Union and 6th avenue, friday night fight + cops

Mougar wrote: "Teens are stupid"
"No they're not"
"You're stupid"
"Shut up"

Wasn't this already covered in the chip shop thread?

you're stupid. so is your face

witch-king wrote: Cops are just teens with shields and firearms.

So let's see, according to the wisdom of "witch-king," our nation's servicemen and women deserve no more respect than the average Joe Schmoe on the street, and now cops are nothing but teenagers on a power trip. Park Slope hipsters and yuppies, on the other hand, are a respectable group of hardworking folk to be looked up to.

Glad to see you have your priorities in order. =D>

When I went to high school, (in Brooklyn, 30 years ago) some of my classmates became cops and some joined the armed forces. Some of them were jerks in High School and have "bragged" to me about their stupidity as cops; they became "teenagers with badges.

Some of them became heroes.

Nobody deserves any more respect just because of their job. They have to earn it.

Obamanut wrote: [quote=ringrunner]When I went to high school, (in Brooklyn, 30 years ago) some of my classmates became cops and some joined the armed forces. Some of them were jerks in High School and have "bragged" to me about their stupidity as cops; they became "teenagers with badges.

Some of them became heroes.

Nobody deserves any more respect just because of their job. They have to earn it.

Well call me crazy but I tend to think cops and especially Soldiers, Sailors, Airman, and Marines earned a bit of respect when they took the oath and put themselves in a position of danger in order that I don't have to, even if it is their "job." They're entitled to at least a tad more regard than, say, the average Park Slope "Ethan the production assistant" or "Emily the freelance writer." Maybe I'm just off my rocker, but that's what I think.

Of course, that respect is always revocable if they prove themselves undeserving of it.

I feel like you've never lived near a military base.

Obamanut wrote: [quote=ringrunner]When I went to high school, (in Brooklyn, 30 years ago) some of my classmates became cops and some joined the armed forces. Some of them were jerks in High School and have "bragged" to me about their stupidity as cops; they became "teenagers with badges.

Some of them became heroes.

Nobody deserves any more respect just because of their job. They have to earn it.

Well call me crazy but I tend to think cops and especially Soldiers, Sailors, Airman, and Marines earned a bit of respect when they took the oath and put themselves in a position of danger in order that I don't have to, even if it is their "job." They're entitled to at least a tad more regard than, say, the average Park Slope "Ethan the production assistant" or "Emily the freelance writer." Maybe I'm just off my rocker, but that's what I think.

Of course, that respect is always revocable if they prove themselves undeserving of it.

Excellent post. It'll never fly with the PC mentality.

ringrunner wrote: When I went to high school, (in Brooklyn, 30 years ago) some of my classmates became cops and some joined the armed forces. Some of them were jerks in High School and have "bragged" to me about their stupidity as cops; they became "teenagers with badges.

Some of them became heroes.

Nobody deserves any more respect just because of their job. They have to earn it.

Yes, some of guys I knew who had "authority issues" wound up working as police, which apparently is a great occupation in which to work out such issues.

ringrunner wrote:
I actually know a Park Slope "stay at home dad" who spent 36 hours on Sept 12 and 13, 2001 at the World Trade Center site with a shovel just digging wherever the Firefighters asked him to.

I don't give extra respect to anybody because of their job.

I'm afraid that asking someone to dig with a shovel at Ground Zero and asking someone to drive convoys in Afghanistan or to work on a base where mortars are lobbed at you while you eat dinner are probably at slightly different levels on the "sacrifice" scale.

That also goes for asking someone to pull over a car with blacked out windows in East NY or Brownsville at 3AM and question the driver.

The next time I hear about a stay-at-home Park Slope dad putting his life on the line to protect a stranger, then I'll give him the same amount of respect as I give cops and military. Something tells me that I'll be waiting a long time to hear a story like that, however.

Obamanut wrote: [quote=ringrunner]
I actually know a Park Slope "stay at home dad" who spent 36 hours on Sept 12 and 13, 2001 at the World Trade Center site with a shovel just digging wherever the Firefighters asked him to.

I don't give extra respect to anybody because of their job.

I'm afraid that asking someone to dig with a shovel at Ground Zero and asking someone to drive convoys in Afghanistan or to work on a base where mortars are lobbed at you while you eat dinner is probably at slightly different levels on the "sacrifice" scale.

That also goes for asking someone to pull over a car with blacked out windows in East NY or Brownsville at 3AM and question the driver.

The next time I hear about a stay-at-home Park Slope dad putting his life on the line to protect a stranger, then I'll give him the same amount of respect as I give cops and military. Something tells me that I'll be waiting a long time to hear a story like that, however.

I'm with you about the troops. But being a cop in New York City is not an especially dangerous job, compared to lots of other jobs here, and definitely not in the same category as driving convoys in Afghanistan. Most cops never fire their weapon in the line of duty (a good thing). And convenience store clerks and cab driver are much more likely to be killed in the line of duty.

Everyone deserves respect. And many cops joined the force out of an admirable desire to protect their neighbors. But many others of them just like to bully people around. It wasn't an unreasonable inclination on the part of the OP to want to keep an eye out to make sure that some kids didn't fall victim to the latter group.

Carnivore wrote:
Everyone deserves respect. And many cops joined the force out of an admirable desire to protect their neighbors. But many others of them just like to bully people around. It wasn't an unreasonable inclination on the part of the OP to want to keep an eye out to make sure that some kids didn't fall victim to the latter group.

I hear you, but I think we all know the air with which the police are looked at in this neighborhood. They aren't even given the benefit of the doubt. As a result, the general consensus among the cops in the 78th Precinct is that this neighborhood is nuts.

Without the NYPD's protection, this neighborhood wouldn't stand a chance. It would be burned and pillaged (something one couldn't say about Bay Ridge or Bensonhurst). Yet at the same time these privileged 135lb Park Slope men who have never had a day of hardship in their lives want to turn around and curse the cops like as if they're all nothing but a bunch of mouthbreathing idiots.

Yes, not all cops are working in Brownsiville.

and I did not say their job is not dangerous, I said they are not all heroes. Some of them are thugs. I have met both kinds.

ringrunner wrote: Yes, not all cops are working in Brownsiville.

and I did not say their job is not dangerous, I said they are not all heroes. Some of them are thugs. I have met both kinds.

I never said they were all heroes. That's what things like the Medal of Honor and Combat Cross are for. What I said was that, in my book, your typical cop or serviceman deserves more respect than Lucas the graphic designer from Park Slope. That's all.

Obamanut wrote: [quote=ringrunner]Yes, not all cops are working in Brownsiville.

and I did not say their job is not dangerous, I said they are not all heroes. Some of them are thugs. I have met both kinds.

I never said they were all heroes. That's what things like the Medal of Honor and Combat Cross are for. What I said was that, in my book, your typical cop or serviceman deserves more respect than Lucas the graphic designer from Park Slope. That's all.

I try to respect everybody, cop, serviceman, yuppie scum, high school kid, white, black, gay straight, whatever. I give each individual a chance to prove the worth to me. That's all.

Obamanut wrote: [quote=witch-king]

Yes, some of guys I knew who had "authority issues" wound up working as police, which apparently is a great occupation in which to work out such issues.

May I ask then what, pray tell, sorts of "issues" induce someone to be a 7th Avenue-ambling, black-and-white Converse-sporting, big paper coffee cup-holding, chunky eyeglass-wearing, nasally voice-projecting, tussled hair Park Slope pseudo-intellectual? I would be really interested to find out what sorts of issues result in that.

Good genes, good schools, good stylists, Eyes On The Slope. And, of course, a feeling for the beautiful and the sublime.

booklaw wrote: Idolizing those people who take jobs which put them at risk ignores the fact that they may be sociopaths (such as a couple of the soldiers in Iraq who raped a teenage girl and killed her and her family), thieves (such as some cops who steal from drug dealers or others) or otherwise entirely worthless individuals.

Some folks become cops because they want to be able to push people around (such as the cop who got filmed launching himself at an innocent bicyclist). Others become soldiers because they were given the choice of enlisting or going to jail for the crimes they had committed in their home towns, or simply because they couldn't otherwise qualify for or hold down a job.

Any assumption that working-class guys and women who become cops or soldiers are necessarily heroic, because they are working-class or because they are cops or soldiers, is ludicrous... just as it would be to assume that people who become investment bankers are necessarily admirable.

There is a difference between "idolizing" someone and giving them a bump in everyday respect. Nice try contorting my words.

The types of crooked cops and convict soldiers you speak of (I have never heard of anyone in this day and age being given a choice between jail and the military) probably consist of less than 2% of the whole, if that. Of course, for purposes of the Park Slope pseudo-intellectual soapbox soliloquy, that stands for naught. Everything in Park Slope is theoretical, since Park Slopers have no experience with reality.

I especially love your raising of the uber-Limousine Liberal contemplation that many solders enlisted/joined because "they can't hold down or don't qualify for any other job." Of course, I wouldn't dare pop your delusion by letting you know that if it weren't for many of those dopey low-lives who couldn't do anything else giving their lives for you and dying in some God-forsaken place thousands of miles away, you would be speaking another language right now in your illustrious career and magnificent brownstone.

If the idea of giving men and women who put their lives in danger to protect others a bump in everyday respect is "ludicrous," then so be it. Thanks for confirming my gut feeling once again; you fit in perfectly with this neighborhood.

Obamanut:

Thanks for confirming my gut feeling once again; you fit in perfectly with this neighborhood.

Actually, no. I'm too old now for the neighborhood. I was the right age when I came here, in 1976.

But you clearly do not fit in with this neighborhood, and you apparently feel trapped someplace you no longer like or respect, surrounded by people you despise.

It's sad...