Don's August 26 column with prescient observations on the Brown/Wilson incident

THE WAY I SEE IT   by Don Polson  Red Bluff Daily News  8/26/2014

From idyllic to barbaric

This week finds us at another idyllic spot along the McKenzie River on the west flanks of Oregon’s Cascade Mountains, serenaded 24/7 by the gently whooshing white water of premier class I, II and III rapids. It is hardly swim-able at 42 to 46 degrees (McKenzie’s source waters, Clear Lake, are fed by snowmelt and underground springs of snowmelt for a mid-summer bone-chilling 39 degrees). However, with neoprene booties and splash jackets, guided floating on the river becomes a nearly 3-hour thrill ride. Our guide, Dennis, like many recreation workers, is also employed at Hoodoo ski area and skis at Mt. Bachelor so we’ll have another friend to look for.

In yet another mostly Internet-free zone (yes for Barb’s smart phone; no for my notebook), we would remain blissfully unaware of the news but for having radio with hourly reports, and talk show hosts. Apparently, the unrest in Ferguson, Missouri, has continued, mostly absent provable, verifiable facts substituted for with rumors, accusations, word-of-mouth and, well, simply lies about what happened when 18-year-old Mr. Brown was shot dead by police Officer Wilson.

My thoughts are informed not only by the short top-of-the-hour news segments, but also by descriptions of copycat, repetitive mainstream media (MSM) reporting. Likewise, I consider the information ignored by the MSM but provided by talk radio. I recall other incidents, particularly the Trayvon Martin shooting, when considering the mob psychology of rushing to judgment, blind belief in rumors, and negative emotions that provide a fertile stew for violence. More importantly, the truthful account by Mr. Zimmerman of his altercation with Martin proved accurate. I believe Officer Wilson’s account of what led to shooting Brown will likely be borne out by facts.

I am also reminded of Ann Coulter’s book, “Demonic,” about the predominantly leftist and Democrat use of mobs. Make no mistake—peaceably gathering is a Constitutional right but that can still give rise to mob-ism that slides into or encourages violence, if only by outsiders from distant areas as has happened in Ferguson (coming from New York and Oakland, even). Such is the face of evil, hence Coulter’s appropriation of the term “Demonic.”

First, I reliably take the side of law enforcement whenever there is any doubt or conflicting statements by witnesses because I believe that police carry out their responsibilities with exceptional skill and attention to law and procedures—exceptions must be proven and punished. I don’t allow despicable, racist police practices from the distant past and far-off, mostly Southern, locales to color my perceptions of the Ferguson shooting. I condemn activist inciters of racial animosity that make thinly veiled, self-serving, pleas to protesters.

Every officer-involved shooting is investigated and usually found justified—not because of bias but because law enforcers are professional and well trained. MSM reporters often exhibit far less professionalism and training—and can get people killed for it—when they promote unproven allegations without including balancing conflicting reports. Also, they often fail to keep a healthy dose of skepticism over anecdotal statements by parties with a potentially agenda-driven desire to inflame mobs of protesters.

In this case, it’s quite rare that black men are shot by white officers; black men, women and children are shot and killed by other black men by the dozens, even hundreds over weekends throughout any given year in our cities. Officers and deputies have been shot with their own guns dozens of times by “unarmed” suspects of various races. Unjustified officer-on-civilian shootings happen, unfortunately, but they are the exceptions. It’s also very rare that a person is subjected to “Tasing,” pepper spray, tear gas, the blunt end of a nightstick or the display, let alone use, of the officer’s firearm, when politely complying with the officer’s requests or instructions.

I concluded that Trayvon Martin was a drug-using thug and punk, as did honest African-Americans, based on his own voluminous Facebook posts as well as testimony from his female friend in court and in subsequent interviews. I likewise believe Michael Brown to be a drug-using thug and punk who wrote his own death sentence by assaulting Wilson, grabbing the officer’s gun and ultimately taunting Officer Wilson just before charging him in an apparently threatening manner. When the first shots failed to stop the 6-foot 4-inch, 300-pound behemoth, Wilson understandably shot the head of the man rushing him with malintent. That’s how I see it.

News media, under pressure from the Obama/Holder racialist Justice Department, delayed the release of indisputable video footage showing Brown robbing a convenience store of the kind of cigars preferred for creating marijuana “blunts,” and assaulting the clerk/owner on the way out. Brown had pot in his system. Witnesses and the hospital corroborate the officer’s account of Brown punching and injuring Wilson, Wilson drawing on Brown, and Brown charging and getting himself fatally shot by Wilson.

That violent, barbaric attempt on Officer Wilson’s life has been the pretext for barbaric rioting by a hysterical minority of black citizens. Society ought to be asking other questions: Where was Brown’s father? Is this how his mother raised him? Where’s the similar outrage for the predominantly black victims of violent, young black men?