Like this post???

Please follow @levihenry on twitter.

Posted by Cody Heitschmidt --Went Live: Monday, June 08, 2009
Last night @levihenry on twitter posted this tweet:
There's no reason to
treat firefighters like crap. They don't violate constitutional rights & save lives. #notcops

(I follow Levi on twitter because he's from
Wichita and he converses with some other people I follow and he is a Renewable Energies Buff, which we should all have at least a little interest in.)

So i replied and here is the conversation that followed.

Levi then blocked me so I can't converse or follow him anymore, that part I truly regret, he was someone I enjoyed following.

But folks this type of mindset is so non-progressive that it is IMO the biggest hindrance to progress we have in our country today. We have to learn to take every individual as an individual and quit lumping people together.

Taking the actions of one Cop or one Democrat or one Republican or Rush Limbaugh or one Black man or one Jewish person or one Homosexual and making decisions and judgements concerning the whole group based on that individuals mistakes or evils, is Prejudice, its the exact definition of it. If we got past all of this, we would be better off.

Please, please, please go follow Levi and let me know when he says something cool just so i can smile. Seriously I am not mad a the guy, he doesn't have the power to make me mad, hell I just wanted to to discuss our different opinions with him. I won't have that chance, but I promise he is worth the follow. Click Here.

Labels: , , ,

5 comments to read/post yours:

  1. That really is unfortunate. The reality is, it is human nature to some degree or another to do this. But some of us make the effort to recognize this and resist it. In this case you pointed it out to him, gave him a good chance to say, "you're right, I may have overstated things," and moved on. But he stuck to his guns.

    The same people who hate all cops because of the bad ones (and it CAN be hard not to feel that way with how awful some of them are) are the first to complain about racial profiling. An ethnicity, or a clothing style, or tattoos, piercings, etc. lump people together and make the cops more likely to target them, and that's prejudice. But meanwhile because of the few cops who do that, ALL cops are evil.

    The cop side traces back to people's resistance to being told what to do. It's the famous battle between cops and firefighters. The police save people's lives every day, put themselves in the line of fire, and protect us. Firefighters do the same thing, but they're the ones who get cookies and food and big thank-yous. Nobody yells profanities at them, runs from them, or badmouths them. Difference? Firefighters don't tell you what not to do.

    People will find whatever excuse they can to justify how they feel about someone. And I think that's what happened here. We have a predefined dislike for people who have authority over us, and we draw out anything one of them does as a good enough reason to explain our hatred for the entire group. Just like homophobes will point to the one flamboyantly gay guy they suspect annoys everyone as the reason they hate gays, or the skinhead will point out the black guy wearing the bandana, gang colors, and prison tattoos who just held up a convenience store as the reason their entire skin color's inferior.

    At the end of the day, we're all susceptible to it, but it's the mark of progress and self-awareness when we can see it in ourselves and adjust for it. Hopefully @levihenry figures that out.
    ReplyDelete
  2. TurboFool,

    Excellent comment. you should just wrote the blogpost in the fist place. Thanks for taking the time. it really means something.
    ReplyDelete
  3. I've never liked the whole "cooties" thing.

    Stereotypes always come down to someone deciding this or that person has the cooties.

    Then it's grown to a profile that takes away personal responsibility and allows all sorts of social manipulation.

    I dislike social programming.
    ReplyDelete
  4. Hey Cody. My consulting fee is $225/hr. If you're willing to cough up the cash for it, I'll argue this all day long. E-mail me for a contract.

    See http://tinyurl.com/nbxvzf, http://tinyurl.com/mwzz7y, and http://tinyurl.com/l8jclh. Get a little light reading done, and I'll catch up with you soon. Okay?

    A gentle reminder: my progressive credentials are untouchable. A decade under the green dome and a combined 27 campaigns gives a person a little experience in that regard. The First Amendment guarantees the right to speech and, of course, the right not to listen. Exercise your rights; I do all the time!

    Take Care Old Buddy,

    Levi
    ReplyDelete
  5. Levi,

    I read the comment. Thanks for that.
    Is commenting here exercising your "right not to listen" No worries I have never bocked anyone from my blog.

    I checked out your links and they deserved a whole blog post so I'm gonna write one. Thanks for the inspiration.
    ReplyDelete

I love the discussion in the comments.. so... GO FOR IT!

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...