police shot my friend in a peaceful town

originally posted by: SlapMonkey

originally posted by: CornishCeltGuy
a reply to: SlapMonkey

You may like a situation where you can't call out a cop who is being a prick for fear of being shot, or risk being shot in the back while running away, but it isn't a situation I would like.

Well, I HAVE called out police for acting like dicks before, and nothing negative came of it--I still left with warnings concerning what I was doing instead of citations.

I'm not a little b***h, so I don't run from police, I accept consequences of what I do--personal integrity and all.

So yeh in that sense I feel way more free than you guys every time I read threads about police brutality and killings.

Okie dokie, because it's all about feelings based on sensationalized stories that most people interpret incorrectly because they're ignorant to the law...

As far as your comments to Shamrock6 about incarceration rates and drug laws, we just need to stop telling adults what they can and cannot put into their own bodies. I agree that we have many, many laws in the US that have no victims and should be abolished, but that's a different argument for another day.

But, again, as long as you feel free, that's what matters.

I note your comment regarding not being a little bitch who runs from cops and that intrigues me. Why is wishing to escape authority being a little bitch? It's logical if breaking the law and you have a chance of escape don't you think?

I've ran and escaped a few times, illegal raves/dance parties and GM test crops sabotage/destruction in the 90's, it was a logical choice knowing nobody was going to shoot me, they had to be fit and fast lol.

You may respect authority because "It's the law" but I don't, and if I can escape arrest I will everytime.
Why would I meekly hand myself over like a little bitch as you phrased it?

Oh and crimes by people like me are a small part of the reason why GM food is banned in Britain. We the people rose up unlike your people. Crops were destroyed and test companies suffered losses because they couldn't afford the security.
Yes I feel free, we the people won that battle in the UK.

originally posted by: CornishCeltGuy

I note your comment regarding not being a little bitch who runs from cops and that intrigues me. Why is wishing to escape authority being a little bitch? It's logical if breaking the law and you have a chance of escape don't you think?

It lacks personal integrity--if you knowingly did something illegal, as the vast majority who run from law enforcement or any authority do, then if you're willing to take that chance, you should be willing to accept the consequences if you get caught.

I hold personal integrity, which I define as 'doing the right thing, even when no one is looking,' in very high esteem, and our current society is on a downward spiral away from personal integrity. If a person can't own up to the consequences of their own actions, then they're a little bitch in my eyes.

I've ran and escaped a few times, illegal raves/dance parties and GM test crops sabotage/destruction in the 90's, it was a logical choice knowing nobody was going to shoot me, they had to be fit and fast lol.

And when I was young, dumb, and stupid, I also took off from parties (in the '90s) when I knew that I was drinking and didn't want to get caught when the cops showed up, but there were also times at the same age when I didn't do that, and it ended up probably saving me some heartache and pain (one party from which I did not run and was let off with a warning was one in which a friend did run and ended up getting killed in a car accident three blocks away).

The times the I did run, I was a little bitch, and I learned from those experiences, because there was a time that I did run and ended up getting caught, and sitting in a juvenile holding cell while my dad was out of town and waiting for my uncle to come pick me up was one of the most embarrassing and regrettable moments in my life.

I learned from those mistakes and have matured.

You may respect authority because "It's the law" but I don't, and if I can escape arrest I will everytime.
Why would I meekly hand myself over like a little bitch as you phrased it?

There is nothing "meek" about taking responsibility for one's actions. And I respect the law, but that doesn't always mean that I agree with the law nor that I don't petition to have laws amended or removed.

Those who mistake accepting the consequences of one's actions with meekness understand the concept of neither.

Oh and crimes by people like me are a small part of the reason why GM food is banned in Britain. We the people rose up unlike your people. Crops were destroyed and test companies suffered losses because they couldn't afford the security.

Everyone is free to break the law--you seem to conflate "freedom" with "liberty," and they're not the same.

I have the right and liberty to walk down the street carrying my firearm openly in public--you do not, even though you are free to do so.

I can do so and walk right up to a police officer and hold a conversation with him/her and walk away without any issues--you can not. You may not see that as a good thing, and you are entitled to your own opinion on the matter, but if you lived in a nation whose history included a right to keep and bear arms from its inception instead of a nation who has been historically ruled by oppressive royalty for over a millennia, you might hold such a right in high regard, even if it creates a higher loss of life through criminal use of the weapon (see my Jefferson quote in my signature to better understand).

I live in a nation where everyone under the umbrella of the U.S. is a citizen--you live in a United Kingdom (let that sink in) that still considers some people under its umbrella as "subjects."

Those of you who like to always compare your small island(s) and relatively small population, along with your very different forms of government and guiding documents, with America fail to understand that you cannot compare relatively unlike things while pretending that they could/should be the same and expect that either scenario would work in each other's situation. Yet, here you are, citing your bobbies-with-sticks and implying that it would work for America, where our citizens have a right to keep and bear arms...and argue heavily on the premise that we should be able to flee authority with little-to-no concern after breaking the law.

If you really think that people in America sit idly by and don't rise up and effect change, then you've paid little attention to the history of our nation and you're paying even less attention to us now than you have already made obvious. 'My people' are doing just fine, even though we have a much bigger mountain to climb than you in order to effect change, and a much bigger national tradition of liberties and rights to protect and for which to fight.

Regardless, I'm relatively bored with this conversation now, so I'm most likely bowing out of this thread...especially because we've gone so far off-topic of the OP that we've derailed the thread.

Best regards.

a reply to: SlapMonkey

Hey thanks for the well reasoned reply
We are obviously polar opposites in many ways but it is always intellectually stimulating to read counter arguments.
I've enjoyed our exchange so friendly regards back to you.