The recent murder of on duty police officers is something I find disturbing and far more scary than government overreach. The shooter in New York, by accounts posted so far, was a violent man with mental illness. Surely, some would like us to believe that this is total proof that anyone who attended a protest is advocating for this type of response, which is ridiculous. Still, I have to admit, I have long expected that we would see something like this from an unhinged tea bagger rather than from someone who ARGUABLY belongs a group that has long endured real oppression in this country.
One man's irony is another man's bullshit, but an irony that has struck me in all of this that has not been lost on a man like Rand Paul, is that the uber libertarians and African Americans have much in common. To a middle aged white guy like who leans liberal, the endless rantings of oppression by tea bag types makes me groan in dismissal every time I hear them. Similarly, when protesters storm the streets screaming injustice over the deaths of black men at the hands of police, the response from those in the far right is that ultimately, the dead guy was a shitbag and whether the use of force was excessive or not is basically moot. When I heard the IRS was investigating political groups who are opposed to all forms of taxation, I basically felt the same way white conservatives felt about dead black youth, I simply didn't care and indeed felt a bit glad the IRS investigated a group that gives me the feeling of tenesmus.
These days, it is all the rage to hate the government and claim oppression, and typically it's done so in the most ridiculous fashion. A ban on fatty drinks in New York can unleash weeks of screaming on talk radio and cable news, but the militarization of our police forces, something acknowledged by Rand Paul, will not raise an eyebrow of suspicion. Recently, many have claimed that if a black cop kills a white guy, there is no outrage. This is a meaningless statement, but it does stop a lot of white people from asking a basic question of whether, by militarizing our police forces, we are simply bringing our wars home with us because we have begun to distrust everything in the world. Collectively, I believe we have lost faith entirely (if we ever had it to begin with) in the idea that we can solve problems through genuine engagement.
Back to the premise, I have a general fear always that any public place can become a canvas for someone with mental illness to spray with gore. Because of our believe that everyone in America should own a gun, this can't be avoided. When it comes to the rantings of airheads like Palin and Ted Nugent, however, I generally have not been as worried because despite the rantings, white people face way less, in your face oppression that people of other races do. By and large, though these people whip themselves into a frenzy, they are still a group that collectively has a lot to lose and are not going to throw that away just to go and mow down government employees. On the other hand, when I look at black people, I see a group that has far more legitimate beefs than most whites are willing to acknowledge. I also see a group who frequently overplays that race card, but I don't deny that just about any black man who was born at the same time I was has had to endure a lot more bullshit from authority than I ever did. Again, something that Rand Paul has also acknowledged.
With the militarization of the police forces, the rantings of Palin's and Nugents of the world and our open disregard for the sanctity of life in countries that have oil we need, the message I believe we are preaching is that it is okay to solve any problem you face by killing someone. Nobody presents it that graphically of course, but I think the results are beginning to speak for themselves. I think this is going to get worse before it gets better.
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