Sometimes America Sucks - Part II
- Fred
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
Back in 2023, a legless man in California, who had attacked someone with a butcher knife, hopped out of his wheelchair, with knife still in hand, and attempted to flee police on his amputated stumps.
As a half dozen police walked slowly behind the suspect, and with more on the way, the perp suddenly turned and made a motion toward police. The police shot and killed the double amputee.
I say it all the time, the police have a tough job, especially in urban centers, but the video of the shooting Anthony Lowe Jr. would almost be comical if it wasn't so absurdly tragic.
I mean, whatever happened to common sense?
I woke this morning and started doom scrolling on Facebook. At least 6 different vloggers screamed at me "THE TIMES SQUARE STABBER DESERVED IT!!!!"
Listen, I had a bad day at work yesterday, I was unusually detached from the news.
So I went back to watch what everyone was yelling about. Apparently the lady in pink stabbed 2 people, one died and one was injured. The police "cornered" her at an intersection in Times Square.
She kind of paused, and as about a dozen police officers formed a half circle around her, two clearly had tasers deployed.
After briefly appearing emboldened, the 50-ish suspect comically made a ninja move and slowly shuffled toward the officers. She was immediately tasered and, as she kept moving, an officer shot her.
Kudos to her for shaking off that first taser, but again, she did not come close to any officers, she came nowhere close to "breaking the perimeter."
Now because there are cameras everywhere, a viewer sees what he/she wants to see.
But if I follow almost exclusively libertarian news sites, why is Facebook flooding my feed with FoxNews wannabees trying to antagonize me in the morning?
If I follow dozens of sports sites, and this weekend welcomed the return of both College Football and the Premier League, I find it hard to believe that Facebook wouldn't load my feed with lots of content that I like as opposed to "rage bait."
I often lament the fall of newspapers, but all newspapers have an overriding angle/philosophy. You should be aware of how your favorite social media algorithm works.
Why was my day bad yesterday? My day job is at the local school district. At lunch, I accidentally cut my hand open on a school bus and I had to get some bandages as blood dripped down my left hand. Instead of going home or to urgent care, I kept working.
At release, a special education student had a meltdown and screamed in my ear, effectively disabling my right implant, then continued to scratch my back and right arm as I walked away. I did not retaliate against the student, I still don't know what trigged him in the common area by the front office. Lucky for me, the student was very small and was more annoying than hurtful.
As I drove home yesterday, defeated, I felt worse for that special ed kid than for myself.
After watching that stabbing video this morning, I hope that student has an advocate after he graduates from school.
Comments