Letters to the Editor

• Kate's Retributive Justice

  [Read the article: Shocking incident]
  [Read more letters about this article: Here]

  Your argument is semantic. It is their job to subdue me if I become resistant, unruly, threatening, or violent. I could wind up tased, teargassed, beaten, shot with a rubber bullet, or shot with a live round, depending on what I happen to be doing at the moment. That is, in all practical terms, physical "punishment" for my immediate actions. Legal punishment comes later.

  No, ma'am, it's not a sematic argument, it's the law. Their job is to serve, protect and keep public safety. In apprehending you, their actions have to ALL be towards one goal: to apprehend you. Not to punish you. They are not the punishers. IT's people like you, who don't know the law, but more importantly, don't WANT to know the law, and are willing to excuse the actions of police officers and defer to their very fallible judgment, that are the enablers of this kind of thing.

  So, in this case, if you watch the video, towards the middle they have ALREADY HANDCUFFED the suspect, yet they continue to tazer him. They could have, the three of them, simply carried him out of the library, but no...

  No, they don't have blank check but they do have a set of specific guidelines and conditions under which they may resort to non-lethal force to control a situation. No lives were in danger here, so they didn't resort to lethal force. The problem police face when confronted by shouting, struggling, tantrum-throwing people, though, is that they don't have time to dither over whether or not that person is just being a pain in the ass for sport or if they're really going to pull a dangerous stunt. You don't like the law, change it.

  1) the law is already on my side, honey.

  2) He was already handcuffed. Originally, he "went limp" when they asked him to leave. he did not attack the offiers, or anyone else.

  Plus, I imagine these security people thought they could get away with it because the guy's name is Mostafa.

  How would they know his name if he refused to show his ID?

  We will soon see what Mostafa here looks like, and if his physical looks had anything to do with it. I have a friend, he's jewish from Switzerland. If he doesn't shave, he looks very terroristic, and even when he does shave, he's stopped at every airport. It matters.

  I have twice witnessed such events, both of them happened to be immediate and deeply satisfying retribution for guys who hit their girlfriends.

  You're really into retribution. You should go work as a prison guard -- you'll get to mete out justice to prisoners every day, lady.

  Once was on my own college campus, when a guy outside my dorm thumped his girlfriend. Two of my roommates immediately went running downstairs -- one with a metal vaccuum cleaner pipe in her hands -- only to be met by two guys running from *another* dorm who chased the guy, tackled him, and pounded the holy hell out of him.

  Every single one of them except for the girlfriend should have been apprehended and charged. We have a justice system so that people don't take the law into their own hands. Perhaps your male friends should have caught him and called the police, instead of just being violent animals just like the girlfriend beater. Make no mistake, the pursuers broke the law just as much, if not more, than the original girlfriend beater.

  plus, where were you, lady justice? why didn't you call the police? why didn't you go talk to this girlfriend and help her go to an abuse counseilling center? Or you prefer to send the angry men to dole out justice, while you sit back and watch?

  The second was walking through Kenmore Square one night after clubbing and first hearing a guy his his girlfriend and then seeing another guy who was walking towards them at the time haul off and slug the guy in the jaw and shout "like the way that feels?" then just continue on his way.

  It seems you're really into men being violent towards other men. Again, if we wanted people to just mete out justice and violence to each other, why even have courts and prisoners? It's very expensive and time-consuming. Best to just let every one of us every second decide who deserves punishment. For example, you and your biology book could enforce the law.

  And of course you would never be one of those people who deserve to get punched in the face now and then, right?

  I certainly try not to be, but I won't deny that I've done some obnoxious things in the past and I'm sure more than one person has wanted to give me a good belt over the years. That it hasn't happened probably says more about them than it does about me, of course, but you are free to draw your own conclusions.

  I think i agree with you there. I just hope for your sake that you don't cross someone who has the same views about the police and justice as you do.

  Permalink Saturday, November 18, 2006 12:13 PM