Ferguson

As you are hopefully aware, there's a lot of discussion going on right now about the events in Ferguson, Missouri.  I've read a fair amount about it, though most of it from websites and articles that avoid moderation like a Congressman.  I've also read plenty of emotional facebook rants, sprinkled with profanity, taking positions at opposite ends of the spectrum.  From all of my reading, I have come to one conclusion: I don't care what your position on the issue is, just please, for crying out loud, be intelligent about it.

I can't stand reading these articles where Michael Brown is portrayed as a gentle giant, just on his way to visit his dear grandmother one afternoon before heading off to college the next week.  He assaulted a police officer after robbing a liquor store.  I'm not saying he was a bad person, or even that he deserved what happened.  I'm not even touching those issues right now.  What bothers me is when some people ignore information that doesn't agree with their stance.  I think it's dishonest.

Another thing that bothers me is ignoring the larger issues entirely.  This case has brought up a lot of legitimate discussions that need to be had about things like police militarization, gun violence, attitudes towards police, and racial profiling.  These are really important issues, and they need to be addressed if we want to improve society.  But some people refuse to acknowledge that these are issues simply because they don't think this case represents those issues.  They say that the officer was justified, and race/violence/other issues had nothing to do with it.  I don't know if that's true, but even if it is, even if race had nothing to do with it, it's still a legitimate issue.  On the other hand, it really bothers me when people posted, following the announcement that the officer would not be indicted, things like "Another case of the justice system failing us," and similar things.  The American media and people have a real problem: they assume guilt.  They assume they know whether or not someone is guilty, and once they've made up their minds, nothing will change them.  We don't know exactly what happened, and we don't know (and I don't think we can know) the degree to which the officer is responsible.  We cannot assume someone's guilt.  One of the foundational principles of our justice system is "Innocent until proven guilty."

So, before I descend from my soap box, I urge you to think and be intelligent when you express your opinions and when you read others' opinions.  Kind of the same points I wanted to make in my post about the Arab-Israeli conflict.  Please be intelligent.  The world needs more people willing to stand in the middle and look at all views critically without getting carried away by emotion.
And now I'm stepping off the box.