re: Anyone else getting tired of selective outrage?

(no message)

quote:

---

It could not possibly have anything to do with having higher expectations for government employees who have been granted the right to use sound judgement than one would have for a common criminal. Dead is dead either way but the damage done by the criminal is limited, the damage done to the public when the government employee acts with poor judgement is far more eggergious to orderly society. We can only do demand so much of criminals but we have some control over government employees. They certainly should be held to an infinitely higher standard standard than common criminals.

---

You've just proven my point. Instead of holding the criminal accountable first, you immediately go to it being the problem of the vague "government employees". You can't expect better behavior from criminals if your default is to defer blame to others first.

To the "government employees" point: which "government employees" do you mean? Those who are elected over and over despite their ineffectiveness or those who are hired to do a job outlined by those who are elected?

To get a bit more granular on that: which level of government employee is most responsible for some POS drive-by shooters shooting up a neighborhood? Is it the police who are often hamstrung by their administration or the elected officials they report to? When those shooters get released the same day on a ridiculously low (or no) bond, is that the fault of the officers at the jail, the lawyers hired in the DAs office or the judge, DA, sheriff, etc who were voted into those positions by the voters?

Look at New Orleans, Latoya's leadership has decimated the city through horrid mismanagement on both fiscal and crime-prevention aspects yet she was re-elected. That's not the fault of some unnamed "government employees", that's the fault of the voters.

The fault lies first in the criminal.

The fault lies next in the society which does not hold criminals nor their activities accountable enough to dissuade such activity (which includes re-electing government leaders who have proven to be ineffective). See also: "Hands up! Don't shoot!"

Finally, the fault lies with elected government officials who avoid addressing the issue in an effective manner (whether through a failed view of the issue, through their political ambitions, etc).