Consequences of Refusing to Persuade
“No oppression is so heavy or lasting as that which is inflicted by the perversion and exorbitance of legal authority.” –Joseph Addison
Dear Persuader,
Freedom. . . it’s a word that’s used and abused by politicians and pundits. The Founding Fathers of this great country never intended that the “freedom” they helped shape would end up a spectator sport. Nor did they intend that only “professional politicians” be the only ones safeguarding our system.
One distraction we have is the problem of living in an age that is excessively politically correct. We are all so worried about not offending anyone that we learn not to have any opinions and we don’t learn how to argue our points and therefore don’t have to defend our side of an argument or our beliefs, and therefore, we aren’t empowered or informed to the extent that we could be. When you truly know an issue, only then can you defend what you believe to be true. And only by engaging others, can we learn and understand our differences.
This fear of offending is a problem. It leads to us being a nation of mutes. We keep quiet and “going along to get along” instead of making our voices heard. Those that want power take advantage of our silence and submissiveness and begin to foist all manner of rules that we’re supposed to just go along with.
One of the biggest offenders of this requirement of our submission (in my opinion) is the police. They have simply forgotten that their duty is to protect and serve. Their job is not to see how much compliance they can wrestle out of everyone they come into contact with.
Here’s a story for you that will illustrate what I mean.
I came across an article in The Oregonian recently called “Four Sue Police, Alleging ‘Dirty Tactics'”.
One of the four, Frank Waterhouse, who is suing the police department for unlawful seizure with excessive force, alleges that police fired a Taser and bean bag rounds at him because he was videotaping their search of a friend’s property.
He says in the suit that the police immediately came after him when they saw that he was videotaping and they yelled at him to “put it (the camera) down.” When the officers came at him, (as he was running away) he said, “Don’t come after me.” He said seconds later he was shot with a bean bag gun and a Taser and fell to the ground.
Officers wrote in their reports that Waterhouse ran off, they chased him and then bean-bagged and Tasered him. One officer wrote, “He had refused to drop the camera which could be used as a weapon.”
Here’s the video: http://www.brightcove.tv/title.jsp?title=1243494890
Okay. .. so let me get this straight. He was running away but somehow was seen as a threat? It’s absurd.
When good people keep quiet because they believe it is the ‘politically correct’ or ‘safe’ thing to do, then they get whatever their “handlers” or the authority figures give them. I’d say it’s high time to begin using your persuasion skills to let others know what you think. Don’t let this happen to you. The only way what you saw in this 27 second video won’t happen to you is if you begin now to let your city and state, not to mention federal, officials know that you’ll never accept this in your home town.
If this story touches you as deeply as it does me, send it to those you love. I’m anxious to hear your thoughts about this, so post a comment and tell me what you think.
Until next time,
Kenrick E. Cleveland
