Bad vs. Good Behavior from Cops

imported post

(While the following thoughts come out of the discussion of the death of the Pastor, I thought it might not be helpful to putthis there. I hope I might be forgiven if I misplace it here.)

Smoking357 said to me, “You have lost your faith in the cops, but you still have faith in judges? You must not deal much with judges.” My response, “I have faith only in God,” was a rather smart-aleck lead-in to my point that cops and judges are human and, so, some will behave badly and some well.

I am not really one to nitpick about religious expressions, and I did not really think that Smoling357 intended “faith” in this context as a religious reference. But, in the meantime, I got to thinking further about the idea that humans are capable of both good behavior and bad. I thought about my religious training as a traditional Lutheran. And, I remembered that Luther said that we areeach simultaneously saint and sinner.[/i] (Sorry, I don’t know how to write the Latin.)

“Well, then,” I thought. If we accept this as applicable psychologically as well as theologically, perhaps we have yet another approach to working toward the encouraging of good behavior from cops. Maybe we can appeal to them, cajole them, shame them, or in some other way cause them to act upon their inner desire, or natural tendency, to do good instead of evil. How? I think that will take a smarter person than I to answer. The good news is that there many people among you who are smarter than I.

Nor am I suggesting that we go soft on bad behavior. It must be appropriatelypunished.

imported post

opencarrybilly wrote:

(While the following thoughts come out of the discussion of the death of the Pastor, I thought it might not be helpful to putthis there. I hope I might be forgiven if I misplace it here.)

Smoking357 said to me, “You have lost your faith in the cops, but you still have faith in judges? You must not deal much with judges.” My response, “I have faith only in God,” was a rather smart-aleck lead-in to my point that cops and judges are human and, so, some will behave badly and some well.

I am not really one to nitpick about religious expressions, and I did not really think that Smoling357 intended “faith” in this context as a religious reference. But, in the meantime, I got to thinking further about the idea that humans are capable of both good behavior and bad. I thought about my religious training as a traditional Lutheran. And, I remembered that Luther said that we areeach simultaneously saint and sinner. (Sorry, I don’t know how to write the Latin.)

“Well, then,” I thought. If we accept this as applicable psychologically as well as theologically, perhaps we have yet another approach to working toward the encouraging of good behavior from cops. Maybe we can appeal to them, cajole them, shame them, or in some other way cause them to act upon their inner desire, or natural tendency, to do good instead of evil. How? I think that will take a smarter person than I to answer. The good news is that there many people among you who are smarter than I.

Nor am I suggesting that we go soft on bad behavior. It must be appropriatelypunished.

Click to expand...

Worthy discussion. Not to be excessively terse, but people act in response to pain or pleasure. It's this simple. Very few prosecutors go after cops, so there's little pain when they act inappropriately. I've considered running for County Prosecutor on an explicit promise to prosecute cops, but I know that any candidate who so promises will be targeted by all the funds and pressure the police union can muster.

This system doesn't resolve itself well, meaning that I'm not sure where America is heading, but it could be a very scary place.

imported post

". . .people act in response to pain or pleasure. It's this simple. Very few prosecutors go after cops. . ."

(I wish I knew how to do that "Clip" thing.)

That's right, I was just thinking of something that could be done premtively. Kinda sneak up on 'em over coffee or leaning on the window of their car in "friendly" conversation.

imported post

screw the prosecutors, I say individuals need to go after the cops. When people stop trying to have others fight their battles and take them on themselves, you'll see change.

imported post

“people act in response to pain or pleasure”

Would not the person as saint anticipate feeling, internally, pleasure at doing right and pain at doing wrong? And, would not the person as sinner, once having considered that, whether he does right or wrong, some people will like his actions and some dislike them, say to himself, “My conscience might bother me if I do wrong. That would be painful. I will do the right thing.”? If so, then, it would seem our task would be to enlighten the person – so that (s)he will activate this inner process. How? The word “subtly” comes to mind. Again, I think it will take someone smarter than I to figure out how.

imported post

opencarrybilly wrote:

(I wish I knew how to do that "Clip" thing.

Click to expand...

Just hit "quote" and cut what you want to do away with.

imported post

Guys! Guys! We have to have faith in the Judicial System. The laws in place for them, and us. We count on them. We empowered them to protect us. There's good and bad in everybody. I'm not saying what happened should go unpunished. It's just that we DON'T have the right to punish another. A jury of their peers has to do that. Or some regulatory body. We must have faith that Good will triumph over Evil.

imported post

opencarrybilly wrote:

“people act in response to pain or pleasure”

Would not the person as saint anticipate feeling, internally, pleasure at doing right and pain at doing wrong? And, would not the person as sinner, once having considered that, whether he does right or wrong, some people will like his actions and some dislike them, say to himself, “My conscience might bother me if I do wrong. That would be painful. I will do the right thing.”? If so, then, it would seem our task would be to enlighten the person – so that (s)he will activate this inner process. How? The word “subtly” comes to mind. Again, I think it will take someone smarter than I to figure out how.

Click to expand...

From the start, I'll confess to not being the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree.

That said, I grew up in a Christian family but I've since realized that I am an atheist. Allot of the teachings in Sunday school didn't really sink in with me, however, the lectures my parents gave me on protecting my reputation and earning the respect and trust of others did. What they taught me was that if you want to lose the respect of others, just start lying, stealing, being a bully,etc. That's the quickest way to turn people against you. My parents also taught me that having to regain the respect and trust of others, after soiling my own reputation can be a "very long row to hoe". I've spent my entire life taking care not to foul up my reputation.

Perhaps, some LEO's need a lesson in polishing up their reputations.

But let me add this. Perhaps are best allie in straightening out some of the "less than friendly" LEO and LEA might be the rest of the citizens of the community. We need to be wary of what sort of reputation we build with them. If we start with a good solid rep with them, we should be able to count on them to support us when we need it, expecially at election time. OC'ers don't need to be coming off abrassive, that will turn the community agaisnt us. Again, a bad reputation gets you no respect.