, unknown to me, a man and his wife, trespassing on my land, taking a walk, had come upon me, freaked out, and called the cops, thinking I don’t know what.
Anyway, I had taken my little shower, put on clean clothes, gone to McDonalds a mile away for some dinner, came back and crawled in the sack, exhausted, to sleep til rosy fingered morn, when, in the middle of the night, the cops respond to this ‘plaint about a naked man behind a station wagon and farm equipment in a field near the city, and I find myself in the spotlights.
heh, yes, I co-operated.
I would not be so quick to assume Malthus is a Moby. I was reading someone on The Corner today making a similar argument. I see no reason to assume that Malthus is not making a good faith argument. Sometimes we law and order types (for I am certainly one such) need the libertarian goad to our conscience. He seems to be forming an argument, albeit one that may not stack up if we consider the instinctive need for cops to ring fence the unknown unknowns when answering these calls. Still shouldn’t there always be some voice somewhere reminding us that at some point these kinds of demands for our security go too far? I don’t agree with Malthus on this at all, but his voice seems a potentially useful one on here. All of this said in the full realization that this is maybe the second post on BC that I have ever commented on, but ahhh I have been happily lurking here for years now.
“I fear that this will be a discussion likes ones I have had in the past where somebody tries to explain to me that I am racist …”
Duke Lacrosse changed all that.
It’s the New Narrative.
Anyone accuses you of racism, you just throw Duke Lacrosse right back in their faces.
“Dialogue on race” officially over.
A Crowley will get you through times of no Gates better than a Gates will get you through times of no Crowley.
Mignon, you’re doing fine, and you have every right to jump in; it’s not self-indulgent to add some decent perspective to the discussion.
Malthus is one who would find the cops wrong, or not doing enough, or doing too much, at all times.
I’ve appreciated the police checking up on me and my family on occasions where someone misconstrued what was happening, and I appreciate those who called in when suspicious.
The police have it tough, and are the most scrutinized workers in America.
(When it ought to be lawyers and politicians…BIRM…)
***
bob 115, think now, was it shower, dress, macdonalds, or was it shower, macdonalds, dress ?
53. buddy larsen:
The Civil War is closer in time to the founding of the US than it is to current time.
The equal rights amendment of 1965 is over 40 years in the past. Most people working when it was passed, no matter their melanin content, are likely to be retired.
Affirmative action and diversity are scabs that are picked at over and over. They will never heal until the point in time where race baiting and being super=sensitive no longer pay off.
Again, just like cutting the perks out of politics, when the money disappears, the activity will stop.
Would that I had the command of the language…
tom
“The police are heavily armed; the suspect was not.”
The lone police officer was not armed like a SWAT team.
“There were several of them but he was alone.”
This is reversed, one responding officer and a report of two suspects with only one person visible and it was unknown if that visible person was one of the reported suspects.
“They were in no immediate danger.”
Unknown. A known unknown. The officer’s job was to change that to a known. ID and moving the unknown person to a more controlled environment was what the officer was trying to do.
“There was plenty of time to make a call to police headquarters requesting additional information regarding the domicile, number of residents, owner, etc.”
Not until the scene is under control of the officer there isn’t. With there being signs of a break in and and a report of the same, and an uncooperative, unknown person on scene. Also why would a police agency have that information instantly at their fingertips?
“If any glaring inconsistencies become evident after this investigation, move on to your arrest. This is pretty standard police work, after all.”
Gates behavior was a “glaring inconsistency” in and of itself.
“I don’t want this to sound like second-guessing, but if the police had chosen a less confrontational approach, we all would have been spared these political theatrics.”
Gates chose the “confrontational approach”. His behavior was what escalated this rather minor event into an arrest. Obama then pushed it to a much higher stage with his own brand of stupid.
if crowley shows up for this fiasco it will be to his detriment. what the heck’s business is it of the president to bring together a cop who was doing his job and the out of control perp ?? there was NOTHING racial about the incident in the first place, but this meeting will be seen as a ‘healing moment between the races’ so gates and obama ‘win’ with their outrageous claims of racism… i need a beer.
In the article Wretchard wrote, “In the same way, maybe neither Gates, Crowley nor Obama will really be speaking to each other. They will be speaking for the Press, and through them to a wider audience, who will make of it what they will.”
What the audience makes of it will depend a lot upon what the Press makes of it.
From cheerleading for Obama to the circulation/viewership boost of controversy to the vanity of rendering judgement from on high, the Press has a big role in all this.
I’m still amazed that CNN aired that Don Lemon piece with the black officers standing up for their fellow officer, and the black woman officer King saying Obama lost her vote over this.
49. I stand corrected Walter.
Wretchard,
Hmm, not many takers for a Chariots of Fire conversation.
I find this video ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPB7r0UpNIE ) of Liddell’s medal run even more interesting, especially after Abrahams’ one. We’ve already seen Abrahams’ grim single-minded determination and subsequent emptiness, and we now see, along with a bemused Abrahams, Liddell’s contrasting quasi-orgasmic running.
I find myself appreciating Chariots increasingly with further viewings.
“Forgive my latent racism but I think it’s a shame that the situation is going to be whitewashed. This really isn’t about racism. It might not even be about classism. It’s more about the sheep and the wolves and the sheep-dogs.”
Ooh, yeah. I didn’t realize it, but the sheep/sheepdog thing is exactly the lens I’ve been seeing this thing through. I’m a reasonably intelligent sheep who sees the value in having the sheepdog around, while Gates, a black sheep, has delusions that the white sheep care that he is a black sheep and that the sheepdog is persecuting him because he is a black sheep. The sheepdog goes by smell, and the black sheep all smell the same as the white sheep, so the dog is a bit nonplussed by all the commotion among the sheep.
The sheep king sees a chance to score political points with the less intelligent sheep, so he stages a sit-down with the black sheep and the sheepdog. It wastes time the sheepdog could be using to watch for wolves, but the sheepdog is fond of the sheep and doesn’t see the harm in a brief distraction.
Yeah, that analogy works fairly well for cops as well as soldiers. Maybe better, really.
Crowley should just ignore their invitation. Both Gates and Obama are beneath contempt and should be treated as such. It may be a teachable moment but neither Gates or Obama are interested in learning. Why would Crowley have any interest in going to DC or even across the street to be condescended to by these 14 carat assholes?
I saw this in a movie called Hombre, where Hombre told David Canary, “maybe after the robbery we can meet at Delgado’s for some Mescal”.
“I do not believe Crowley is stupid but he has been made to look stupid. This is the art of politics–contrive a crisis and exploit it.
I do not imagine the police had any evil intent in going to Gate’s house. The problem is not that they were overly suspicious; they were not suspicious enough. They fell headlong into a race-baiter’s trap and now we are all suffering the fallout from their miscalculations.”
Malthus:
Have you watched the video starring Kelly King?
Do any of the officers look stupid?
Come off as racists?
Somehow you see the most revelatory incident in BHO’s admin via a Fun House Mirror.
It is obvious that only the police officer can be compelled to do anything in this matter. The Prof can and did do anything he wanted. The President is trying to gain some political advantage with the black and liberal voters. Sadly the officer will play in this game but he is vastly out of his league with the race baiters.
bandit/128; the PD will be made to suffer if it doesn’t produce Crowley for the beer meet. Crowley balks at the cost of loyalty to his unit.
http://sayanythingblog.com/entry/here_it_comes_critics_of_obama_are_racist/
jeeez –i know what, let’s move all this along, let’s just EMBRACE racism –
“yes yeS YES! WE ARE RACISTS!
Race race race raceracerace RACISTS! RACISSSSSSSTs! I AM A RACIST! OBAMA IS A RACIST! ACORN IS A RACIST! EVERYBODY IS A FRIKKEN RACIST!
Now, comrades, can we talk about the last six months of “let’s have a great depression” legislation?
I have been a professor since 1963.I have given seminars at Harvard, Yale etc. The quality of the Harvard faculty has gone down. I know three phonies who are full professors at Harvard in several departments that are mainstreaama (not black studies for example). Two of those professors should never have been promoted to full.
Larry King interviewed Colin Powell regarding the Gates arrest. When King asked Powell if he had ever been racially profiled I almost had a wreck.
It went right by both of them that King, and his staff, had racially profiled Powell to be on the show. Powell never would have been asked had he not been black.
Makes me laugh…
kudos to response #29, ‘F’:
“…W: Interesting the way you see it: “a cop’s pride, a black academic’s deeply rooted fears, the President’s interest in what he has already purportedly transcended.”
I agree…what were you thinking/not-thinking, Richard?! Gate’s reaction is based on “fear”, which, of course, is ‘sympathetic’ to We Enlightened Moderns, while the mere cop is motivated by some common, base, selfish, sub-cortical emotion like ‘pride’? Maybe Gates was motivated by his own ‘Cambridge/academic pride’? Or desire for publicity? Or common racism of his own? Or maybe he’s just a pompous ass living in a cosseted world? As – as we now have another glimpse of (after the Rev Wright) – is our POTUS?
Recyst raecyst require’ Le lancings cystematic. Bon shield shiner avec saur footer. Mal profester, il est malad dans le tet, mais non pour le derma-noir, n’est ce pas?
I Italicized too much, in #70 above, and noticed too late. I hope president Obama grovels and the professor “I’m sorry’s” his behind off. That is how it should be, but I am certain they will try to have it the other way.
I hope the good officer gives no quarter and sips no sud without first there being a plain old statement of apology. Short of that the beer would somehow taste flat.
Buddy, the business of doing business may not be a matter of right or wrong, but a matter of what ethical business practice is in an atmosphere that rewards ethical conduct. That is not the case when business must deal with government, the dirt and filth tend to rub off during even the briefest of meetings. I think there is no honor among thieves nor most government agents.
Had a dream that Officer Crowley walks in and informs his host and fellow guest that they now have evidence that Gates was fomenting a confrontation to conceal that he was engaging in illegal conduct with a minor and that while the Sergeant was not empowered to act in his official capacity while in the White House, due to his being temporarily disarmed at the request of the Secret Service, he would be waiting outside when Mr Gates emerged. My dream ended with Chief Justice Roberts telling the President that he could not protect an offender from State prosecution with a Presidential pardon and the Secret Service telling the President that they would do nothing to impede or hinder a Law Enforcement Officer from acting outside of the White House.
“I Italicized too much, in #70 above, and noticed too late. I hope president Obama grovels and the professor “I’m sorry’s” his behind off. That is how it should be, but I am certain they will try to have it the other way.”
I’m starting to get the impression that the professor and the president have both broken an unspoken cardinal sin — these two would not “stay in their place”, so to speak. It’s a bit arduous to explain without being charged with racism, but the crux of the term comes from a non-verbalized understanding that our most prominent minority group from the end of the Civil War onward were to remain in a secondary position, in deference to the majority. I leave fellow Belmonters to figure out who’s who. For a group of people who are subconsciously regarded as “naturally inferior” by the majority, gaining parity (not in the superficial sense i.e. “affirmative action”, but as no longer being seen as collectively and inherently “bad”) seems to be an uphill battle, as stereotypes and the self-serving actions of some constantly prevent any improvement of the subconscious view.
As for the attitude of the professor and that of the LEO, I’m giving both the benefit of a doubt. The professor, for having to deal with explaining to the LEO that this was, in fact, his residence while dealing with a broken front door after a long flight and an ailment to boot. The LEO, for presumably arresting Mr. Gates for having a “big mouth” on him, justified or no. I believe both saw each other’s exchange through the prism of bad stereotypes, misperceptions and for Mr. Gates, mental footage of how unfavorably most Black interactions went in regards to largely White LEOs.
As many wish to not want to talk about the Race issue anymore, this will hopefully be the last time I’ll have to speak of it.
And later on, I stumbled upon someone who put better what I wanted to say all along:
“Guy gets home from his trip, he’s tired and out of sorts, and he can’t get into his house to actually end his trip. Does what’s necessary, and is in the house.
Someone sees the activity, doesn’t know what’s going on, reports to The Authorities as they’ve been taught since first grade, in some social sets.
Authority, in the form of a rather limited, arrogant cop shows up and the fun begins.
A tired, frustrated old man standing in his own house is challeneged and spoken to like he has no rights at all and he had better kow-tow while certain protocols are gone through. He mistakenly thinks that authority is somehow there to benefit the commonweal, expresses his frustration and anger at his treatment, and is shown that the might of authority at that moment exceeds any right in common sense, decency, or even law.
Cop figures that if his presence is required something fishy is going on, he doesn’t really let things like legality or thought get in his way, and there is NOWHERE he shouldn’t be able to go no matter what any silly law says. So, he’ll teach this pencil-necked academic loud mouth a thing or two, and the fact that he’s acting above his station on the social totem pole (yeah, stuff is written down, but we all know it’s a load of crap to keep the hoi poloi from rising up) so cop’ll show him where the bear really shit in the buckwheat.
And all the commentators are off and running on both sides of the issue.”
And that’s a load off my chest, since I don’t have to tie myself in knots trying to communicate the above in my own words.
“…gaining parity (not in the superficial sense i.e. “affirmative action”…”
My epipheny of the day is that Obama’s healthcare plan is medical affirmative action — giving the unemployed and the unemployable the opportunity to go to the head of the line to see the same doctors as citizens who get up in the morning and go to a job and pay for their health insurance.
Of course, those working Americans will now be expected to pay for both their own health insurance (while receiving less care) while at the same time they are also having to pay for ACORN’s doctor’s visits (with unemployed Obama supporters receiving more and better care because right now they have no insurance because they’re not qualified to be hired for anything).
I don’t think rationing or being put on an ice floe is what’s sticking in American voters’ craw. I think it’s the Marxist finagling of getting something for nothing that Americans subconsciously recognize and are rejecting.
As many wish to not want to talk about the Race issue anymore
What is there left to say? If this thread can be its own thing, then we have admitted we are racists, we have pointed out the voluminous blood and treasure poured out for it by other aspects of our human nature, and have seen the chasms either side of the looking glass and have leaped into them both and climbed out to leap in again and again, and have finally begun to understand that the only solution is the one thing left to do, and that thing is for all white people to go away and leave the planet alone.
Fine, I agree. Let’s fund NASA.
***
And all the commentators are off and running on both sides of the issue –including the commenter who made that comment.
23. Urban B:
I concur, but I think everyone ought to call a Policeman by his first name just to break the ice.
That would be: “Sir.”
There is a very well respected black man going around the country trying to impart his wisdom to “his people.” That would be Bill Cosby. But what is funny when I listen to him it is immediately obvious that he “gets it.” But he is roundly criticized by the self-appointed black leaders as being “too hard” on his brothers and sisters. He wants them to reach for the stars, but he is opposed by a few who want to keep them under their feet.
What amazes me is that even if black folk think they have power in a monolithic secular stance on just about everything, one wonders about those blacks who profess a belief in Christ – truly (and not the Christ of his famous Black Theology Pastor Wright) – yet they subjugate that which they know to be true to that which they know to be false. That alone has got to be working them up hard, on the inside.
I just don’t see where such a falacious reaction like that comes from.
seriously –we’ve been for so long a time stretching our entrails out on the barbed wire trying to avoid, duck, disprove, explain away, dismiss, minimize, etcetera, the charge of “Racist!” that it’s high time we just give up and answer with the truth: “So what?”
THEN we can really move on –all of us, black, white, brown, yellow, mixed and matched. What we –as a nation, as a world –have been doing for the last hundred years is the same as the medieval intellectual energy wasted arguing how many angels can dance on the head of a pin.
if 100,000 parachutists, 25,000 of each of the four big races, landed randomly in a stadium a few, say six, hours before the football game, with no tickets and no seat numbers, by game time what would the seating distribution look like? I can’t say, but USA 2009 it likely it would be four ‘trust & comfort’ nodes, with considerable outliers.
44. Marcus Aurelius:
Good procedures. At night, I turn on all the interior lighting, and if asked for my drivers license or registration, tell the man where it is and ask “…if I may get it now.”
On a trip from Houston in 1969 to my duty station at Corpus, I was stopped at about 2 AM doing 78 in a 55 and passing over double yellow lines. When I stopped, I jumped out and headed back to the trooper’s car to “save him the trip” to mine. He stopped me in my tracks and put his hand on his side arm and instructed me to “Get in the car.”
I didn’t know his protocol, but I learned quickly; he went into more cordial detail later. Because I broke two laws and was 23 mph over the limit (the signs used to change from 70 to 55 at sundown), they escorted me back to the courthouse to see the judge (“Yah in a heap o’ trouble bwa!”).
That was where my status as a military officer and my consumately respectful demeanor saved me. The fine was about $120 but I only had $3 on me. He put me on my own recognizance and said I wouldn’t have to stay in jail until they called my Skipper…IF…I would send a money order back to them on the very next day.
Their expectations of me proved sound.
My going in approach is very simple. First as a retired military member, I feel that cops are my brothers. Second, I have deep respect for the job they do. Acting respectful and not giving them a hard time when it is me who screwed up (speeding, running a red light) just seems like common sense.
But I suppose that there are folk who never make mistakes…and for them cops who stop them “for no reason” will always be haughty, ego-driven bullies – or worse.
Mr. Lyons,
“Yes” they did err in judgment, and “No” it has nothing to do with ones place. “Ones place” as I ascertain you’re meaning is so anathema to what America is all about, it has no place in the discussion.
The fact is that we pay police officers and give them training to do their job a certain way without prejudice and without baggage. To accuse not just any but all professional police officers of acting in a racially motivated manner means you are just not paying attention to the facts. What may have been the case in 1965 is no longer the case today. The argument just does not hold water, except in the erroneous perceptions of those who would make that charge.
It is akin to the false charges made about the conduct of the marines engaged in fighting in Iraq or even the repetition of accusations against a certain security firm. In nearly every case, the evidence shows us the officers, soldiers or contractors operated within the law, with grace under pressure and with extreme professionalism. However the charges of racism are more fun, no doubt, to level at conduct that belies ones own actions and activities.
Something about moving a mountain would be appropriate here, but I would let Officer Crowley’s fellow officers speak, and I would listen especially if I were president of the nation.
“Cop figures that if his presence is required something fishy is going on, he doesn’t really let things like legality or thought get in his way, and there is NOWHERE he shouldn’t be able to go no matter what any silly law says. ”
—
Mr. Lyons,
That makes very little sense considering that Crowley was chosen (by a black police leader) to teach other recruits legality and professional conduct in just such situations.
Mr Lyons, while you’re channeling, can you please tell me where natural gas prices will be by December?
And why is the President involved in this again, other than opening his big mouth and saying something stupid. Is there nothing better for a President to do then to try to resolve hurt feelings between a haughty, bigoted professor and a police officer?
What a silly life we live while surrounded by all kinds of real danger.
“Black Cops in Cambridge Support Crowley” Doug@5:
Thanks for that link and thanks to Sara for putting it up.
They were articulate, dignified, and restrained, and I hope that the good people of Cambridge are very proud of them.
To accuse not just any but all professional police officers of acting in a racially motivated manner means you are just not paying attention to the facts. What may have been the case in 1965 is no longer the case today. The argument just does not hold water, except in the erroneous perceptions of those who would make that charge.
Sadly this indicent is going to be seen through the racism lense, but that’s not the relevant angle. As Wadeusaf says, that’s a rusty old bucket that doesn’t hold much water these days. Gates behavior is beyond excuse. Debating the race question is useless and irrelevant.
The interesting question is not even Crowley’s behavior. The interesting question to me is why do so many people assume Crowley had a chip on his shoulder and made things worse? Sure, there are nuts who automatically assume Crowely was “the Man” hassling Gates for Breathing While Black, but there’s a growing segment of the population who are not pot-riddled hippies or race-hustling community agitators that no longer has much respect for police officers.
Sadly, I think I’m a member of that growing segment.
I don’t want to be, but I find myself being pushed ever deeper into that camp. Not by Crowley’s actions, no not at all. This whole incident to me is just a potential alarm bell that might make a few people think about the real issue, the growing estrangement of police from their communities.
What is pushing me? Several things. One, the growing use of law enforcement as freelance tax collectors, aka revenue enhancement opperations. Two, the growing use of law enforcement as babysitters from hell, the point of the spear as it were of the Nanny State. Three, a prevalent attitude among LEOs, the result of training methods I assume, that emphasizes the officer’s authoritity and the requirement that everyone in all situations respect it absolutely. Four, the ineffectiveness of police agencies, perhaps the fault of misdirected resources, perhaps the fault of a fubarred court system, but in any case a real situation, to deal with petty crime*. Five, a steady trickle of raids-gone-bad, of no-knock home invasions based on spectacularly dubious information and followed by obstinate refusals to take responsibility for deadly blunders made under color of authority.
The upshot is that I increasing feel that I, Mr. Taxpayer, am purchasing at great expense a service that I am not getting. Instead, my money is being used to fund scams to extract additional money from me, and to badger, coerce and cow me into obedience to a leviathan that I do not want.
Tell me I’m nuts. Tell me where I have it wrong. Or else tell me how we fix it. Because that expensive service I’m paying for and not getting – I’d still really like to have it.
* – I’ve been the victim of four burglaries in my life. In none of the four was anyone every apprehended, and in none of them did I get the sense the police even made an effort. When my 80-year old mother’s house was broken into while she was in the hostpital recovering from a mild stroke, the officer taking the report told my brother the best chance to recover her stolen jewelry was for us to go prowl the local pawn shops. The officer made it quite clear they weren’t going to waste their own time doing that.