Hi KLP; "Cowardly" isn't the word I need here. What I'm trying to describe, is that tendency of the bourgeoisie to hold their lives dearly, so accurately described by Karl Marx. If DC residents cared more about catching the sniper than avoiding being shot by him, they'd have been carrying around electronic cameras and taking photographs of the surrounding area. With those cameras, there is no film wasted as it just saves the new pictures onto the space required by the old.
That way, if the sniper shoots you, the police will come over, pry the bloody camera out of your cold, dead, hands, and maybe figure out who was in the area. That's revenge.
There is no doubt that people were outraged about the sniper. But no one did anything about it. Even when there were shootings no one went out and halted traffic. Instead, in each case, everyone ducked and covered. Hell, that was what the authorities said to do.
After the first few shootings, it was clear that the sniper never took more than one shot. So why duck and cover? I hope that I'd have been pissed off enough to run around recording license plates of vehicles nearby.
But they didn't do that. Instead, they let the police take care of it. If the snipers hadn't been complete idiots the police would still have no clue as to who they are.
I don't see any reason why the police should be braver than the citizens. The police are no different than the other citizens, in terms of risk. Most police vests will not stop a .223 fired at any kind of reasonable range.
All the police can do is arrest the bad guys. It's the citizen's own responsibility to defend himself. Why should the police have to do all the dangerous stuff?
If the DC sniping had happened in a place where the citizens are more proactive about crime, like Texas, the sniper might have been caught sooner, but on the other hand, there might have been more people shot, by the "innocent bystanders".
For example, see:
A neighbor comes to the rescue of a robbery victim in northwest Houston. Now one suspect is in the hospital, another is under arrest, and a third remains on the loose.
This daring act happened during midday Monday in the parking lot of a check cashing location in the 5600 block of Gessner near Tanner.
This was a wild scene, with the owner of one business, Joe's Food Market, wanting, needing, and ultimately getting life-saving help from the owner of a check cashing facility directly across the street.
The lead flew. At least six shots dented bulletproof glass, and shattering that that wasn't. The owner of Joe's Food Market, 62-year-old Yong Do Cho, had been followed by three suspects in a gray Isuzu as he came from a bank. They shot at him on Clay Road, and he raced three blocks up Gessner to a check cashing facility across from his business where he thought he could get help. He was right.
...
abclocal.go.com
-- Carl |
