This park in the next town up the road just got renamed to honor a "fallen hero." I'm reminded of the scene at the end of The Last Samurai where the emporer says "tell me how he died" and the captain says "I will tell you how he lived."
So here is how this sheriff's deputy died, and how he lived:
Died
Spoiler:
There was a burglary in progress call, and two cars arrived at something close to the same time. The senior guy on scene, a sergeant, took charge and sent the other deputy to the front of the house while he went around back. Apparently the burglar was coming out the back, got the drop on him, and shot him. After being knocked down by what was likely not a fatal wound the cop was killed when the burglar, a paroled felon, "stood over him and shot him four more times."
Needless to say the paroled felon has become the poster child for everything bad in the world of badge lickers and other conservatives. Only "*******s" point out things like the fact that the gun used was originally purchased legally, or that the parolee was paroled in accordance with the law.
Lived
Spoiler:
This sergeant was a "cop's cop" and a senior guy at the local station. He was known not only for advocating "old school policing" but had been training officer for many deputies so his advocacy was instrumental in making the station what it is today. And what it is today is the source of more excessive force lawsuits than any other station in a department that has seen lawsuit payouts increase by a factor of FIVE over the last decade.
Among his "old school" policies was back seat detention as a "solution" to the courts being "soft." Keep a kid locked in the back seat until they are so close to wetting themselves that they have no way to make it to a restroom, then threaten them with a public urination charge if they unzip when let out. Always a good deterrent program for keeping the youth in line...especially if they are those uppity colored folk. Usually the embarrassment about the pants wetting is enough to prevent a report, and when it's not, well, it wasn't like they were "detained," they were just voluntarily answering a few questions.
He was also the absolute favorite of the mayor who forwarded renaming the park. When the mayor "declared war on section 8" this was his guy. The guy who lead the locally funded 'assistance' provided to the county housing department so that people receiving assistance could be "inspected" out of their homes. "Warrant, we don't need a warrant, we are inspecting, not searching...by the way, you are under arrest." This program lead to a federal investigation and yet another gigantic lawsuit against the city, county, and sheriff's department.
Surprising that the sergeant had time to organize such a "task force" given that he was already the mayor's go to "enforcer" for personal grudges, putting targeted businesses out of business, and all the other 'perks' that the mayor and his close confidants enjoy. Selective enforcement has been openly recognized as a "valuable tool."
So...hero?
Spoiler:
For my part I make it a point to advocate for public urination in 'his' park as an appropriate way to honor him.
I hated Last Samurai. Dumb all the way thru but the end especially.
Dying is overrated, being a "hero" is overrated. Most of the time you can make more of a difference without taking stupid risks. And then you get to live on to continue making a difference. People who wank over the dead/slain creep me out. I want to die after a long, long life of careful calculated risks helping my family & friends not "taking a stand" in some stupid way. Those overly willing to die don't "live" more than the rest of us, usually they have mental issues and don't see their lives as meaningful without extremity, like 18 year old boys willing to go fight and die in a war just to feel something.
I don't really believe in the concept of a 'hero' outside of single-event contexts. I think someone can be heroic in a specific situation. I don't think someone can be a hero as a trait.
To a certain group of people, the way he lived would also be considered heroic. And therein lies the difficulty in universally declaring someone a hero or villain.
This park in the next town up the road just got renamed to honor a "fallen hero." I'm reminded of the scene at the end of The Last Samurai where the emporer says "tell me how he died" and the captain says "I will tell you how he lived."
So here is how this sheriff's deputy died, and how he lived:
Died
Spoiler:
There was a burglary in progress call, and two cars arrived at something close to the same time. The senior guy on scene, a sergeant, took charge and sent the other deputy to the front of the house while he went around back. Apparently the burglar was coming out the back, got the drop on him, and shot him. After being knocked down by what was likely not a fatal wound the cop was killed when the burglar, a paroled felon, "stood over him and shot him four more times."
Needless to say the paroled felon has become the poster child for everything bad in the world of badge lickers and other conservatives. Only "*******s" point out things like the fact that the gun used was originally purchased legally, or that the parolee was paroled in accordance with the law.
Lived
Spoiler:
This sergeant was a "cop's cop" and a senior guy at the local station. He was known not only for advocating "old school policing" but had been training officer for many deputies so his advocacy was instrumental in making the station what it is today. And what it is today is the source of more excessive force lawsuits than any other station in a department that has seen lawsuit payouts increase by a factor of FIVE over the last decade.
Among his "old school" policies was back seat detention as a "solution" to the courts being "soft." Keep a kid locked in the back seat until they are so close to wetting themselves that they have no way to make it to a restroom, then threaten them with a public urination charge if they unzip when let out. Always a good deterrent program for keeping the youth in line...especially if they are those uppity colored folk. Usually the embarrassment about the pants wetting is enough to prevent a report, and when it's not, well, it wasn't like they were "detained," they were just voluntarily answering a few questions.
He was also the absolute favorite of the mayor who forwarded renaming the park. When the mayor "declared war on section 8" this was his guy. The guy who lead the locally funded 'assistance' provided to the county housing department so that people receiving assistance could be "inspected" out of their homes. "Warrant, we don't need a warrant, we are inspecting, not searching...by the way, you are under arrest." This program lead to a federal investigation and yet another gigantic lawsuit against the city, county, and sheriff's department.
Surprising that the sergeant had time to organize such a "task force" given that he was already the mayor's go to "enforcer" for personal grudges, putting targeted businesses out of business, and all the other 'perks' that the mayor and his close confidants enjoy. Selective enforcement has been openly recognized as a "valuable tool."
So...hero?
Spoiler:
For my part I make it a point to advocate for public urination in 'his' park as an appropriate way to honor him.
"Hero" is used in hyperbole, moreso in cases of any police officer shot, or any army man in general. The supposed idea is that "they fell in the line of duty, serving the public". It is their job, and they are paid to do it. And rarely would they be doing it out of heroism (?).
Anyway, one can be a hero and die in a demeaning manner (Ajax being a good example), or be a hero and then tarnished and not honoured as a hero (the other "lesser Ajax" -iirc Locrian Ajax?- being an example from the same epic), but to be termed a hero just because you were killed is a far more modern notion, and usually vacant other than a pat on the back for the dead person's family members and friends.
I don't really believe in the concept of a 'hero' outside of single-event contexts. I think someone can be heroic in a specific situation. I don't think someone can be a hero as a trait.
The biggest heroes in my eyes fight for people over decades rather than randomly saving a life one day.
Also even most people who save lives in a single moment of crisis have to train many unappreciated hours to have the skills and be in the position to do so (doctors, emts, firemen, even lifeguards).
I hated Last Samurai. Dumb all the way thru but the end especially.
Dying is overrated, being a "hero" is overrated. Most of the time you can make more of a difference without taking stupid risks. And then you get to live on to continue making a difference.
But then there are also a times when you absolutely have to sacrifice or the 'window of opportunity' for yourself, your dear ones or your country can be shut for a long time to move on in certain way...
I think it's pretty obvious this dude was a trash human being, but it's also pretty obvious there are political and social motivations behind lionizing him as a "hero." Which is true of all "heroes."
It takes a heroic deed to be a hero, not a 'heroic death' imo. The former can be the latter but there are a whole lot of ways to die that don't involve the greater good.
I'm not going to cheer for the guy's death but he sounds like an a-hole, and America looooooves a-hole cops, so it's no surprise he is now a Bastion of Justice.
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