Pierce writes: "To those of us who are of a certain age, the psychic
signposts of Thursday night in Dallas marked a vaguely remembered route to
hell."
Dallas Police. (photo: Laura Buckman/Getty)
I Dread What's Coming. Truly, I Do.
By Charles Pierce, Esquire
08 July 16
None of these people need to be dead right now.
To those of us who are of a certain age, the psychic signposts of Thursday
night in Dallas marked a vaguely remembered route to hell. Snipers in
buildings. The wounded being rushed to Parkland Hospital, for pity's sake.
And when Don Lemon of CNN made the curious observation that the streets of
Dallas seemed an unlikely venue for murderous gunplay, those of us who are
of a certain age thought he was out of his mind.
After all, it was murderous gunplay in the streets of Dallas that was the
first inkling many of us of the post-war suburban generation had that, yes,
the world could go out of its mind.
(While we're on the subject of coverage, all kinds of credit should go out
to the local television stations in Dallas, especially the CBS affiliate,
which were way out in front on the crucial piece of information that Mark
Hughes, whose picture had been released to the media, was not one of the
shooters. It took the national cable networks an inexcusably long time to
dial back this piece of the story, which is why I went local for my coverage
very early on. And it was only the local reporters in Dallas who kept Hughes
from being the Abdulrahman Alharbi-or, worse, the Richard Jewell-of the
Thursday night horrors.)
I dread what's coming. Truly, I do.
By all accounts, including Radley Balko's, the Dallas Police Department is
the very model of a modern urban law enforcement operation. That is going to
be lost in the cacophony (and worse) of what comes next. Just as the events
in Dallas profaned the victims in Baton Rouge and St. Paul, whatever
vengeance is taken by law enforcement that profanes the victims in Dallas
likely will be taken far from that wounded place. The political utility of
this awful series of events is going to be manifested in ways loud and
indecent. I won't even dignify it by mocking it, not right away, at any
rate. I choose for the moment not to ride with the Hobby Horses of the
Apocalypse.
This week has now flown so far beyond politics that it is barely visible any
more from the ideological trenches in which we have grown so comfortable. It
began with the impromptu execution of two African-American citizens at the
hands of police in Louisiana and in Minnesota. It ended with the organized
execution from ambush of Dallas police officers. I do not intend to
contribute to the general rhetorical melee.
Yes, I believe that there should be far fewer high-powered firearms in the
hands of the general American public, but I'm not going to get into stupid
arguments over what is and what isn't an assault weapon. Yes, I believe
there remains a serious crisis in American law enforcement with regard to
the militarization in thought and in materiel of the people who are charged
with keeping what we call the peace.
But, for today, anyway, I am going to make the unremarkable point that none
of these people, not the two victims of police violence nor the five victims
of Thursday night, need to be dead right now. Their deaths served no
purpose. Ennobling them in public grief doesn't make those deaths any less
unnecessary. There is too much useless death in this country, too much
pointless martyrdom. That is the lesson of this awful week. That is the only
lesson worth listening to in the days ahead.
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Dallas Police. (photo: Laura Buckman/Getty)
http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/news/a46545/dallas-police-shoo
ting-consequences/http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/news/a46545/
dallas-police-shooting-consequences/
I Dread What's Coming. Truly, I Do.
By Charles Pierce, Esquire
08 July 16
None of these people need to be dead right now.
o those of us who are of a certain age, the psychic signposts of Thursday
night in Dallas marked a vaguely remembered route to hell. Snipers in
buildings. The wounded being rushed to Parkland Hospital, for pity's sake.
And when Don Lemon of CNN made the curious observation that the streets of
Dallas seemed an unlikely venue for murderous gunplay, those of us who are
of a certain age thought he was out of his mind.
After all, it was murderous gunplay in the streets of Dallas that was the
first inkling many of us of the post-war suburban generation had that, yes,
the world could go out of its mind.
(While we're on the subject of coverage, all kinds of credit should go out
to the local television stations in Dallas, especially the CBS affiliate,
which were way out in front on the crucial piece of information that Mark
Hughes, whose picture had been released to the media, was not one of the
shooters. It took the national cable networks an inexcusably long time to
dial back this piece of the story, which is why I went local for my coverage
very early on. And it was only the local reporters in Dallas who kept Hughes
from being the Abdulrahman Alharbi-or, worse, the Richard Jewell-of the
Thursday night horrors.)
I dread what's coming. Truly, I do.
By all accounts, including Radley Balko's, the Dallas Police Department is
the very model of a modern urban law enforcement operation. That is going to
be lost in the cacophony (and worse) of what comes next. Just as the events
in Dallas profaned the victims in Baton Rouge and St. Paul, whatever
vengeance is taken by law enforcement that profanes the victims in Dallas
likely will be taken far from that wounded place. The political utility of
this awful series of events is going to be manifested in ways loud and
indecent. I won't even dignify it by mocking it, not right away, at any
rate. I choose for the moment not to ride with the Hobby Horses of the
Apocalypse.
This week has now flown so far beyond politics that it is barely visible any
more from the ideological trenches in which we have grown so comfortable. It
began with the impromptu execution of two African-American citizens at the
hands of police in Louisiana and in Minnesota. It ended with the organized
execution from ambush of Dallas police officers. I do not intend to
contribute to the general rhetorical melee.
Yes, I believe that there should be far fewer high-powered firearms in the
hands of the general American public, but I'm not going to get into stupid
arguments over what is and what isn't an assault weapon. Yes, I believe
there remains a serious crisis in American law enforcement with regard to
the militarization in thought and in materiel of the people who are charged
with keeping what we call the peace.
But, for today, anyway, I am going to make the unremarkable point that none
of these people, not the two victims of police violence nor the five victims
of Thursday night, need to be dead right now. Their deaths served no
purpose. Ennobling them in public grief doesn't make those deaths any less
unnecessary. There is too much useless death in this country, too much
pointless martyrdom. That is the lesson of this awful week. That is the only
lesson worth listening to in the days ahead.
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http://e-max.it/posizionamento-siti-web/socialize
