Yes, I oppose modern policing. Yes, I believe the entire system of policing as it exists in this country should be abolished. Yes, I am an anarchist. Apparently these aspects of my life make my opinion on the two officers killed in New York City interesting because people have been asking for my thoughts on it all weekend.
Obviously I don’t support killing cops just because they’re cops. Killing, in my opinion, is only justified in immediate self-defense when no other option is left.
What I find fascinating about this case are the reactions from the tough-on-crime crowd. When Michael Brown and Eric Garner were killed these people immediately began scouring Brown and Garner’s social media presence and criminal records to find any amount of dirt that would help assassinate their characters. This was done so that the actions of the cops who killed them could be justified and the bullshit hero narrative surrounding police officers could be maintained.
This time the very same people are flooding social media with claims that Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos, the officers killing in New York City, were heroes and lost their lives defending ours. I don’t know the history of the two officers and the tough-on-crime crowd calling them heroes aren’t posting any examples of their heroic behavior. What I do know is that none of the tough-on-crime people that were digging up dirt in a pathetic attempt to character assassinate Brown and Garner are trying to dig up dirt on Liu and Ramos. Funny how that works.
That’s seriously all I have to say on the matter. It may actually surprise some of you to know that people being killed bothers me on an emotional level and I don’t like talking about it. Sadly it happens with such frequency that it’s impossible to avoid talking about.