Well that makes it all the worse, doesn’t it? As this guy should’ve had more and better training than your average law enforcement.
[Sean Bell hijack] I’ll open up a different thread if this is way off the main topic.
My local paper had these two quotes in it:
*Sharpton spoke of Bell as a good man from a “dignified” and hardworking family, “a young man doing the right thing, marrying the mother of his children.”
Elected officials were out in force at the event and not all of them were greeted kindly. Councilman Tom White’s (D Jamaica) comments against being “angry” incited a quick, hostile response from the crowd. Brooklyn Councilman Charles Barron followed White’s remarks by saying he was more than angry: “I’m pissed.” *
My questions: Is it really praise that Bell was going to marry a woman he had had two kids with? Is this so exemplary an act of decency that it’s the top of his obit line? What does Sharpton do for a guy who marries a woman before having his kids with her–nominate him for sainthood on that super-human moral basis? Yeesh!
And what exactly does “pissed” add to “angry”? I read that like the guy is saying, “I’m not only angry–I’m determined to express a little extra bit of vulgarity to my anger, just in case you’re unaware that just saying ‘I am angry’ understates my emotions”–what’s next? "I’m not pissed–I am Fucking pissed!"Then we go to “I am a throbbing hard-on’s worth of being fucking cuntfaced angry pissed.” Whatever happened to dignity, that Sharpton was ascribing to Bell, btw. Is this dignity?
[/Sean Bell hijack]
Saintly? No. But Sharpton is saying that’s an example that is not followed often enough.
You misread that part. White told the crowd not to be “angry,” and Barron said “I’m pissed.”
What’s the example Sharpton wants young men to follow? Impregnate your girlfriend twice before getting around to marrying her? If that’s the best thing to be said about your character, then please STFU. Brag that you have only been arrested on misdemeanor charges and only convicted twice, maybe. Boast that you’ve only tried heroin and crack, and have been through rehab successfully for each. Buy a t-shirt that says “I graduated from 6th grade.” But please don’t tell me that marrying a person you;ve already knocked up twice is a moral example for young men to strive for. GMAFB.
And I did misread the other quote. But why does a leader need to disagree with someone counseling him against anger by affirming that he’s pissed? Does it detract from his stature to say that instead of “I’m very angry,” or “I’m outraged”? Do you really want to see candidates for office saying in speeches “I am pissed at what my opponent is claiming…”? And their opponents responding “Oh, fuck you…” If not, why not?
It’s better than leaving her, which is what he’s talking about. Sharpton isn’t the only person out there who thinks that
You’re nitpicking. We don’t know that Barron didn’t say “I’m outraged.” It’s a partial quote, after all. Whatever else he may have said, the writer decided “I’m pissed” said it the fastest and made a better counterpoint to White’s comments. Barron is asserting that he and the rest of the people out there had a good reason to be mad.
Yeah, and we can’t be positive that JFK didn’t mutter “Ask not if your [damned] country can [fucking well] do for you,” either, but if he had, his dignity wouldn;t have been added to, would it? I mean, Sharpton was makng a huge issue about how dignified Sean Bell was. Do his mourners think they add to that dignity by taking up every opportunity to cuss in public?
And I question another ludicrously spun story popping up, claiming that the 23 -year-old Bell, out of competitive baseball for the past four seasons (assuming community college is your idea of competitive), having thrown in the 80s (i.e., way below what MLB is looking for in a young arm) was actually offered a chance to try out for the LA Dodgers. If this is true, the Dodgers’ scouts should all be fired ASAP, because Bell is a big-league prospect like I’m going to pull Santa’s sled for him next week, but given the vagueness of the “tryout”-- a former teammate claimed that Bell’s “father, had been able to secure the tryout through a friend who had ties to the Dodgers”-- this is pretty unlikely. I’d sure like to hear the Dodgers’ version of this offer. “Yeah, kid, come down to a local sandlot and we’ll check you out with a few hundred other kids, most of whom will be under 20, and virtually none of whom will get offered a nickel to play in Rookie League ball.”
I can’t wait for next week’s story, detailing how Sean Bell was seriously considering entering medical school because he was secretly deveoping a cancer cure in his basement. Christ, its bad enough the guy got killed, but do you have to blow smoke up my buttcheeks about how young and gifted and special he was? If you must, could you at least put out a less silly PR story for me, please?
Not at all. But this isn’t Sean Bell talking, it’s Charles Barron, who is either moved by the cause or wants people to think he is. I agree that it’s not good decorum or anything like that, but it just doesn’t strike me as a big deal.
It’s embarrassing, I agree. Not because it’s sensationalist, but because somebody thinks (correctly?) that we need these ridiculous details to feel anything about what happened to Bell. It’s not bad enough that the cops shot him to death and seem to have completely fucked up, we have to know that he might’ve had an infinitessimal chance at the major leagues years ago. :rolleyes:
What I want to know is what exactly did the other two guys do to deserve to be shot.
That’s called collateral damage.