EXCESSIVE FORCE…..IT’S OKAY, COMPARISON CAN BE SCARY

EXCESSIVE FORCE…..IT’S OKAY, COMPARISON CAN BE SCARY

(Al Jazeera, Kimberly Johnson, Slate, Davenji)

(Chicago Sun Times, Chris Kirk, Dan Kols, Frazer Chronicle)

 

This year so far…..in Syria approximately 3,905 women have been killed and 6,561 children had perished in the civil war, that totals 10,466. Appalling is it not, 10,466 innocents meeting their demise at such a young and completely defenseless age, or position in life. The civil war in Syria was launched in 2011, and so far has claimed anywhere from 84,550 to 110,375, depending on which of the five different sources you sited.

 

Obviously there is mayhem, rape and murder every single day of the week in Syria, human rights are scattered asunder, personal possessions, business interests destroyed, it’s what is expected when two different factions clash, it’s the end result of human conflict.

 

It happens somewhere in the world (conflict or civil war) everyday of the week, and the result is that somebody dies…..if they’re lucky, because if you’re just wounded, you’ll need medical treatment and antibiotics which are kind of like finding a snowball in hell.

 

With little exception men are the perpetrators of the genocidal attacks and thinking, for a woman to act in such a manner would point to a hormonal imbalance, and she probably would be removed from office in a very short order.

 

Let’s get back to those despicable numbers for a moment, the articles that I’m using for reference list deaths in areas of Syria that I’ve never heard of, can’t spell, and sure as hell can’t pronounce. Places like Latakia, Idib, or As-Suwayda; these are cities where the civil war is raging, and where a considerable number of deaths of occurred.

 

There are forces at work in the Syrian revolution that we, as Americans, don’t know about and those we can’t understand. Really that is as it should be, the United States does not have a vested interest in the country, and it shouldn’t really matter which side wins, Syrians are different that Americans, again as it should be…..I’m sure they’ve never even heard of TRU-TV.

 

This is where the big misunderstanding lies between the United States and a country like Syria; we think that they are a warring society, and have been for hundreds of years. What Syria has been is a country occupied by many different regimes through its history, and there is evidence that human-kind of inhabited the country for thousands of years.

 

It’s funny how a foreign country’s struggles can mirror a situation right here in the United States, a struggle of racial equality, of human dignity and respect. There’s also a struggle within the struggle, as people who attempt to be heard can be shouted out by those officials that hold managerial positions.

 

Syria is a police state, not in its essence, but in the everyday activity of police and military personal, and some elected or appointed officials. Innocents are at peril whenever they venture from their homes to shop, to work, or to access services such as a doctor’s office, or for an appointment.

 

It must be simply awful to live under such circumstances, a normal routine that (I guess is essential to a well rounded healthy life) must be almost none existent in countries like Syria. Differing of opinions which lead to all sorts of confrontations do nothing but harm to those local populous that get in the way.

 

 

IS THE UNITED STATES A WAR ZONE

What a silly question, of course the United States isn’t a war zone, there’s not any kind of civil war going on here…..at least that I’m aware of. However if we take a closer look at what is going on, some people might come to a different conclusion, some might even consider that, yes, in certain areas, at the very least, there is danger after dark, or danger every day, and every night.

 

Let’s take Chicago, Illinois for instance, where recently four men were killed and 13 others were wounded throughout the city, all in one day. Kids were shot, women were shot, and a toddler got in the way of a bullet and died. However it’s nothing new for the Windy City, the four deaths just added to the number so far this year…..1,780.

 

Chicago and its citizenry aren’t new to shooting deaths, unless you can be insulated from some really sobering gun-shot deaths, 2,217 in 2011, or 2,670 in 2012. In 2013 Chicago seems to be (shooting) for another shooting death figure that might surpass the 2012 figure.

 

Through the middle of September, in the United States there have been 7,700 shooting deaths reported by SLATE partners with gun deaths. The figures that SLATE has used are hard to come by, naturally states don’t really want to report what some might consider an inept police force, unable to deal with an escalating number of gunshot deaths…..and hundreds of wounded as a result of the lawlessness.

 

So SLATE has had to resort to a 24 hour day surveillance in an effort to report accurate numbers of gunshot deaths. Without a doubt, many, many Americans have absolutely no idea of the number of shooting deaths that happen every day of the week, if they were aware, background checks, and stiffer regulations for how guns can be procured might go into effect within 30, or 60 days.

 

There also is a question about police brutality and the use of weapons, or Tasers in confrontations during the course of an automobile stop. I referee of course to an incident early on September 15 in a Charlotte, North Carolina suburb, early in the morning.

 

A woman called 911 to hysterically report the possibility of a break-in in progress, and when police arrived, the alleged break-in person rushed towards the cops and was shot 10 times by a responding officer.

 

There were two cops, one perpetrator, and…..well you do the math, two guns opposing one…..black man equals one dead n-----. It puts me in mind of the old Wild West American Cavalry, “the only good red-skin is a dead one” or “shoot um dead and we’ll sort out the bodies later.”

 

The illustration here is the quick and fatal reaction by the Charlotte police officer, in an atmosphere of racial unrest in this southern city. Of course I don’t have access to, but from his picture, which is worth “a thousand words” but he looks scared and a little confused. He doesn’t look like a man who had just shoot to death a 24 year old black man who was seeking assistance after he’d been in an auto accident.

 

That’s right, the cop put ten holes in a black man who was seeking help, and the cop actually had fired 12 times at the potential threat…..I guess. Now forever more the cop’s life and the dead man’s surviving family will forever be changed by a possible rash reaction to a possible threat…..pretty harsh if you ask me.

HAVE A NICE DAY!