I must clear my conscience of something.
I am not very good at writing of immediate events. Writing on historical events or various aspects of culture and liberty, these I can handle. These have been filtered by many, allowing me to benefit from the wisdom of time and place.
I spoke too soon regarding the death of George Floyd. This has been weighing on me for several weeks; I have finally decided to deal with it publicly.
At the time, many of you kindly suggested that I spoke to soon. You were correct. So, regarding the aforementioned post: apologies. Ignore the first paragraph; I am good with the rest.
Everyone makes mistakes in the heat of the moment and says things they regret later. It takes a real man to admit he was wrong. I must confess that I was taken in as well. It was understandable. At first glance, it does appear that George Floyd was choked to death by the cop, but time has a way of sorting things out.
ReplyDeleteThe real question is whether any new or suppressed evidence will be admitted in court. Even if it is, it probably will not make a difference in the opinions of the people who have already made up their minds. George Floyd is dead. The cop knelt on his neck for nine minutes. Ergo, the cop murdered Floyd.
Damn the torpedoes. Full speed ahead! Or perhaps more appropriately, damn the icebergs. Let's go down with this ship.
Roger, it won't make a difference to most. The narrative is tucked away in a crevice of the brain, waiting to come out as it was stored.
DeleteOther than in our shady corners of the internet, who will see the video or read anything of Floyd's condition at the time?
Uncommonly brave thing to do. Kudos. My respect for you grows.
ReplyDeleteM
This is why truth is so important. How are we to be able to judge effectively without all the facts on the table?
ReplyDeleteAs we've learned from past evidence that most of the history we've been taught has left out huge portions of the truth to create a very different narrative. A narrative that not only is at odds with the truth itself, but that moves and directs us in ways that benefit a small group of liars and their lacky's.
We all got played on this one. It's not the first and won't be the last time either.
Good on you for admitting you were wrong. I would like to hear your opinion on the Christian take on innocent until proven guilty. Is Christian ethic the reason the US is supposed to practice IUPG?
ReplyDeleteMight make a good piece. I have been thinking about that for some time and how it relates to declining morals/ethics and the whole cancel culture and race goofiness. I believe they are all related.
Thanks again for standing up and admitting you were wrong. It makes me feel a bit better about Christianity to see a Christian actually practice their religion.
Monte, I will think about this for a post.
DeleteIt raises an interesting dichotomy: on the one hand, Christians believe we are all guilty (in front of God) until made innocent (not precise theological language, but to reverse the normal usage of the phrase).
On the other hand: we are all made in God's image, we are to love our neighbor (second of importance after loving God), we are to treat others as we want to be treated. One can deduce from these (and maybe a couple of other concepts) an idea of innocent until proven guilty.
There may be passages that deal directly on this idea of IUPG, but I am not remembering these off of the top of my head.
Always good to correct yourself. I always take it as people go with the information they have and then as more information comes out, changing your opinion is the right thing to do.
ReplyDeleteGeorge have died even without the police interaction. He had enough fentanyl in his blood to die of OD and was already experiencing the most common OD symptom, difficulty breathing.
We were all wrong on this to some degree. I know I was wrong too. Chauvin still could reasonably face punishment for negligence, incorrectly using policing methods, and using force that wasn't necessary. But George was not complying and was not in a sane state of mind. Hard to blame anyone for using force in that situation.
Yes. One can still question if the officer had to kneel on him for nine minutes, was this proper procedure, should it have been.
DeleteWere the officers in contact with emergency services, were they following medical advice until paramedics arrived, etc. There are many legitimate questions remaining.
To be clear, I am not passing judgment on any of these questions. They are just questions.
But, given the recent video, the officers behaved in a manner far more restrained than almost any of us would have. Given that they are not medical doctors or trained paramedics, one cannot expect them to be able to diagnose what, exactly, is going on with a non-cooperative individual.
Man...on the street, on a stop...just cooperate. If you feel wronged, deal with that later, when the situation is appropriate.
I think about the other incident, shortly after Floyd. In Atlanta (I think), the guy fought the cops and ran away with the taser. He got shot. I am not saying right or wrong for either party. But had he cooperated, he would have been alive today.
There are times to make a stand, to say no. I don't see these cases as falling into such times.
I remember being somewhat disappointed when I read your initial remark about the George Floyd incident but, considering the high emotional impact of the video, thought it understandable. But hearing Trey Gowdy proclaim on national television that "...this is murder" I thought was breathtakingly shocking! That a trained attorney, former U.S Federal Prosecutor and ex-Congressman could make such a statement on a public platform destroyed what little is left of my trust in the legal system in this country...and he did not, to my knowledge, have the courage to issue an apology as you did; thank you for having the courage and integrity to do so.
ReplyDeleteJames
Thank you, James.
DeleteI'd like to add my appreciation and thank you as well. Peg
ReplyDeleteThank you, Peg.
Delete