Police Taser Blind Man, Thought Cane was 'Samurai Sword' 

We ARE in the midst of some sort of tech-driven, new media revolution! highfalutin', over romanticized claim? I think not! We we can see some powerful happening, something that will very likely precipitate an important change here. There's evidence aplenty on YouTube of the general population's displeasure with the police. It shows up so regularly there. These videos are dynamite, they show the ultimate recipients and symbols of society's invested authority  (purportedly), red handed in acts of misbehavior and violation of their sacred trust with the society that has empowered them in the first place. That's something that's not to be taken lightly!

And before I go any further and jump on the bandwagon of all those who simply resent the police for having authority in the first place, let's get that one out of the way. True, there are many videos posted  of people engaging with the police in ways that demonstrate (to me at  least) the behavior of 2 yearolds. People we might find ourselves waiting on line with, folks who otherwise are normal and dignified, who turn out to be loose cannons who simply can't deal with society having set up and turned loose a powerful "Daddy" to watch over them.

One see tons of such videos in which Joe Citizen asserts with some degree of condescension to a cop that he can't ask them what his is doing there; No, Joe won't show him I.D. without cause for being asked; or submit to a  search of his vehicle just for the hell of it. And even though, I'd say, more times than not, the civilian is technically in the right, what I see is more than just a grass roots lesson in civil liberties and constitutional rights being delivered to the man in blue, I see an adult working out some sort of deep seated issue, attempting to confirm an infantile assertion that absolutely no one has authority over him.

OK, having said that, we get to the main point here, it does appear from the large number of videos posted that the nation's police really do abuse their power so consistently that we have to conclude  there is something wrong with the culture of American Police. Hey, it's posted in dozens and dozens and dozens of YouTube videos that simply can't be interpreted any other way! Go take a look! 

You might start with this video titled "Police Taser Blind Man, Thought Cane was 'Samurai Sword" Really? Did these cops really think that cane was a Samurai Sword? Was there really a report filed with their department earlier that day (as they claim) to the effect that someone was wandering around brandishing a real Samurai Sword? And so, were they in fact simply doing their job?  (let's ALL clear our throats before saying it), protecting the neighborhood and not just looking for an excuse to taser somebody on a boring, slow afternoon because, hey, they'd  been waiting for an opportunity to try that thing out and demonstrate to themselves what bad-ass mothers they really are for such a long time? Hey, watch the video!

Man Arrested 60+ Times For Trespassing At His Own Job

How about this gem? This video reports that  a man was stopped 258 time, searched over 100 time, and arrested 56 times by police (within a period of 4 years) at a convenience store. That store, though,  had deployed a series of security cams on its property in order to document what it feels is unwarranted, profiling-based harassment of its employees.  It turns out the man mentioned above was subjected to the ministrations of the police while he was a legitimate employee of the store. And, oh, the charge filed against him to justify his being apprehended was trespassing although as an employee of the store he was supposed to be there. Typical? Probably not, but is the affront here that police would do this or is it that they feel (and apparently are justified in believing) that they will not be held accountable for this sort of misuse of power? Perhaps the issue is that under a system in which such things are possible, that it is fortunate that this sort of thing doesn't happen far more often. Or does it?

You know, I can just hear all of those folks who admire and accept the police for what they represent (ideally) say, "Yeah, but what about all of those videos that show the police being attacked while trying to help and doing their job? Why don't you talk about those?" I don't think that's a good question, I mean, it's only reasonable to expect the police to do their job no matter what, it's their JOB, after all. And we naturally hold them to a much higher standard than we hold the average, ignorant Joe Citizen to.... I think the important point in all of this is "What are proper and reasonable expectations for a society to have of its police?" And I think the standard we should hold police to is that they never misuse their power, and that instances of their taking abuse, themselves, or of doing their job, even when it's hard or dangerous for them to do so, even though we can sympathize or admire them for it, do not even the score for when they violate one of the most essential trusts in authority our society has ever established. On the other hand, realistically, the only population a municipality has to draw police personnel from is a group called "Humans" and they are faulted. But it really behooves us, all of us, to expect a high standard of behavior form police and when we catch them violating that standard, to document it, announce that in a public place, and hold the police accountable for their behavior and ourselves accountable for insisting they represent our highest ideals. And all of those YouTube videos are just that.

By the way, when I say "All of those videos" I'm referring to the veritable avalanche of videos of police in the act of misbehaving, of breaking their sacred covenant with society, that have been posted to YouTube, there's a ton of them. I think one of the reasons for that, I mean beyond the fact that we can conclude that this ton is representative somehow of a reality that, sad to say, actually does present itself to all of those CELL Phone video cameras, is that all of this makes people feel powerless in relationship to something that's important and simply sees like it must be corrected. When the citizenry must stand by and witness a veritable army of powerful, armed men to whom the benefit of a doubt in the eyes of the law is automatically awarded, the natural tendency is to want to do something and when activiely doing something is impossible, the act of bearing witness and sharing what one has witnessed as far and as loudly as possible seems very appealing, hence the very, very large number of "Look at what these cops did!" videos on YouTube.

Police Beat Homeless Man To Death (Graphic Warning)

Here's another video and the title pretty much sums up what it shows. As McLuhan (that "The Medium is the Massage" guy) would have pointed out, the fact that it was made and posted and has drawn as many views as it has (749,973 this morning), really is the most important thing about it.


I thought that I was done with this subject and that I could go back to enjoying videos about electric guitars, and retiring in the tropics, and Big Foot, when the item above reached out from my screen, grabbed me by my collar and forced me to watch it. YouTube does that to me frequently and I really should get a video of it in the act of doing that and post it. Someday, for sure. For now, I'll simply share that this video is more on this theme and like all of them, it's good and important that someone went to the trouble to post it.