The root of public
unrest
I do wonder if the
right questions are asked that try to determine why people protest and those
protests sometimes lead to the destruction of life and property in the aftermath
of what the people consider is police brutality as the wheels of justice roll
with lethargy and inertia if they do ever turn at all.
If there were a sense
of justice that law enforcement was fully accountable for their actions in
their call to duty without a seeming blanket of exculpation built into the
system to exonerate working from the premise the police are infallible and the
victim can never be innocent, maybe, just maybe, the frustrations of the people
won't be pouring out onto the streets, they would allow the system of justice to
run its course.
Weed out the rotten
cops
The police forces
know the bad eggs amongst their lot, sworn allegiances and unquestioned support
amongst the ranks leaving the institutions operating beneath the standards of
probity and integrity and they harbour the undesirables always stores up
trouble for the future when for each infraction by the irresponsible crew they
are assured immunity to go out to act with more impunity.
They should stop
shielding the worst amongst their ranks, punish them and kick them out before
they kindle the tinder of societal unrest and set in trail irreparable damage.
America is imperfect,
grossly flawed, and has constantly been in a pressure cooker tensioned situation
since its birth. The more we think things are improving there are many examples
of where things are no better. To then be cursed with a leadership that has no facility
or capacity to unify the people in a common purpose for the good is like
Ichabod is enthroned on One Nation unto God.
Teargassing, smoking,
and respiratory pandemics
There is much
difficulty controlling violent protests, angry mobs, and riotous crowds in
ordinary times. Crowd dispersal with tear gas during a global pandemic
exacerbated by a possibly airborne virus that could cause respiratory distress
and grave illness as we are instructed to keep safe distances between each
other computes on the side of the unbelievably incredulous like no one is
using their senses.
One other thing, I
would hope the pandemic addresses with some determination is smoking on the
streets either from cigarettes or vaping. For if the social-distancing
requirement is to prevent contracting COVID-19, what should not be happening is
people walking into the clouds of smoke or vapour expelled from the lungs of
possibly infected people.
Ban it, treat it
I do not think it
would be safe to have people trying to dodge smoke trails too as they walk the
streets. It would call for designated smoking areas along with radical
programmes to get people off tobacco because it would not augur well for
pavement rage to develop from people taking umbrage to others who in their
carefree use of tobacco products visibly pollute the air we breathe as we
incidentally, walk into their smoky slipstream.
For the purposes of
full disclosure, I started smoking at 14 and gave it up at 18. I cannot
remember what inspired it, I just stopped, I did not enjoy it anymore. I used
to smoke menthol cigarettes then. Now, my doctor considers having dropped
smoking over 3 decades ago as being a non-smoker.
