You are correct, you never claimed it wasnt justifiable and I didnt properly acknowledge that in my response. Who should the burden fall on though? All on the citizens, all on law enforcement, maybe a little bit on both with the assumption that both are acting with good intentions? I have been in almost every major city "hood" west of the Mississippi as a part of my former career. I have driven in as a young white kid (in my 20s) by myself at 2am to get my work done and move on. I have met people that were real bangers that were nothing but polite to me as an individual and I have been in the presence of people that couldve popped me and left me behind a dumpster and never thought of it again.Nice write up.
I feel I made it clear on the "justified" aspect of the incident, in my mind this is no different that what Kyle Rittenhouse had to do.
I am only asking if as a society we shouldn't at least attempt to find another way?
Lots of the people in here have their general location on their profile. Places like Elgin or Vinita lol....I mean how in touch would someone from those kinds of places be able to interpret life in a major city?
I have watched a cop put 4 of 12 rounds into a guy that clearly deserved it in a hotel lobby. 2 years ago in Ohio. I can't help but think....maybe there could have been another way than making him leak all over the floor in the elevator.
These criminals and criminal element is getting far more desperate and deliberate with their actions. It's getting real now days. Had some kid at my son's school threaten to shoot the place up! Yet slap on the wrist and sent home to practice that behavior some more?
I travel all over for my career. I see real places with real problems...and it is happening more and more frequently is all.
A lot of the people I have met that grow up in these environments arent struggling due to a lack of compassion from LE as the root cause. They are growing up in an environment where there is no hope and often no interest in escaping the same plight their parents live in. I firmly believe there is a sense of pride and worth that comes from taking care of ourselves and being self sufficient. Government programs have pushed the easy button and just thrown money at it though. Increase funding for welfare, increase funding for inner city programs no one is interested in using, increase funding, increase funding, increase funding. If we raised our children (and I have seen more than a few take this path) in this same manner that creates a reliance on us as parents, our kids will never develop the drive to navigate life on their own and the confidence to strive for something we may not have been able to show them. I grew up in a small farm town and we had families that fell into that category too and the kids I graduated with still live a nomadic lifestyle bouncing from eviction to eviction with absolutely no thought toward living any other way. It is all they have known.
Can you find plenty of scenarios where there truly is a stronger response than was absolutely necessary even if it was justifiable? Sure, hell I make way better second decisions when I think back through my day before I fall asleep, why would this be any different? Would creating an environment for "at risk" kids where they get solid role models that are showing them how to navigate life without needing anything from the government avoid almost all of these scenarios? Absolutely. Our system of assistance using poor approaches to solve problems they dont really want to solve is the root cause of the failure, not the guy that has to show up and handle the situation after the person has already been broken by the system.
We also had a child get arrested over the weekend for threatening violence at my son's school. It is scary as hell and teenage years look so different now compared to when I was in HS in the late 90s early 00s even. My school was small so there wasnt any real bullying going on. Even if there was, social media wasnt a thing so you were able to escape it once you got off the bus. Now the bullying never rests and it reaches a FAR broader audience, thoroughly demolishing any hope of being part of a healthy social circle. A lot of households also have two working parents that put in far more hours into work now than they did 25 years ago. Some of that could be living in a slightly more affluent area than I grew up in or it could be a sign of the increases in cost of living outpacing wage increases. I have also seen firsthand the number of parents that see sheltering their children from adversity as being a good and protective parent. Luckily my wife agrees with me, but I believe we are doing a better job of protecting our kids by exposing them to adversity at a young age when the consequences are low and giving them the tools to work through it and cope with it. They are always reminded that some of our decisions as parents arent about what makes them happy in that moment but what provides the tools for them to be happy as adults when we cant be around every day.
So yes, I agree with you that we are at a tipping point for the success of future generations being worthwhile and capable of carrying on the torch of the American Dream. I just disagree where we should focus our attention to start implementing some dramatic changes.