A Hero and a Sociopath: Three Questions That the Mainstream Media Won't Ask About the Killing of

[sheshe2]

A Hero and a Sociopath: Three Questions That the Mainstream Media Won't Ask About the Killing of Walter Scott



If you have not yet watched MSNBC's interview with Feidin Santana, the gentleman who recorded the killing of Walter Scott by the thug cop Michael Slager, I encourage you to do so.

A hero is someone who puts themselves at great personal risk, does not have specific training for the task, and is not paid to do so.

Mr. Santana is a hero.

As clearly demonstrated by their centuries-long habit of killing unarmed and/or surrendered black and brown people, America's police are not heroes. Some of them may occasionally act in a brave way; but, not all brave acts are heroic.

A question. The news media has made the murder of Michael Scott into a spectacle. The video of Scott's murder is a 21st century type of lynching photograph and postcard. Every time the video is shown, the mental, physical, and emotional health of Black America is assaulted. This is psychic warfare and terrorism.

Read More http://www.chaunceydevega.com/2015/04/a-hero-and-sociopath-three-questions.html

[guillaumeb]

1. An army must have an enemy. And the enemy is all of us 99%.

Also from the link:
"I wonder, was Slager's calm and detached behavior a reflection of his police training and cultural conditioning regarding the use of force against black people? Are Slager and other cops who kill in a similar manner sociopathic? Has Michael Slager killed someone before and successfully covered it up, thus his slaying of Walter Scott is an old habit?"

My response to question 1) The police are being conditioned to use force against the enemy in much the same way that the military is conditioned to use force against the enemy.
First, the enemy must be portrayed as less than human. Remember Darren Wilson's statement, where he referred to Michael Brown as a monster. The enemy in every war has always been portrayed as monsters who would destroy us.
Second, the enemy must be portrayed as representing a menace to society. From the earliest police forces, set up as slave patrols to guard against a black uprising that could overthrow society, black people, especially men, have been portrayed as less than human in intellect and hyper-sexed predators. They have also been described as animals.

Great post sheshe. Obviously the police/army has not yet figured out that just as every citizen might have a gun, every citizen might also have a camera or cellphone.

[erronis]

3. +1 - We need to change the police from treating all of us as enemies. (eom)

[Enthusiast]

8. Precisely.

[napkinz]

2. from the article ...

Just as the killer cop Darren Wilson casually stood over Michael Brown's dead body in the street, Michael Slager appears to show no panic or upset after he guns down Walter Scott.

These police officers are calm, cool, collected, and unmoved.

Same with the cop who put Eric Garner in a chokehold. As Garner lay there dying, Daniel Pantaleo, the officer who applied the chokehold that killed Eric Garner, stands by and waves to the camera. No sympathy for his victim:

[guillaumeb]

4. The normal human response is to help a fellow human in distress.

Two possibilities come to mind.
Either
1) The victims are not seen by the police as human, or
2) the police officers involved are sociopaths, or
3) just another day at the office.

[gcomeau]

5. One valid point buried in lots of hyperbolic nonsense.

The valid point:

"A hero is someone who puts themselves at great personal risk, does not have specific training for the task, and is not paid to do so.

Mr. Santana is a hero. "

Except for the part I crossed out since the author just decided to insert their own text that does not belong there into the definition of the word... Yup.



Loads of crap in which it is buried:

Every time the video is shown, the mental, physical, and emotional health of Black America is assaulted. This is psychic warfare and terrorism.

Uh-huh.. so we have a hero for shooting a video... and don't anyone dare ever let anyone actually look at that video or that's psychic warfare and terrorism?

Suuuuuure... makes sense. Because obviously this all would have worked out better of that video had never been publicized, right? If it had just been buried and the public hadn't seen it? Yeah, of course it would have...

As clearly demonstrated by their centuries-long habit of killing unarmed and/or surrendered black and brown people, America's police are not heroes.

Maybe they could try painting using an even broader brush, although that may not be possible.... not every cop in the entire country is a racist murdering sociopath. Some of them are in fact actual legitimate look-it-up-in-the-dictionary-and-you-may-find-their-picture-there, heroes.

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

7. If I could rec your post I would, but otherwise [phone]

[Ka hrnt]

9. I'll second Elmer's reply--good post.

The article lost me at the last piece you quoted.

[guillaumeb]

12. Are you sure you read the post?

when sheshe wrote:
"Every time the video is shown, the mental, physical, and emotional health of Black America is assaulted. This is psychic warfare and terrorism. "
You understood:
Uh-huh.. so we have a hero for shooting a video... and don't anyone dare ever let anyone actually look at that video or that's psychic warfare and terrorism?

Suuuuuure... makes sense. Because obviously this all would have worked out better of that video had never been publicized, right? If it had just been buried and the public hadn't seen it? Yeah, of course it would have...

My interpretation:
But what I read in this paragraph was that the video clearly shows a murder by a police officer. And that assault, by a trained officer who is supposed to protect everybody, clearly shows that not all are equal under the law in the eyes of this officer. If this were the only video showing police brutality directed against a black person we could call it an aberration, or one rogue policeman. But this is merely the latest in a series of videos of extrajudicial execution by police. It is that constant series of assaults and violence that constitutes psychic warfare.

My interpretation.

[ncjustice80]

13. Most are n/t

[uponit7771]

6. They know they wont have to be held accountable for murdering a human being

[nadinbrzezinski]

10. Some of this will not be received well

by some folks... and they know who they are. These are the people who still believe there are no issues whatsoever with the culture in police departments. A couple clues, that I expect to go nowhere with these folks.

1.- No, not all officers are heroes and the thin blue line, or siege mentality, whichever way you prefer, prevents a good look internally, and the changes that need to happen in police departments, likely at least half of the 18,000 departments around the country. Until that changes... it is the culture inside the profession, not a few bad apples. That trope needs to die.

2.- I know this runs counter to the mythos that all police officers are heroes who run towards danger and all that, but policing has not been this safe for all concerned, since the late 1960s. Yes crime rates, ergo assaults on officers and deaths in the line of duty due to felonious activity has dropped, and I could even use the word crashed, starting in 1992. Go on, and check that at the FBI UCR database.

I have run pieces of analysis on this at my paper, but am afraid I will mostly leave those out of GD. I really do not want to waste my time... and it is exactly that.

[William769]

11. ...