exactly. Individuals earn respect, not whole groups of people.

Uh. Why would you NOT want the Right to dis a cop? That is called Freedom. We are not supposed to be afraid of our police. We should be able to argue with them if we think they are wrong about something.

Jan

MWAHAHahahahaha...!

Shadow Jan

I agree. That was a snafu on the part of the cops. I agree with the rest of his statements, though.

Jan

I thought I had explained the reasons for my animus.

I'm afraid that I just don't get this animus toward cops. Yes, there are arrogant, wrong-headed, power infused cops, just as there are the same that you'd encounter in the general populace. But, to paint the few with the same brush is just a form of bigotry. I have met Mr. Mean Cop. But the majority in my experience have been courteous, professional, and doing a job out on the streets that has a lot of peril attached. The current demonstrations have to make police jumpy, careful, .and not prone to suffer fools. Many, just as you and I have wives, and kids, and relatives, and friends that they'd like to be alive to keep on seeing.

I wonder how many times Mr. Sowell has been called an "Uncle Tom" by black racists.

I would "disrespect" an officer when he demonstrated that he was unworthy of my respect! I used scare quotes around disrespect because I'm baffled by the notion that cops deserve any just because they're cops.

I find quite the opposite. Most cops are petty tyrants who consider protect and serve to be quaint, at best. (e.g. issue a ticket for exceeding the 25mph speed limit through a tiny Maine town, after midnight, where the entire population has retreated indoors by 8:30. My dad was driving 40mph on a deserted road. Exactly who was being protected? Cops have a lot of discretion; he could easily have said, "the limit's 25 in town, please drive slower." Not doing 60, no suspicion of alcohol, no erratic driving, told him we were on the way to camp. We were obviously hardened criminals and it surely made his day to ticket an out-of-stater.)

At every level, local, state and federal, they lie, cheat, steal and break the same laws that they enforce on others. They regularly file false reports and purjure themselves in court. Does this sound like a person who deserves respect?

Aside from all that, philosophically nobody has the right to be respected and therefore everyone has the right to disrespect.

I don't know how to say this in proper philosophical terms, but everyone - every stranger - (deserves) a base level of respect, whatever is warranted simply because he is human. Other than that, respect is his to be earned or lost by his actions. No title or uniform grants him a free pass or a shortcut to what must be earned.

I'll bet Mr. Sowell is never invited for drinks with eric holder and 0 and probably a lot of the press corp.

Bingo. Become familiar with Title 42 USC sec 1983 ( http://www.dcbabrief.org/vol171004art2.h... ) and know the process of a detention or arrest. I have copies in my truck (along with http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glik_v._Cun...) to hand out to the cops if the need arises.

Dr. Sowell and $5Au have exchanged emails. The former is a great guy. Of the latter, only The Shadow knows.

Why would you disrespect an officer when you can comply to everything he says and then sue the department for false arrest later? Once again, why do you want the right to disrespect an officer? Not following why you're incensed.

I remember Dragnet! You can't argue with the facts and Sowell usually has them.

Sowell makes strong points. In the case of "I can' t breathe " in what world does a criminal offense which warrents a citation escalate to choke hold on the ground? If I disrespect an officer I go to jail? That's nonsense and I 'm incensed