Why is cursing even an issue, here?
...because if you don't show the cops and the bureaucrats "respect," you know, people might start to treat them as if they're bags of floppy flesh, like the rest of us.
That's why.
Quite a story. Kicked out of the public fucking library because she had the wherewithal and foresight to bring along a deck of cards with which to entertain her young son. And he, being entertained, laughed and cooed too loudly.
Rightfully, she resisted. And the rest is predictable history.
Crow's Eye: Maintaining a commitment to Pointless Acrimony™ and Hate Filled Invective™! Also available in corvid mischief and traditional sly dog's mistrust.
What the fuck is cursing? What the fuck is profanity? I think it's totally profane to slap handcuffs on someone for something they said! Cops have guns and handcuffs and SWAT teams. If you can't handle a mom with a baby, I'm worried you might literally shit your pants in the face of a child found shoplifting. "He stole a candy bar and it made me lose control of my bowels at the thought of what else he might be capable of."
ReplyDeleteShe not only had the courage to stand up to the police and librarian, she has the courage to go to trial and face some harsh consequences (especially for a single mother of a one year old). I will be interested to see the jury verdict. I would love to be on that jury and would gladly give up my time to send these jerks a message.
ReplyDeleteThe judge and prosecutor should be ashamed of themselves. You would never see a white mother of a one year old facing these charges.
That's seriously fucked up.
ReplyDeleteWhat sticks with me, aside from the rather obvious institutional racism, is the assertion that merely cursing around the police constitutes a danger to public safety.
ReplyDeleteYou're right, Paul - it seems to imply that the uniformed officers are wilting lilies, despite years of hardening, conditioning, training and education in contempt.
That's pretty damned consistent with the larger cancer of American toleration for uniformed power - where guys who have a million dollars (each) spent on them, in order that they allow themselves to be shaped into killing machines, are so sensitive to criticism that their morale is ruined, and wars potentially lost, if some longhair who stinks of dank bud doesn't show the proper public displays of support.
It's obviously not true, in the case of the cop or the soldier, which means the attitude of ungrudging respect is cultivated towards a different end:
Self-policing.
And it's always heartening to discover another woman or man who, even if only for a moment or two, dispenses with the apparently limitless American capacity to self-police.
Jack,
ReplyDeletethe important thing to remember is this:
"You will submit"
"You are a subject, not a citizen"
If this woman had kept that in mind then there would have been no problem.
In the new America forgetting your place can be a real big problem.
SIMDP,
ReplyDeleteIt might cost her her child, this forgetting her place. Makes her all the more worthy of esteem.
"It might cost her her child, this forgetting her place. Makes her all the more worthy of esteem."
ReplyDeleteNo doubt. And this sort of shit makes me wonder.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f39Zs0gB87c
As someone who is employed by a library, lady, you and your kid are welcome here any time (as long as you replace one of the obnoxiously loud & rude undergrads, heh).
ReplyDelete