So the case under discussion here is one of the more benign outgrowths of the "Warrior Training" that police undergo, which cultivates the us vs. them mindset, the "War On" mentality, the notion that police can only trust police and there's lurking danger everywhere.
The bare facts of the case are: an officer used the McDonald's app to order ahead, and then assumed it was a deliberate anti-cop tactic when she found out they didn't start making her McMuffin till she showed up so she still had to wait a few minutes.
Which is how the app works.
Which is how the app works.
Me, even if I had not read the material and had not realized that while the app was saving me time in line and human interaction it would still not be instantaneous service (because they want to ensure the food is hot and fresh when you get it), I'd think, "Well, stuff happens."
But I'm not a Warrior, surrounded with civilians and enemies in a world where civilians don't understand the War, and enemies who often look like civilians. A Warrior knows that danger lurks around every corner and even if everyone isn't out to get them, anyone could be.
The other night, assuming there's *any* truth to it and the Shake Shack didn't invent a story about cleaner in order to not have to argue publicly with the police, three officers intuited a murder attempt from a bad batch of milkshakes. Would anyone else have made that leap?
(If there wasn't any cleaner in the milkshake, then three officers intuited a murder attempt from maybe a tummy ache or a "Hey, does this taste off to you?" "Yeah, I heard antifa puts chemicals in milkshakes.")
Now, these are all somewhat remote interactions where the cop is "discovering" the enemy probably from inside their own vehicle and at some distance, so the response from the officers wasn't direct violence, either.
But it's the same mindset that has them imagining that a hand reaching for a pocket or glove compartment (even at their own shouted commands) is a hand going for a weapon, same mindset has them jumping at shadows and shooting at movement.
There's an essay that's been going around, sometimes called "The American Sniper essay" because it was quoted in that movie. It's worth reading. When I talk about cop culture, especially post-9/11 this is a foundational scripture.
killology.com/sheep-wolves-a…
killology.com/sheep-wolves-a…
Just... just the raw fact that something calling itself "Killology" is part of the fabric of police training out to give us pause. Part of the "Warrior" ethos is the idea that any natural human hesitation to shoot and kill an enemy is a deadly weakness in a cop.
So from day 1, as part of the psychological molding that goes into making a police officer, two things are impressed upon recruits:
1. Enemies exist.
2. You must kill them.
1. Enemies exist.
2. You must kill them.
"Because wolves exist," police can shoot Tamir Rice dead not three seconds after rolling up in the park where he was playing. "Because wolves exist," a five minute McMuffin is a sign of conspiracy. "Because wolves exist," a plastic water bottle is a Molotov cocktail.
The people who defend the cop who shot Tamir... it's not that most of them think it's a good outcome. They just see it as being unavoidable, because cops *can't* hesitate, because "out there, it's one wrong move and you're dead".
No facts back that up, though.
No facts back that up, though.
What we see again and again is that police make one wrong move and someone else dies. One of the "sheep". The Killology sheep dog essay draws a line between "wolves" and "sheepdogs" and makes the point that "sheepdogs" would never and must never harm a "sheep"...
...but the lines it draws and the mindset its related training instills creates a never-ending gauntlet of situations where the "sheepdogs", the "Warriors", in order to remain "Warriors", can, must, and will shoot at the flock that they're ostensibly protecting.
And I want to emphasize how much racism is a part of this, particularly insofar as "sheepdogs" are making split-second life-and-death decisions about who is likely to be a civilian/sheep and who is likely to be an enemy/wolf.
"Killology"-based Warrior Training doesn't refine raw recruits into tempered steel. It makes them fragile, heightens fragility already present. These "warriors" are brittle, prone to going to pieces and the pieces have sharp, jagged edges.
Just. Watch this video. The voice hitch and the tears that start when she describes someone bringing out her coffee before her food and she is suddenly in fear, possibly mortal fear for her life. Not even exaggerating.
