Perp Walk

Everybody Needs an Enemy

9Feb13

In response to the manhunt for Christopher Dorner, former cop turned alleged cop killer, there’s been a bit of schadenfreude from citizens who have long suspected that the LAPD, and cops in general, are more dysfunctional and/or corrupt than previously known.  But beyond that intrigue, there are also some among us in Los Angeles who are actively supporting Dorner.  Not in a harboring-a-fugitive sort of way, but in that all-too-millennial, starting-a-Facebook fan page sort of way.

But given the fandom of the Aurora shooter (calling themselves ‘Holmies’) and the disturbing spurt of Newtown conspiracy theories that re-victimize the victims, I think it raises questions about a greater issue — whether our culture has been warped by a pathological need to find divisive ideology where there are just a simple series of events.  Certainly there are political issues to be found in any news event (gun control, police brutality, racism, etc.), but I wonder if the average, online American is no longer satisfied to simply observe the world, but also must take a side.  And more insidiously, if there isn’t a segment of that majority that strives to take the opposing, heretical point of view.  Is it no longer interesting enough to get a voyeuristic thrill from absorbing 24/7, reality-based media?  Must we also call for blood from our digital gladiators, or from our neighbors who are rooting for the home team?

Not to put too fine a point on it, but we live in a world where pre-teen girls routinely make online death threats to whichever celebrity-type is dating their favorite pop star.  While I don’t think Kristi in Irvine is actually going to kill Justin Bieber’s favorite lingerie model, I can’t help but wonder what her culture is going to do next.

Perp Walk / Slippery Slope

A Few Questions About ‘Gun Control’

15Dec12

This is written in the wake of the Sandy Hook school shooting. Noted here because if you read this a month or two later, things will likely not have changed and you’ll likely have gone about your lives without thinking much about dead children.

These are intended as rhetorical questions because I don’t pretend to have any solutions. Just a few observations in question form…

1. Is the argument in favor of gun control about one person shooting another, or about one person shooting many? Because the former has been happening for decades, while the latter gets big, shocked reactions.

2. Does it matter if the guns used in mass shootings were acquired legally or not? Because it seems that unlawfully acquired guns still exist and would continue to exist in a ‘gun control world’. Beyond the slogans about criminals owning guns, isn’t the only real way to enforce severe gun control a search-and-seizure type of approach towards all citizens? Is that really going to happen in a society that doesn’t require breathalyzers for all cars? (Driving is a privilege, not a right, yet you’ll find very few instances where driving is enforced as stringently as would be suggested for guns.)
(Cont’d)

Media Whore / Perp Walk

To Not Un-See

6Oct12

The other day Fox News covered an Arizona police chase, live on TV. The chase ended badly, with the fleeing criminal shooting himself in the head. Fox News failed to cut away and the suicide was broadcast to millions of basic cable voyeurs.

I came upon this incident in my regular internet news surfing. Among the coverage was a note that the site BuzzFeed.com had drawn criticism for posting uncensored footage of the on-air suicide. BuzzFeed is a site I have bookmarked. It would take minimal effort to bring the page in question up in my browser.

I should pause here to note that I have little real world experience with violence, either as a victim or witness. And I have exactly zero experience as a perpetrator or as a ‘mutual combatant’. I have, however, come across images of violence, through various sources, in my career as a contemporary consumer of media. I’ve seen Mexican drug cartel decapitations, African civil war dismemberments, and freak impaling accidents. I’ve seen visual evidence of the deaths of Saddam Hussein, Muammar Gadhafi, and Daniel Pearl.

I say this not to brag, or to reveal some twisted fascination with brutality, but to point out that I’m not one to close myself off from the outside world. I worked in felony courtrooms and handled evidence in murder cases. I’ve seen crime scene photos firsthand and heard victims of violence testify about their experiences.
(Cont’d)

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