Some Observations on Dallas

A week has passed now, and I figured it was time to share some thoughts on the attacks.

First off, we all were reminded how easy it is to kill people. Despite what folks say about how hard it is to kill, it really isn’t.  Used in the defense of people or even countries, it’s merely killing.  Used improperly, it’s murder.

Second, we were reminded that surprise is an amazing tactical multiplier. The police responded the way they were trained.  Training that was developed based on historical threats.  Obviously, the threat is different now.  Copycats will be less effective the next time this type of tactic is tried, and by the third time even less effective.  War is always like this.  Germany’s blitzkrieg worked because it was different, and their opponents were prepared for the last war.

Third, we learned that police in general need to adapt to the modern age. The “wait and investigate” methods of sharing information worked back in the day when the only source of news was TV, Radio and Newsprint, but in this day of social media, they no longer can wait three to four days to tell the citizenry what happened.

Most of us have read the report from Harvard University (not known as a bastion of reason, reality and the truth) that blacks are no more killed by police than any other demographic in the US. It must have really “killed” them to have to report that truth.

But, we know that we live in a society where the truth really doesn’t matter. With the proliferation of social media, the narrative of what happened is quickly captured by those with cameras, those with crazy opinions, and of course by those who are the professional trouble makers.

I looked hard at the videos from the Baton Rouge and the Minnesota shootings.

I came to the conclusion that the Baton Rouge shooting was probably justified, and that the Minnesota shooting “smelled”.

All based on what information was available via social media at the time.  The cops weren’t sharing information.

Finally, over the weekend, the Minnesota police finally released their information, and it was 180 degrees different from the social media. Information backed up with actual police videos and audio tapes.  It looks like it might have been a legitimate shooting.  But the narrative was already won by those in the social media world, and the truth no longer matters.

How many people even know that the liberal, anti-American US Justice Department cleared the cop in the Michael Brown shooting in Ferguson? The truth doesn’t matter once the narrative is won.

The police must do a better job of “coming clean” very early in the process.  And then take quick and demonstrative action if it turns out the cop was wrong.

My last observation is on the state of us in the “lover of liberty” movement. We are quick to point out (and very rightly so) that the liberals are wrong to take the actions of one evil person with a gun and paint every gun owner as evil.

We need to apply the same concept to other things that we judge. I recently read on one of the more popular III websites that a patriot was starting a charity to get rifle armor in the hands of cops.

I was disappointed by some of the comments.

Folks proclaiming that all cops are bad based on the actions of a few.

I am not the first person to acknowledge that our justice system is incredibly flawed in the US, but I will never support the notion that everyone who works in that justice system is evil.

I’ve long advocated that those who desire to control us love to splinter us into groups so that we ignore the real wrongs in our society.

It’s not the FBI per se, it’s the Lon Horiuchis, the Richard Rogers’ and folks like him.  It’s not the EPA per se.  It’s the folks that actually go out and do stupid and wrong things.

We can’t fall into the trap that those that desire to control us have set for us. We need to take the moral high ground and hold those individuals who do evil things accountable and defend those who aren’t evil.