Zero to Dogpile

I’m not criticizing the officers involved for breaking laws. I don’t think they broke any. I’m not saying they had no probable cause. Apparently they did. I’m not saying they did anything procedurally wrong other than the “chokehold”, which doesn’t even seem to have been the officer’s original intent. But the whole thing seems to have gone way too far, way too fast, over a ridiculously minor offense. Even if the officers’ actions were legal, they just didn’t help. Cops nationwide could start writing tickets for going one mile an hour over the speed limit tomorrow; yes it would be legal, but it would also be stupid, and would probably cause a nationwide uprising against all of us.

This sums up the opinion I'd come to on the NYC/Garner case, but does so with a lot more ethos than I can muster. God knows that the activists who have seized upon this and Ferguson have done everything in their power to drive me into supporting the police, but attitudes radiating from many in law enforcement have stopped that short.

So we come down to the choice between RevComs who would happily burn the whole world to supposedly be able to generate a Marxist utopia from it's ashes, and Governments that would seem to be so hardline on collecting revenue that even 5 seconds of talking an asshole into cuffs is deemed too long.

At this point I'm leaning in the direction of a lawn chair and a bowl of popcorn.