How do you handle it?

[Titansfanmjfink]

Say you are sitting watching the news with your family and a story comes on accusing a LEO or LE department of wrong doing/excessive force/corruption/etc. Obviously the news shows chopped up version of the video and generally only the victim's side of the story. Suddenly your spouse/mother/father/aunt/uncle/etc start going off about how wrong it is and either ask you why it happened or in some other ways engages you in the "discussion." From your point of view the LEO is either not wrong or their is not enough fact shown to really decide.

How do you deal with this? I ask because my parents grew up in this area (near Kent State University) and knew people involved in the May 4, 1970 incident. So obvioulsy they (and many others of their generation) tend to be "anti-authority" and are quick to assume the police are wrong, even when presented with an obviously slanted news story.

So while they try to be as supportive of me as they can, they are very quick to assume that LEOs have done something wrong when accused... which doesnt send the best message my way. In these situations I try to present facts situations that they may not be aware of... or demonstrate how many parts of the story are missing. But it never seems to help...

Its not a big deal to me that they have their views... but has anyone found a good way to maybe open your family members eyes to the LEO perspective of things... or do you just refuse to engage in the "discussion" with family who dont have a reaonable view of things.

[Taz_bb2]

Yup...innocent until proven guilty.

Words are just words (ESPECIALLY by the media) until they become facts in a court of law.

[mcsap]

If you dont like cops, next time you need help, call a hippie. An old and stated saying but the truth of it is still there.

[Curt581]

but has anyone found a good way to maybe open your family members eyes to the LEO perspective of things... or do you just refuse to engage in the "discussion" with family who dont have a reaonable view of things.

There really is no specific 'way' to change someone's mind, or get them to see a different perspective. Snap decisions based on opinions with little or no factual basis seems to be the rule in society today. Everyone's got their little perspective or opinion and that's the end of it.

I get that stuff alot, too. Even from longtime friends who claim to support the overall mission of the police. For the most part, I don't even bother trying to explain things. It's a waste of time.

Q: "Why did they have to shoot that guy so many times?"
A: "Because he was still coming at them with a butcher knife"
Q: "Well, couldn't they shoot him in the leg or something?"
A: :rolleyes: "Uh, no, we're not trained that way"
Q: "Well, I still think it's terrible. They should have tried talking to him"
A: "They probably did. I guess it didn't work"

Sometimes I'll get fed up with it and just agree with them.

"Yeah! You're right! The cops are all incompetent or crooks! We should just disband all the police departments and lay off all the cops. Give everybody a CCW license and let 'em handle it on their own. Is next door neighbors dog barking? Shoot the damn thing".

Normally, I save that for my more radical conservative friends when police contract negotiations roll around and they start complaining that taxes are too high and the cops and other municipal employees are all 'feeders at the government trough'... Then I really let 'em have it.

"Yeah... let's fire all the cops. Think of the tax savings... If we did that, we wouldn't need jails, we wouldn't need prisons, we wouldn't need most of the courts or lawyers. All we'd need to do is weld armor plating to our houses and cars and stock up on extra ammunition, but hey, we wouldn't pay nearly as much in taxes".

:rolleyes:

[Aussie George]

This is the reason I don't read the Canberra Times!!!!

I wouldn't line a bird cage with that rag, out of respect for the bird.:mad:

[NoteToSelf]

There really is no specific 'way' to change someone's mind, or get them to see a different perspective. Snap decisions based on opinions with little or no factual basis seems to be the rule in society today. Everyone's got their little perspective or opinion and that's the end of it.

I get that stuff alot, too. Even from longtime friends who claim to support the overall mission of the police. For the most part, I don't even bother trying to explain things. It's a waste of time.

Q: "Why did they have to shoot that guy so many times?"
A: "Because he was still coming at them with a butcher knife"
Q: "Well, couldn't they shoot him in the leg or something?"
A: :rolleyes: "Uh, no, we're not trained that way"
Q: "Well, I still think it's terrible. They should have tried talking to him"
A: "They probably did. I guess it didn't work"

Sometimes I'll get fed up with it and just agree with them.

"Yeah! You're right! The cops are all incompetent or crooks! We should just disband all the police departments and lay off all the cops. Give everybody a CCW license and let 'em handle it on their own. Is next door neighbors dog barking? Shoot the damn thing".

Normally, I save that for my more radical conservative friends when police contract negotiations roll around and they start complaining that taxes are too high and the cops and other municipal employees are all 'feeders at the government trough'... Then I really let 'em have it.

"Yeah... let's fire all the cops. Think of the tax savings... If we did that, we wouldn't need jails, we wouldn't need prisons, we wouldn't need most of the courts or lawyers. All we'd need to do is weld armor plating to our houses and cars and stock up on extra ammunition, but hey, we wouldn't pay nearly as much in taxes".

:rolleyes:

lol +1

[Gutwrench]

Q. Officer, why did you shoot the bad man 16 times?
A. Because I ran out of bullets.