September 14, 2004

These cops are so bored that they've turned to shocking each other... well no, not really. My curiosity, however, is rather piqued: is this whole "do unto others only what's done unto you" theory funny or the most social conscious decision in recent history? (greetings from Warrior)
posted by Warrior 20 years ago
  • Hey, if they want to claim tasers are a harmless pacification method, which all the police departments do, then they should be willing to take a hit. Plain and simple. The same standard should apply to the quality of jail facilities. Besides, a taser hit is small potatoes. I had a friend who trained to be a guard at mental facilities. They had to train in subduing threatening patients as harmlessly as possible. One of the guards got his arm broken during training. He bitched about it, but none of the other guards gave him any sympathy. It comes with the job.
  • I don't want to be a bad-post cop, especially because I've just joined this community, but, really, what is the point of this post? How is it supposed to stimulate conversation? How does it add to my understanding of life, the world, or the universe? I thought that the monkeys are supposed to leave the man-bites-dog crap to fark.com.
  • Who knows what will strike the monkey's fancy HW? Check out the genesis of some the longer surviving threads (you could do worse than start with the daisy_may thread)...
  • HawthornWingo: if it isn't a good post people will leave it alone. For the most part, we all kinda go with the flow, here, unless we have pragmatic issue with the content. And some posts that seem iffy bring up really good discussions including a a recent post that I flung poo on when it was young. You never know how they're going to evolve.
  • Gotcha. I guess because I ended up here after a couple of years of reading Metafilter, I absorbed some of those folks' prickliness about what constitutes an FPP. I can still believe that man-bites-dog stuff (note how I've pulled back from a more value-laden term) would be more at home on fark, can't I?
  • My nephew loaned me Man Bites Dog a while ago, fuyugare. It was not exactly enjoyable, but definitely compelling. As a retired police officer, I think the taser tests are a good idea. The more training an officer has regarding the effects of his or her actions upon a suspect or witness, the more likely s/he'll act appropriately, not escalate the situation, and avoid harming someone. I don't see this post in the same way you do, HawthorneWingo, but I do have a suggestion (as a relative newcomer as well): if there are topics posted here in which you have little or no interest, don't bother posting in those threads. I skim or ignore a lot here, but I don't resent people asking for commentary on topics they feel are important. Law enforcement in general interests me, and I enjoyed this topic.
  • Hey Warrior, you realise your name is on the bottom of the post anyway, right, so you don't need to sign them?
  • I don't really see how this is a Man Bites Dog situation. If anything, it's a simple question that raises an eyebrow, and perhaps takes a bow to the (positive) change of ethics of an environment where police brutality often goes unchecked. I actually commend this practice. As far as me signing my posts, well that's my damn business...
  • *waits for sarcasm tag*
  • Listen, I'm sorry if I upset anyone. Really. I made a newbie mistake. I will now slink quietly away....