I have yet to come to terms with the "noble knight"
treatment of the police officer who Dennis killed “in the line of duty.”
Colorado Governor Bill Ritter spoke at his funeral. It was a hero’s
celebration complete with an antique fire truck taking the casket
through Montrose. People lines the streets crying and holding hundreds
of signs invoking the curious adjective “hero.”
Admittedly,
my opinions are slightly skewed having been involved in the “Justice
for Money” system once or twice, and because of my own recent
experiences; bringing the treatment of Leif in Tennessee, and the cop in Kalamazoo to mind. My respect for the law enforcement culture
has been steadily waning for years, and I find the on-cue, contrived,
advertised, on-your-knees worship outright amusing. It is as though all
the episodes of CSI have rotted brains, allowing some to devour the
peddled propaganda.
Perhaps this cop WAS a great human being and Daddy of the Decade. But, these story’s are always portrayed the same: “Saint Killed by Monster!” It is as though the media is following a pre-conceived playbook.
My
background has led me to suspect strongly that is indeed the case with
most “journalists”, with the exception mentioned in the previous post.
I do not see these cops as “heroes.”
They were, I assume, storming Dennis’ garage while drawing a paycheck.
I do not recall reading that they just happened by on their way to
Baskin Robbins for sherbet and cake, spontaneously and selflessly
choosing to get involved for the common good...personal safety be damned!
No, that was not the case.
They were law enforcement professionals. It was… their job.
They chose their professions clearly knowing what the job may entail
and, in my mind, are all too often little more than deified mercenaries who are contracted to uphold “The Law.”
Although I've yet to meet one, I'm sure there
are wonderful, stand- up policemen and, not knowing this person, I do
not presume to know anything about his motives. However, let's just
keep in mind that an act of true “heroism” is NOT performed with a previous agreement of compensation.
It is NOT an act initiated by the orders of others.
Many of the
comments directed at Dennis obliquely reference his “personal
responsibility,” and that is fine; I am all for it. However, let's apply
it equally. There is an element of that same "personal responsibility"
when choosing
a dangerous profession; one that pays quite well. Many have
lamented as to how his daughter is now fatherless, and while that is
sad, some of that responsibility lies with the cop himself.
Using the
litmus test applied to Dennis, one could ask why the cop did not take a
desk job once his daughter was born. In addition, there is a big difference between NYPD’s heroes running into the collapsing twin towers,
and running into a garage under the assumption that the worst this disfigured
50- something man can do is throw a hammer. What is heroic about believing
you are running into little more than a fistfight when you outnumber
the guy 3:1 with backup outside?
Heroism is something that requires a decision and action knowing your life is in jeopardy; not being shot because you were unaware that a person was armed when you were ordered, or gave the order, to rush him.
I know these views are not popular is a society desperately clinging
to every contrived example of heroism presented (and defined) by the mainstream
propaganda machine. Herds of people whose "reality"
is interpreted while sitting on the couch viewing the world through approved
electronic eyes.
I no longer care. This is common sense. I hope
people are noticing this pattern. Right on cue, the media is blatantly
enforcing the boundaries for the dialectic of “acceptable” thought.
That leads me to one aspect of this story that has not been addressed anywhere. Why were the police storming the garage in the first place?
Obviously, they were acting on defective “intelligence” in assuming
that Dennis was unarmed. Whose decision was it to run into this ambush?
Where is the accountability here?
Was that person
not thinking of this cop’s daughter?
It seems to me that using well-
measured restraint; the situation could have ended much differently.
Conceivably, Dennis could have sobered up and surrendered, or committed
suicide alone. I do know that he had called his sons from the garage
asking them to come to the scene. Possibly, they could have helped talk
him out with an exercise in patience. I wonder if, with this patience,
maybe a lengthy jail term would have provided an uninterrupted
opportunity, and sobriety, needed to get a grip on his life. So many
typical “maybes”. We will never know.
Finally, over the last week I have noticed a return of yet another of Morpheus’ Splinter in the Mind
made evident by the re-manifestation of a well-known & gnawing
negativity. Some of which are hovering directly above! I have decided
to split this into separate posts, to make this a bit easier to digest.
The next one will focus more on the future, and how I’ve been managing
the sometimes-confusing process of digesting and incorporating all of
this into the next phase, not just of the travels, but also perhaps on a
larger scale.