Don't Fight the Power

Going sheerly on this video clip, I dare to opine thusly…

She's obviously drunk, either with booze or elitism, fretting about being disrespected, pulling the do you know who I am? line (all academics are celebrities, don'cha know), and what was that she says, as he starts to cuff her, about what she was wearing? I'm with him, what's that got to do with what? Her speech sounds slurred and slow there, too, considering.

Back-talking, yelling, struggling, kicking him. Also signs of some kind of intoxication or rage. Irony alert: Lawyer says the Prof is "very intelligent." Yes, we just saw the video to prove that. Lawyer also says Prof's life's work is in "cultural studies and communication." Facepalm times two! Professor Cultural Studies has never heard that comedian's routine about how to act when stopped by the cops? Professor Communication is utterly graceless in her own interactions? Yup, that's Academia!

And by the way, the whole thing her lawyer mentions about her dress blowing up after she's fighting the cop, being touched somewhere inappropriate when she turned the whole thing into a game of Twister — that's the worst kind of BS. Can't believe Lawyer Lady even mentioned it.

A small percentage of my interactions with officers have been encounters with disrespectful cops. With them, I rather automatically tend to be twice as yes-sir, double down on polite, and I've done so even if when standing on principle and not answering a question. (That wacky old 5th Amendment, and I didn't even have to mention it by name.) I've found that politeness, patience, and keeping my cool when yelled at is very helpful, and I'm sure you all know what I mean.

Altogether, if there were Abject Stupidity laws, Professor Jaywalk would probably be consigned to hard labor indefinitely. And her air-headed lawyer with her. But, not to be all judgey: at points in my life, so should I have been. Except, I never fought cops.

Now, that said, why did the cop claim she had to show an ID? That rings my BS bells, loudly. She was just crossing a street, maybe she was even tipsy, but it's not like she was driving or suspected of anything else. I supposes, if she's on campus, they may have their own rules, but the same civility applies. We were not required to "show our papers" back in America. The officer didn't have to turn "gimme your ID" into the problem. I hate it when they change the game like that. Just ask who she is first, stick to the first problem, get the woman out of the middle of the road and see if she's competent to get herself home. Done. When she resisted handing over an ID, he still had the opportunity to not go all "Respeck Mah Authoritah!" on her.

As I said, I'm just going on what we see in the news clip. The whole dashcam clip might reveal ameliorating details. I kind-of doubt it.

I know we're not in the days when Officer Friendly would just smile and make sure she got safely across the street, if not all the way home; in fact, today, just to offer, he'd probably be charged with obstructing the rights of an alcohol-disabled elitism-impaired jaywalker of a protected class.

It just seems to me that he lets it get out of control unnecessarily. The guy to whom we give the gun and badge has the highest obligations in every situation, yet there seems to be a lack of education among our Civil Armed Forces regarding not letting back-sassing activate your roid rage. I'll bet our troops in the Middle East got better coaching on dealing with locals.

In short, while Professor wins the Dumber award, they both seem like modern brats, products of modern education and culture. So, no winners.

Except all of us who get to enjoy the dashcam footage. Once they were into it, and she didn't stop, it's just an episode of COPS. [Pops corn with extra butter and salt, to watch it again.] She really did basically make him slam her to the ground. Nice move!

Don't! Fight! Cop!