The lynch mob that has formed in my beloved River City has been a relentless miasma of suck. “Protesters” have been disrupting civic events, threatening to disrupt football games, block traffic and a fresh round of looting has broken out. At least two police officers have been shot, though it’s not clear if those incidents were related to the Michael Brown shooting aftermath. I believe that there is an inverse relationship between the innocence of the cop and the fury of the mob in this case, much like what we saw in the Trayvon Martin case. When Al Sharpton shows up, that is a sure sign your case is weak as hell . . .
Officer Darren Wilson’s life is over. He’ll most likely never be a cop again. The mob calling for his arrest without regard to the process of justice are being every bit as awful as they claim the cops are. I can understand why the police are frustrated. As the truth about the incident unfolded, the narrative of a summary execution collapsed, replaced with the story of a big man rushing a cop even after assaulting the officer and inflicting serious injury.
But what the f*&% were some of these idiot cops in Ferguson thinking when they put on bracelets that say “I Am Darren Wilson?”
Our media-industrial complex is a simmering cauldron of misinformation, race-baiting and half-truth-dispensing jackassery. Without regard to reflection on facts, the air has been filled with distortions, egged on by every cameraman and cub reporter willing to show up and stick a camera in someone’s face. When visiting Ferguson a few days after the riots, I think the ratio of journalists to citizens was about 1 to 1. “Journalists” from around the world would sprint to interview anyone willing to rant for a lens or a microphone.
Good people in that neighborhood are at least unsure. Many good people in that neighborhood are misinformed and believe the prevailing narrative of an unarmed teenager who was gunned down while surrendering. In an environment where thoughtful reporting of facts has been all but non-existent, it’s hard to blame these people for being deeply suspicious.
By wearing an “I Am Darren Wilson” bracelet, to some, the cops are signaling to those they have sworn to protect that they are that villain in the prevailing narrative rather than an impartial enforcer of the law. One can be very sympathetic to the plight of Officer Wilson, but if you are a cop, you have to present a neutral front in public.
I think any lower-echelon officer who wore a bracelet while in uniform needs to be suspended and counseled. Those in the upper echelon who thought this kind of asshattery was a good idea need to be suspended. I further question how a cop who is so insensitive to a community ought to be patrolling that community.