Read the Scene (knowing your rights without insisting on them to your own detriment)
WARNING: This opinion piece includes the subjects of rape and race. These are things I have no authority on, but I argue that I have the right to express my opinion on them. Does that mean I SHOULD? Not necessarily. In fact, I'm coming up short on reasons why it's a good idea at all.
Knowing your surroundings is a survival instinct. We rely on our instincts for many things, but there are a lot of areas where we have overridden our instincts to allow ourselves to let our guard down and to allow ourselves to become victims. We no longer listen to the voices in our heads saying "don't get too comfortable." Our legal protections have caused many to assume that they won't become victims. They believe that, because something is wrong and/or illegal, that people won't do it. But we know better. We see all the time stories about how someone did something horrible, that laws were broken, people were victimized. Yet many of us seem to tempt fate for the sake of comfort or convenience. It doesn't make it right, and there are no excuses, but let me be clear about something: an "excuse" and a "reason" are not the same thing. There is a reason that these things happen. That doesn't excuse them, but there are circumstances that lead to things happening. While I would estimate that much of the time the causes are independent of and unrelated to the victim, there is definitely a series of behaviors/choices/events that lead people to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. You can continue to insist that there is no "right place, right time" for rape or the shooting of an unarmed suspect, but the reality is that it happens. We are fools to ignore the fact that, just because it SHOULDN'T happen doesn't mean that it DOESN'T happen.
Paying attention to the culture of the day, of the happenings and behaviors in the lives of people worldwide, we know that a lot of ugliness exists. We know that people are capable of horrible things. We must face the fact that these things are going to continue to happen, as much as we try to stop them, as wrong as they are. At some point it becomes an individual's responsibility to take into account these facts and realities for self-preservation purposes. I don't want to pick on anyone, but it's like if I blatantly ignored my wife as she was speaking, and then told her, "just shut up. I don't care. You never f**king stop. It's all meaningless. I don't want to hear it." And then I get offended when she flips out and kicks my ass. I can't stand up and scream, "I have a right to speak my mind! I'm allowed by law!" Well, just like Federal laws are limited and State laws are more specific, we have community rules and household rules, and even if you could take it to a higher court and win, you're not doing yourselves any favors in your local environment by insisting that you have "rights." By this same token, I hesitate to venture that, if you have an emotionally/mentally messed up man who is a risk for violent assault, and he's in a community (I mean, they have to be somewhere, right?) and let's say he's doing his best to control himself and not rape women. Then a woman walks by in "pants" so tight you can see her freckles, well, it puts ideas in a man's head. Yes, you have a right to wear whatever you want, whatever's comfortable. And I'm not saying you should stop wearing these things. I'm just saying that you know these kinds of people are in the world, and more and more it seems like they're emerging where you never thought they were. This means there are a lot more of them than you think. Maybe seeing your labia through your pants is just the thing to set him off, to break his will and make him lose it. You're not to BLAME for his actions, he has problems that make him do this kind of thing, but that's not to say that there isn't something you can do about it. If you are wearing something that doesn't put your naked body in his mind, maybe he won't think of you that way. There's still no guarantee, but you don't walk a recovering alcoholic down a street with all the bars on it and expect him to not think about drinking.
That brings me to police. I hate that these things are the way they are, but that hasn't changed the fact that they are. Knowing what we do about police behavior, and their fear of suffering any harm to themselves, they will shoot at the slightest provocation. Not the kind of person I want "protecting me" and carrying a deadly weapon, but there you have it. They put their own safety before that of the people who pay them for protection. And we've seen it disproportionately so with Black Americans. With that in mind, and with that awareness being made very public, we should both see a decrease in these unnecessary shooting deaths, but we should hopefully also see a decrease in Black Americans refusing the demands of police officers, or otherwise provoking or antagonizing the men with guns. This is not me saying that the cops have the right to boss anyone around, or that the deadly force is justified against an unarmed man (or a legally-armed one), this is me saying that, we KNOW about this behavioral defect, this selfishness on the part of certain law enforcement officers, and we should take that into account when encountering and dealing with them. We know they have the capability to shoot you, and we've often seen them resort to that extreme whether it's warranted or not, so, in your best interest, for your own self-preservation, just cooperate with the micropeni until you get to jail and let the court sort it out. Frankly, if you WERE up to something that made you want to run from the police, you probably should swing through the court and see if there is any settling-up to do, and then go about your business. It makes a lot more sense than getting yourself killed over something stupid. If you're not doing anything wrong, then it DEFINITELY makes more sense to go along and let the legal process go through its thing and let you out. I realize that the process has not been good to many people of color, but I believe it is further along than the police "force." I know for a fact that I've heard people representing the police mentality say that the system is just going to turn these people loose, so what good is catching them in the first place, and I believe that many of them use this fact as a justification for exaggerated violence or negative treatment to give these people "what they deserve" in the cop mind. "The judge is just going to let him go. He's not going to have any real consequences. Let's rough him up a little." It's an act of desperation in a way. But this fact actually works to our favor. Knowing that the legal system is more evolved than law enforcement in areas of equality, use that fact to your advantage and don't give them ANY reason to shoot you. Don't let your pride get you killed for nothing. I'm white. I don't have the same odds of being shot by police, no matter what I do. But that doesn't stop me from cooperating with them as fully as I am able simply because I know they COULD shoot me. I know that they, unlike us, very rarely suffer consequences for exercising what they believe is their right to shoot and kill. Therefore they could, if they decided, end my life on the spot. So I act as though they could, and I try real hard to keep them from doing it. I also recognize that, as I said, there are many times when the victim has nothing to do with it, and this "attacker" is going to go after SOMEBODY, it's just a question of who gets in the way, who is in that "wrong place" at that "wrong time."
So, yes, you have rights. You have the right to wear pants that make you look like you're naked, only maybe in a different color, and you have the right to talk back to police, or tell them, "I'm not doing anything wrong!" rather than getting down on the ground. But you should do so knowing that you are increasing the odds of something that you don't want happening. The fact that it's illegal, or that they shouldn't do it, doesn't mean that they don't. If you want to make a martyr of yourself to further a cause you believe in, then that's also a choice, and I don't envy you though I may admire you. But you have to know what it is you're getting into. Rapists and murderers are out there. We should keep trying to lock them up whenever we can, but there will always be more. If we got rid of all the rapists and all the potential (future) rapists, our population would be disproportionately in prison. If we got rid of all the murderers, then who would wear the uniforms and drive the patrol cars?
Knowing your surroundings is a survival instinct. We rely on our instincts for many things, but there are a lot of areas where we have overridden our instincts to allow ourselves to let our guard down and to allow ourselves to become victims. We no longer listen to the voices in our heads saying "don't get too comfortable." Our legal protections have caused many to assume that they won't become victims. They believe that, because something is wrong and/or illegal, that people won't do it. But we know better. We see all the time stories about how someone did something horrible, that laws were broken, people were victimized. Yet many of us seem to tempt fate for the sake of comfort or convenience. It doesn't make it right, and there are no excuses, but let me be clear about something: an "excuse" and a "reason" are not the same thing. There is a reason that these things happen. That doesn't excuse them, but there are circumstances that lead to things happening. While I would estimate that much of the time the causes are independent of and unrelated to the victim, there is definitely a series of behaviors/choices/events that lead people to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. You can continue to insist that there is no "right place, right time" for rape or the shooting of an unarmed suspect, but the reality is that it happens. We are fools to ignore the fact that, just because it SHOULDN'T happen doesn't mean that it DOESN'T happen.
Paying attention to the culture of the day, of the happenings and behaviors in the lives of people worldwide, we know that a lot of ugliness exists. We know that people are capable of horrible things. We must face the fact that these things are going to continue to happen, as much as we try to stop them, as wrong as they are. At some point it becomes an individual's responsibility to take into account these facts and realities for self-preservation purposes. I don't want to pick on anyone, but it's like if I blatantly ignored my wife as she was speaking, and then told her, "just shut up. I don't care. You never f**king stop. It's all meaningless. I don't want to hear it." And then I get offended when she flips out and kicks my ass. I can't stand up and scream, "I have a right to speak my mind! I'm allowed by law!" Well, just like Federal laws are limited and State laws are more specific, we have community rules and household rules, and even if you could take it to a higher court and win, you're not doing yourselves any favors in your local environment by insisting that you have "rights." By this same token, I hesitate to venture that, if you have an emotionally/mentally messed up man who is a risk for violent assault, and he's in a community (I mean, they have to be somewhere, right?) and let's say he's doing his best to control himself and not rape women. Then a woman walks by in "pants" so tight you can see her freckles, well, it puts ideas in a man's head. Yes, you have a right to wear whatever you want, whatever's comfortable. And I'm not saying you should stop wearing these things. I'm just saying that you know these kinds of people are in the world, and more and more it seems like they're emerging where you never thought they were. This means there are a lot more of them than you think. Maybe seeing your labia through your pants is just the thing to set him off, to break his will and make him lose it. You're not to BLAME for his actions, he has problems that make him do this kind of thing, but that's not to say that there isn't something you can do about it. If you are wearing something that doesn't put your naked body in his mind, maybe he won't think of you that way. There's still no guarantee, but you don't walk a recovering alcoholic down a street with all the bars on it and expect him to not think about drinking.
That brings me to police. I hate that these things are the way they are, but that hasn't changed the fact that they are. Knowing what we do about police behavior, and their fear of suffering any harm to themselves, they will shoot at the slightest provocation. Not the kind of person I want "protecting me" and carrying a deadly weapon, but there you have it. They put their own safety before that of the people who pay them for protection. And we've seen it disproportionately so with Black Americans. With that in mind, and with that awareness being made very public, we should both see a decrease in these unnecessary shooting deaths, but we should hopefully also see a decrease in Black Americans refusing the demands of police officers, or otherwise provoking or antagonizing the men with guns. This is not me saying that the cops have the right to boss anyone around, or that the deadly force is justified against an unarmed man (or a legally-armed one), this is me saying that, we KNOW about this behavioral defect, this selfishness on the part of certain law enforcement officers, and we should take that into account when encountering and dealing with them. We know they have the capability to shoot you, and we've often seen them resort to that extreme whether it's warranted or not, so, in your best interest, for your own self-preservation, just cooperate with the micropeni until you get to jail and let the court sort it out. Frankly, if you WERE up to something that made you want to run from the police, you probably should swing through the court and see if there is any settling-up to do, and then go about your business. It makes a lot more sense than getting yourself killed over something stupid. If you're not doing anything wrong, then it DEFINITELY makes more sense to go along and let the legal process go through its thing and let you out. I realize that the process has not been good to many people of color, but I believe it is further along than the police "force." I know for a fact that I've heard people representing the police mentality say that the system is just going to turn these people loose, so what good is catching them in the first place, and I believe that many of them use this fact as a justification for exaggerated violence or negative treatment to give these people "what they deserve" in the cop mind. "The judge is just going to let him go. He's not going to have any real consequences. Let's rough him up a little." It's an act of desperation in a way. But this fact actually works to our favor. Knowing that the legal system is more evolved than law enforcement in areas of equality, use that fact to your advantage and don't give them ANY reason to shoot you. Don't let your pride get you killed for nothing. I'm white. I don't have the same odds of being shot by police, no matter what I do. But that doesn't stop me from cooperating with them as fully as I am able simply because I know they COULD shoot me. I know that they, unlike us, very rarely suffer consequences for exercising what they believe is their right to shoot and kill. Therefore they could, if they decided, end my life on the spot. So I act as though they could, and I try real hard to keep them from doing it. I also recognize that, as I said, there are many times when the victim has nothing to do with it, and this "attacker" is going to go after SOMEBODY, it's just a question of who gets in the way, who is in that "wrong place" at that "wrong time."
So, yes, you have rights. You have the right to wear pants that make you look like you're naked, only maybe in a different color, and you have the right to talk back to police, or tell them, "I'm not doing anything wrong!" rather than getting down on the ground. But you should do so knowing that you are increasing the odds of something that you don't want happening. The fact that it's illegal, or that they shouldn't do it, doesn't mean that they don't. If you want to make a martyr of yourself to further a cause you believe in, then that's also a choice, and I don't envy you though I may admire you. But you have to know what it is you're getting into. Rapists and murderers are out there. We should keep trying to lock them up whenever we can, but there will always be more. If we got rid of all the rapists and all the potential (future) rapists, our population would be disproportionately in prison. If we got rid of all the murderers, then who would wear the uniforms and drive the patrol cars?
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