Originally posted by TheRedneck
reply to post by WhatAreThey
I don't give credit to people for NOT going to jail, or NOT lying, or NOT committing murder, or NOT beating their wives.
As I expected. At least you are honest about holding people to unreasonable standards and demanding perfection. I give you credit for that too. 
Personally, I give credit to people for DOING GOOD, not for NOT DOING BAD. I can only imagine how ridiculous it must be to tell your significant
other, "Thanks for NOT CHEATING on me today!" or telling your kid, "Good Job on NOT FAILING! You were damn close, but you just made it! GREAT
JOB!".
God forbid a cop assume someone is innocent until proven guilty.
By that reasoning, if someone robs a bank at gunpoint while an officer is inside watching, guns down 30 innocent people while the cop watches, the cop
can do nothing because he hasn't been proven guilty.
It is not possible for a cop to establish guilt or innocence. Ergo, everyone must be treated as though they are acting lawfully, even if a cop is
watching them commit a crime.
Nice world you live in.
No, police officers are not charged with establishing guilt or innocence. They are, however, charged with establishing the legality of an observed or
reported actions by making critical judgements on how those reported or observed actions relate to what they understand of the law. Ignorance of the
law is no more of an excuse to a police officer than it is an excuse to a citizen.
A police officer certainly has the ability to discern between clearly legal and illegal actions. These include, but are not limited to:
Going the Speed Limit vs. Speeding
Walking down the street vs. Raping someone on the sidewalk.
Walking down the street legally open-carrying a weapon vs. walking down the street with weapon drawn pointing it at people.
Firing a firearm at a firing range vs. Firing a firearm at a police officer.
Or, perhaps a more pertinent example: Waiting in a teller line to transact vs. Killing 30 people in a bank while robbing it.
OK... I don't know if I can still continue this discussion with you. You really believe there is no difference between asking for ID and
breaking/entering/rape?
There are tons of differences; However, I am illustrating the similarity of two illegal actions. The typical relationships and associations that we
encounter in life can be categorized in many ways, and do to the potential complexity of the manifest relationships, some people are unable to
differentiate the relationships into discrete categories. What I am simply attempting to illustrate to you is that illegality may be considered with
absolution, just as legality may be. The concept of illegal and legal actions is the cornerstone of any legal system. It turns out that the two
actions which we are discussing (e.g illegally asking for ID and illegally entering a household/orifice) may and are considered illegal activity, both
with a range of applicable sentences. Do to the nature and characters involved in the process of asking for an ID illegally, and the unwarranted
handing over an ID do to a lack of knowledge on the part of the 'hander', this illegal activity is often unreported and mostly misunderstood to the
point that it is simply brushed away as acceptable by people such as yourself..
The Nazi's were just doing their jobs too. A Hit man who kills someone is just doing his job. An organized crime henchmen is just doing his
job. Pay someone to rob a bank - just doing his job!
And now you equate a cop to a Nazi war criminal, a mob henchman, and a bank robber.
What universe are you in?
I'm sorry. I must not have made the point clear that just because you are doing your job, does not make what you are doing valid, right, or
praiseworthy. You must have been side-tracked by my examples and were unable to process the core point of my argument. Sorry about getting you
side-tracked with the superfluous examples. Again, I apologize.
The Cop was the one making his own job harder, by NOT KNOWING HOW TO DO IT PROPERLY. He was obliviously getting On-the-job training from a
citizen who knows the law better than the enforcer knows the law.
Ah, I think I get it! You believe:
- Cops are undeserving of any praise no matter what they do.
- Cops should not be allowed to arrest people, stop people, or even talk to people.
- Cops are evil villains who rob banks and kill people on orders.
- Cops should also be attorneys and psychics.
Should they also leap tall buildings in a single bound and stop speeding bullets with their teeth?
Sheesh...
Good job on typing that. I'd like to formally give you credit and praise for not messing up a completely fallacious paragraph. ;-)
