4 Oakland Officers Killed (Montclair, Hillsborough: fit in, insurance, to live)

[sav858]

Originally Posted by MrSykes

Now by this do you mean gunning down innocent people? If that's the case I'm not sure they are in the right line of work.

If you're going to try to have a serious debate here don't come at me with that sarcastic BS, alright?

You keep focusing on isolated incidents and pretending that this is how most police officers are. Go ahead and keep focusing on extreme cases of wrongdoing but it doesn't change the fact that most cops are honest, good people doing a very dangerous job for the public's safety. Would you rather not have cops at all? I don't get this "I hate all cops" mentality and those people's solutions or alternatives to providing public safety.

[MrSykes]

Originally Posted by Nella925

irrelevent, well hey you said 'criminals'

Funny, I read the same thing.

[sav858]

Originally Posted by Nella925

who wears khakis and polos???? i rarely saw anyone wear anything similar to that in HS. But I guess people who wear khakis and polos don't commit crimes.


That's the thing, its style preference, and this particular style not just entitled to what you consider thugs.
I'm sure if u saw a group of non-black or hispanic boys dressed in baggy clothes on the corner you wouldn't automatically think 'oh thug!'
I'm sure some people would think 'that damn hip hop music!'
but hey I can be wrong ::shrugs::

I wear khaki's and polos every day for work, haha. And yes the majority of violent crimes out there are not committed by people dressed like they are about to go to the Country Club.

Yes it is style preference but what difference does that make? What does it matter if someone prefers a thug style over something not associated with criminals and thugs? If they prefer that style then fine, but be prepared for the consequences of looking like that. Just b/c you or anyone else doesn't want that style to be associated with thugs and criminals will not make it so. A lot of people seem to be so self-entitled that they think they can dictate societies norms'/rules/perceptions just b/c they prefer to dress a certain way.

[MrSykes]

Originally Posted by sav858

If you're going to try to have a serious debate here don't come at me with that sarcastic BS, alright?

You keep focusing on isolated incidents and pretending that this is how most police officers are. Go ahead and keep focusing on extreme cases of wrongdoing but it doesn't change the fact that most cops are honest, good people doing a very dangerous job for the public's safety. Would you rather not have cops at all? I don't get this "I hate all cops" mentality and those people's solutions or alternatives to providing public safety.

I don't hate cops - that's too much of a waste of my energy for people I don't particularly care for or respect right off the bat in the first place. The badge means nil to me. It no more prevents the guy wearing it from doing the wrong thing than wearing a suit or a polo can prevent one from criminality, whatever the form.

And you're wrong if you think the capacity for externalizing blame lies solely with the community. In fact, you've done plenty of externalizing yourself here on behalf of the other side. As I illustrated in an earlier post, nothing ever seems to be the fault of the police. It's always in the neighborhood, out there, with those people. Since they've "earned" a badge and a gat, cops can obviously do no wrong.

[sav858]

Originally Posted by MrSykes

I don't hate cops - that's too much of a waste of my energy for people I don't particularly care for or respect right off the bat in the first place. The badge means nil to me. It no more prevents the guy wearing it from doing the wrong thing than wearing a suit or a polo can prevent one from criminality, whatever the form.

And you're wrong if you think the capacity for externalizing blame lies solely with the community. In fact, you've done plenty of externalizing yourself here on behalf of the other side. As I illustrated in an earlier post, nothing ever seems to be the fault of the police. It's always in the neighborhood, out there, with those people. Since they've "earned" a badge and a gat, cops can obviously do no wrong.

I never said the cops never do wrong and I didn't mean to imply that at all. There of course are cases of wrong doing by cops and its disgusting when that occurs b/c of the confidence and trust citizens place on our public safety officials. Some cities have gone through some pretty scary periods of widespread police corruption such as NYC, Miami, New Orleans, etc.

But I don't think its fair to generalize that most or all cops don't deserve respect for what they do b/c of the actions of a few bad cops. There have been cases corrupt Border Patrol officials smuggling in drugs and illegals but that doesn't man I am going to think all Border Patrol agents are corrupt and now don't want them to apprehend illegals and contra band from now on. I'm not even sure what you arguing for now. Are you saying cops shouldn't do their jobs? Shouldn't be aggressive in catching criminals? Exactly what are you saying cops should do? You seem to do a lot of complaining about cops but have not offered anything in response to all you complain about as far as I can tell.

You seem to be taking some all or nothing approach here. Yes I am blaming the community and "those people" for many of the things they complain about, not all of it but some of it. But that doesn't mean I think all cops are good and don't ever go too far and abuse their power.

Also communities generally aren't built as high crime ghetto's, they evolve into that. And who deserves most of the blame for that, cops or the community?

[luckysnap]

If you dress like a clown, people will laugh at you. You mode of dress is your presentation to the world who you are.

[Nella925]

Originally Posted by sav858

I wear khaki's and polos every day for work, haha. And yes the majority of violent crimes out there are not committed by people dressed like they are about to go to the Country Club.

Yes it is style preference but what difference does that make? What does it matter if someone prefers a thug style over something not associated with criminals and thugs? If they prefer that style then fine, but be prepared for the consequences of looking like that. Just b/c you or anyone else doesn't want that style to be associated with thugs and criminals will not make it so. A lot of people seem to be so self-entitled that they think they can dictate societies norms'/rules/perceptions just b/c they prefer to dress a certain way.

what if 'thugs' started to wear polos and khakis...and 'anyone' who wore that would be considered a 'thug'...(I'm sorry even saying that sounds obsurd)
would you feel it necessary for you to stop wearing them???

I remember seeing a d-lsted celeb (who happened to be african american) and was with his son. His son was dressed in a 'track suit' it was not too big or too small, just right...but people still said 'why is he dressing his son like a hoodlum?' so are track suits or anything similar considered thug apparel too?

[sav858]

Originally Posted by Nella925

what if 'thugs' started to wear polos and khakis...and 'anyone' who wore that would be considered a 'thug'...(I'm sorry even saying that sounds obsurd)
would you feel it necessary for you to stop wearing them???

I remember seeing a d-lsted celeb (who happened to be african american) and was with his son. His son was dressed in a 'track suit' it was not too big or too small, just right...but people still said 'why is he dressing his son like a hoodlum?' so are track suits or anything similar considered thug apparel too?

YES if what I wear was associated with criminals and thugs then I would not be wearing it. I don't want to be associated with that type of trash so why would I dress the part?

I know people's perceptions has more to do with than just clothing attire and I wasn't trying to say that dress was the only factor. But as a minority, I've rarely had anyone mistake me for a criminal or thug and I believe it has to do with how I dress and present myself. If I dressed like a little cholo gangbanger then I would more than likely be treated and/or perceived as one by some people.

[iTsLiKeAnEgG]

Some of you guys are simply ridiculous. I'm a young male (22) and spend a good deal of my teenage life living in San Francisco's Fillmore and Sunnydale Neighborhoods. I'm familiar with urban culture, dress, etc. A lot of my friends wear clothing that can be associated with "thugs" (I mostly grew out of that). I won't blame for one minute a police officer who profiles someone wearing baggy jeans, a hoodie and a baseball cap. The fact is that a good portion of a cities violent crimes occur in areas where this style of dress is prominent, by people wearing these types of clothes. It's your choice whether you want to take the risk. As stated earlier, I can love the color red all I want but I'm taking a risk by wearing it around certain parts of the Mission. Being aware of this risk, I can blame no one but myself for being stupid enough to bring this type of association onto myself.

[E14]

If more people would pull aks on cops, maybe they would stop interfering with the way people want to live their lives. Just a thought