Arkansas Police Fight: Warranted or Unwarranted? Are we Really Thinking of Reform?

I'm a big believer in improving all systems as much as possible because that creates greater strength as a people, nation, and collective of institutions. This is somewhat of a disturbing video of a police encounter with a suspected violent criminal. We can learn from these situations and improve where improvement is warranted.

Notice that from the surface this doesn't appear to be a race issue (That is why we need to see things from different vantage points and perspectives. I believe race and religion are still big issues but its not the only issue as it pertains to positive reform.). The story isn't fully out so we should always be patient and just sort recognize what we see and some of the potential explanations. Just don't lock yourself into an unsupported position.

The video indicates a fairly severe beating of a suspect. The suspect, according to the video, made threats and acted in a violent manner. The video also indicates that it started in a certain civil discussion when officers confronted the suspect and then got out of hand when the suspect attacked an officer (The goal is to remove violent criminals from the street, help those who have situational issues, and create a sense of order in society. I do not support bad behavior but instead encourage stakeholders to find the most likely solutions to long stemming problems. Sometimes we have to give up our assumptions.) 

First, I'm 100% for police and 100% for civil rights (Politics often picks an arguments and sticks with is for political gain until it can't be support at all without detriment to the political influencers. In many cases there is a lack of divergency in thinking. Its like grabbing at the first solution offered based on social-political influence and then forcing it as an explanation even when its not a full solution. Politicians should be evidence based and change when strategies don't work. I believe this problem could have been resolved a long time ago and we could have avoided current social turmoil. Ask the right questions, generate a hypothesis and work to support and disprove that hypothesis at the same time. If its not working find another or explore multiples. ). There is a way that we can balance these issues. 

Let us think about how people can become highly aggressive in group situations. When the body's fight and flight mechanisms kick in there is a high does of adrenaline that moves through the body. You can read a study on adrenalin and aggression HERE. Group behavior often limits the perceived validity of such behaviors (If it was one officer that acted that way the other two could have stepped in and said "Let the courts figure it out.". That isn't what happened. I'm a little curious if the officer holding someone down but not engaging is from a different department. That would indicate some misgivings but fearful of confronting the two other officers.)

Once these fight and flight systems kick in it can be difficult to turn them off. So training, department culture, recruitment, and support are important to mitigate natural human mechanisms. In this case anger and prior history seem to have taken over but effective tactics seem to be missing.

1.) Train officers on how to deal with high levels of adrenaline. There are ways to avoid tunnel vision, loss of environmental awareness (Notice it took them a while to notice the video), and the blood changes that force certain physiological responses. 

2.) Enhance department culture away from the use of aggression and more toward tactics. There could have been a history so the culture could impact i.e. "The Code" whether or not problems could have been realized prior to incidents. Culture prompts people how to act in certain situations and part of a general programming of societal behaviors (Some of the problems are not exclusive to policing but to society that is more easily seen/spot lighted in policing. The anchor points of perspective need to be switched around to sort of see the possibility of that.)

3.) Make sure departments are recruiting from a variety of backgrounds, cultures, and thinking patterns (i.e. mental/cognitive diversity. Again...don't listen to me I have a Muslim sounding name. 😏). Part of the issue is related to the type of people we recruit. While that is fairly normal that certain personalities are going to be attracted to certain occupations the diversity issue is an important one (Remember the human capital thing I'm talking about and the need to draw talent on a universal level which will lead to a universal outcomes and better national, economic and institutional performance.)

4. Supporting officers that may be struggling with PTSD, anger, misperceptions, etc. is helpful. Destigmatizing can help along with rotating officers in and out of the street may be helpful (I often thought allowing 6months to 1 year swaps with other departments would create positive change and adaptation of departments.  i.e. small town and city. I know a great department that would benefit from exposing their younger officers to the big city and in turn allowing big city officers to work in small towns for short periods of time. Just saying. 💁)

I think in terms of positive reform. How to build on what we are doing well and create learning systems that changes and adjusts as new knowledge, information, and opportunities arise. Business often changes faster for profit reasons (i.e. Schumpeter.) but sometimes institutions that are not universalized are slow to change because they don't have that daily pressure to adapt. Something big like massive protest, loss of officers, and general societal mayhem force a "correction". We should be making changes on a smaller and more manageable time frame to create easier incremental adjustments. We would also have the leeway to step back adjustments that are not working. (Maybe a police-community-expert panels on incorporating new information and turning that into implemented policy might be helpful? Maybe not...just something to think about. 🤔)

(Like I said I'm 100% in support of police and civil rights. I have seen officers do great things and I have seen a minority of officers intentionally do the wrong thing. Thus, rewarding good officers is helpful and removing bad apples is a necessity to ensure proper functioning. While current recruitment is part of the problem, it has been a long stemming problem. Poor PR can also have an impact on recruitment and candidate quality. Yet that is only part of the story. There are solutions to every problem but we need our leaders to look at the big picture of democracy and then work in a bi-partisan manner to find solutions. They must be willing to listen to each other 2X more than they talk and consult with experts on potential solutions. Or maybe not? Perhaps what were doing right now is perfectly fine but I'm not sure everyone agrees. 🤷)

Car Bomb of Alexander Dugin's Daughter Not the Right Way!

I'm observing what is going on in Ukraine and believe Ukraine has a right to choose their path. I also believe Russia acted in a highly aggressive fashion based on their strategic goals and historical beliefs of regional control. Despite my beliefs/values I do believe there are certain rules that war should follow and there can be honor in keeping innocents out of the fray.

(Innocents are often the first ones to be targeted and hurt in war. We see that in Ukraine and we now see that in Russia.)

No matter where the fighting between Russia and Ukraine goes I do not believe assassinating national intellectuals or their families is the right way to deal with disagreement. Recently Alexander Dugin' daughter was killed in a car bombing after attending a lecture (Who did it is still an open question.)

In the West we believe in something called freedom of speech. I likely don't agree with many Russian intellectuals because they work from their cultural vantage point in the same way that I advocate for pro democracy (There is divergence of basic root values here on governance style). While someone may disagree with an intellectual's perspective no one should be in the business of assassinating innocents.

What Do We Do With Local Hate Groups?

Local hate is a problem and we have very little understanding of what it looks like and how to master the challenges it presents. We often feel that if its a certain target or we lower the inherent value of the targets we can justify all types of poor behaviors. The lessons of history have not yet dawned on us and how free passes in one area teaches others that hate is an acceptable method for settling disputes and creating self gain in other areas. 

What is often worse is that people line up to support their local hate behaviors because of social networks and personal loyalties. As more people commit to support their skin color, religion, sense of identity (i.e. sports mentality), ethnicity, etc. they make choices that further the hate agenda and often leads to the default of local institutions (i.e. one law enforcement agency and a local college) based on their group loyalties. 

I believe there are some solutions but that would require us to take hate seriously and as a impediment to our national progress. A few comments from a person with a Muslim sounding name.....

1. Initiators should have evaluation and follow up. Mental health often sparks group hate. These were not just angry and immature behaviors but very directed and highly dangerous. We cant afford as a society to allow such behaviors to be "normalized" and should seek to understand and thwart them before they spread through social learning. Without an evaluation you maintain the risk on the target family.

2. Investigate the logic of those within institutions that made a choice to violate law. When institutions start to fail based on their social networks we must go back and determine the cause. Who encouraged who and what was the decision making? If inappropriate we must change the policies (i.e. the local college that told me I was more than qualified but then ghosted me on what appears to be intentionally spread rumors, bigotry, and vindictiveness. If the law allows such behaviors to persist and not be held to account we risk other institutional decisions being influence by extremist, clan, religion, distorted values and behaviors. I should not have to remind anyone that the goal of the HR department is to hire qualified candidates to help their students learn and grow. A level of diversity is needed for that and especially if there is mutual agreement on higher standard qualifications. The minute we allow groups to use public money for personal gain and/or 'good old boy' networks to retain power over local positions we have a big issue that can break a system in the long run. Its an attempt to push highly qualified people into lower occupations.)

3. Ensure distorted values are not passed on to younger generations.  i.e. inappropriate sports culture. There seems to be a level of distorted arrogance and rudeness by some of the "sports people" and coaches involved in the local sporting culture. It would seem they feel entitled to these behaviors and have shown rudeness to others based on a misperception of personal value. Young children emulate their coaches and when we have the wrong people teaching the wrong values we perpetuate hate learning from one generation to the next.

4. Make sure local institutions have protections in place for default. This is a tricky one and also highly necessary. While we have state and federal government there are likely lots of opportunities for local institutions to thwart state, federal and international law. Checks and balances are needed. Thus we have to consider the long term implications when local institutions can easily default on a "hate narrative" (What does that mean on a national level?)

5. Make sure children are protected. People discount minority people and kids without considering their right to not be targeted or intentionally involved. No one asked these people to get involved to help their clan, intentionally target children with false information (or others) or make the decisions that they did. These are things they did on their own. Involving kids is my red line and as a parent I have way way more rights to protect myself and my kids then they do to feel powerful by "teaching lessons" through involving/harming/targeting kids (Protecting children supersedes all laws. It is fundamental to the very root existence of our species. Sharing false information, pulling over in an unmarked cop car, manipulating with money, ostracizing, rejecting and using the term "nigga babies" to describe them, yelling out "your father is bitch" and all other types of poor behaviors is unacceptable. We have accepted it because I feel they made subjective value over their rights for being mixed race.). 

6. Universalism of American values to better connect society into a single shared perspective. We are going to have a hard time making it into the next era if we are stuck in backward values. This is one spot in history where we will either stagnate and eventual break or create a pathway to a better future. Giving a free pass to hate based on race, religion, or party affiliation is dangerous and prompts people that only some in society are likely to get ahead no matter their skill or performance.

7. Avoid repeats of behaviors. Unless you change the normalized thought patterns of the group they will likely return to existing patterns. The time and place occurs when one of them is annoyed enough to launch another issue. (When people justify hate they aren't likely to stop just because someone told them "no". There is a risk such behaviors will be repeated if they continue to feel a sense of "immunity" for such behaviors. There have been indications that some members of the group are "buying their time" and still encouraging others to get upset at the targets that is creating displays of poor behaviors and micro aggressions.)

The initiators of hate did design to create a split in local society between who their friends were and who 100+ people were allowed to associate with, be nice to or treat with civility. They were successful in creating that split thus far in the short term but I do believe that split will become a long term problem (As seen by the examples of ostracization, snubbing noses, blocking opportunities, coordinated rudeness and aggression. Our primate cousins do this as well when encountering an unknown other. The only problem being they have no reason to dislike the target but willfully joined in the affairs. In the long term such values are likely going to cause economic damage to a city that is struggling to stay solvent and is sorely needing new investment. International investors want laws that are applied fairly and give them the best chance to create profit. It creates uncalculated risks if the local system is unstable, disparate, or defaults. This group engaged in a type of social cleansing and international investors come from different backgrounds and lifestyles. They don't want to deal with a local group of bigoted bullies. There are plenty of other places to invest where the rule of law and American values are held to a high standard.) 

There are too many reasons to bring up why people engage in group hate (Almost none of it has to do with the target but more about how the initiators "feel"; mostly about themselves.) but part of it has to do with the distorted value systems of blind social submissiveness (All the aggressive/physical bravado some these group members showed and yet they have a difficult time thinking for themselves. Odd sense of manhood and values.🤔 That is where many of the distortions lay in the proof of pudding.  I'm not sure one of them can say me or my kids did anything but they were more than willing to discount our lives, safety, and peace of mind.)

(No worries....much good can come from their poor behaviors. That is what "real" men (and women) do, they take from someone's failure and use it as a learning tool to better society. Thank you for schooling/teaching me. 🤓) 

Continuous growth comes from receiving feedback and making adjustments to increase accuracy and performance in future hate based situations. It makes no difference if we are talking about local or national issues. It also makes no difference if we are talking about groups or institutions. Hate is destructive and the people who use it often don't have common values of decency and respect for others where their boundaries end and another's begins (Their vantage point is about self and comparison. They target others because they cannot deal with what is in them.)

Just like we didn't see or understand extremism on a national level we should be doubly concerned about lack of protection and reporting on a local level (As a metric if your numbers are inaccurate based on lack of local reporting and you don't have a good sense through proper coding and tracking of hate then you will be at a loss to deal with it in other places. Its science...not conjecture.).

 If someone/group can default local institutions because of social connections I would suspect under the worst of conditions individual/group could do so on a national level (This group doesn't have that type of influence but we have seen through January 6th other groups do. They were recruited from local hate leanings.). We are often herd creatures and very few have the capacity to stand against the tides of common opinion. (Why the best and brightest are needed for future national performance. They are also likely the ones who don't follow the herd because they understand the bigger picture. )

(It should be noted that most of the people who engaged in these behaviors are not bad people. They are confused and have a distorted homogenous sense of themselves. Others "outsiders" are seen as different and when there are differences (when compared to themselves) they can be easily exploited to act on false information. That comes from a history of rigid social structure and inability to mature into independent adults i.e. stuck in highschool sports mentality.

I do not hate them even though I have every right to do so. Its the opposite. I forgive them for who they have become and plan on using the knowledge they shared with me to raise awareness of how hate works on a local level. I hope very much that this is a learning lesson. Where there were institutional failures, that put people at risk and violated their core rights, we must not let such behaviors stand and a correction is needed. Tackling issues at a local level helps us on a national level. Why I believe in track and solve strategies. There never is a free pass, it only changes and becomes opportunities for societal/national adaptation or failure.

My plan is to stand bravely in the face of hate and smile. It makes no difference if they are a local officer(s) (looks like initiated by a couple but highlighted up to 5 from the same department of appropriate behaviors in other arenas) tied to the initial group, a mob of 100+ people, and likely a local official. What happened here was a moral failure. It was their failure and while shame in a civilized society would be warranted I doubt any one of them would feel they did anything wrong. In their minds the targets are just so so worthy for being so so different than themselves. We have seen this across our nation and I believe the time to end such free hand for such behaviors is coming soin. We will either universalize and respect the value of all human life/human capital and the freedoms we proclaim or we will begin to see our international position decline quickly through the inability to muster needed human capital. Whether local or national, hate always leads to poor outcomes.)

Let's wait to see which way the system veers. Toward historical darkness of scapegoating or more toward the brightening of the torch of freedom for all Americans/"Americans"

Photo of Pacific Beach Pier

 Photo of Pacific Beach Pier. I'm a little annoyed by the orange cones so I will likely retake at some point when they are not there. I'm just going to put it up in the gallery in case there is any interest. I also noticed when browsing through the gallery a couple of darker pictures. I will either need to edit or remove them. You don't see the darkness until you compare them side by side with other photos. 

I'm heading to Michigan where the fall colors are going to start coming in (Likely in about 2 months). If you haven't walked one of those trails in the fall when all the trees are a different color you are missing something special. Yes, walking the boardwalk in CA is awesome but its flip side of equal stature is the trails of the UP of Michigan. 

As you can probably tell I'm trying to clean out any worthwhile (relative) pictures out of my camera. 

Picture of Beach House in Mission Bay

 I'm not sure this one can be sold and would be of any interest to put in the gallery. However, I still think its a nice picture and thought some might like seeing it. Mission Bay California.

Massive Great White Shark Sighting Near San Diego

If your a surfer you might find these sightings interesting. Sometimes I surf, dive, and swim so knowing the environment is pretty important. There have been some sightings in the area of sharks so caution is always a good thing. I'm not an expert in this field but I wonder if water temperature has something to do with it. 🤔

Trade Negotiations to Start Between Taiwan and the U.S.

 Trade negotiations to start between Taiwan and the U.S.. It seems like a process of creating more ties to the Island as an indication of support. We are in interesting times. We should consider what place we as a nation want to be in the global supply chain (i.e. I would consider innovative center). Likewise, we will also want to create supply chains that can provide a place for countries like Taiwan to prosper as well.

The rules in the global world are changing quickly as trade conflicts between the philosophies of Capitalism and Communism rise (Russia and Ukraine, US and China, etc..)