Today's MOZEN: From Bad To Worse

           

Words and photo by F LoBuono

What she did was wrong. What he did was worse.

This was sent to me via Facebook by a friend I call il maestro, Robert Debbaut. It was in response to the numerous comments on my posting of a few days ago called Lesson Learned. The post was my reaction to the video of a sheriff's deputy in South Carolina aggressively, if not violently, removing a black 16 year-old girl from her desk after she refused repeated commands from her teacher to put away her cell phone and/or leave the classroom. The deputy, later identified as Ben Fields, who is white, was largely condemned for his actions and eventually fired from the department. I personally found Deputy Fields' behavior abusive in the least and criminal at its worst. And, in the post, I did best to explain why I felt that way. However, despite my best efforts I could not have put it more eloquently than Mr. Debbaut.

What she did was wrong. What he did was worse.

It's SO simple. Yet, there are many who refuse to accept it. I have had a running verbal "gun battle" with many people who just refuse to see what is right before their eyes. Nothing that I have read, nor people I have spoken with, suggest that what that young woman was right. Because it wasn't. It was the reaction of the deputy that shocks. His reaction is swift, aggressive, and, yes, violent. It has been reported that the girl suffered significant injuries from the encounter. Still, there are those who will paint HER as the villain. If it weren't for her, none of this would have happened. Well, it did happen and we are left to clean up the mess.

And, the haters keep coming. One person labeled her a "hood rat" and didn't understand why that's a racist term. Others defended it. The same person sent me a video posted by self-proclaimed "Mr. Controversy" TJ Sotomayor of another student from the same South Carolina school, who was black, fighting with another deputy, who was also black. The point that he TRIES to make is that the video didn't make the national news because it was a "black on black" incident. But, I have many issues with it. First, he starts the video, on camera, saying "hello niggas". Shortly after that he condemns other blacks for using the same term! Then he goes on to berate other blacks for using racism as an excuse for bad behavior. He has an incredible capacity to reduce VERY complex social issues to the simplest of reasons. It reminds me of the old Nancy Reagan anti-drug campaign, Just Say No. Hey, that worked really well! The use of the video itself is to try and justify Deputy Fields' actions, implying that the only reason HE was disciplined was because he was white and she was black. NONSENSE. You can't possible compare a combative young man willing to put up his dukes with a young woman sitting passively at a desk until she is unceremoniously dumped from it! The police have every right to defend themselves as the officer in the Sotomayor video does. I don't hate cops! But, please tell me where Deputy Fields was in danger. What he did was simply offensive and degrading. The relationship must be build on mutual respect.

What these "naysayers" suffer from is known as Cognitive Dissonance. Simply put it's a mental condition that prevents the person from thinking beyond the box that they have created for themselves. They see things for the way they WANT them to be instead of how they ARE. They offer all sorts of explanations as to why the girl was wrong and that the deputy only did his job. Why do they thing this way? I can only surmise that, in their lives, they have always been taught to obey, to never question authority. To toe the line is to achieve success. When this girl disrupted "the system" she was swiftly and decisively punished. What this suggests is limited thinking. Those that vilified her saw her as "lesser", i.e. a poorly raised child with no morals or scruples - without really knowing ANYTHING about her. It was enough to know that she did not OBEY. THIS is cognitive dissonance: they would not behave that way, so why should we allow HER to? There is no accounting for her age or circumstance. To them, it simply does not matter. She broke the rules as they see them and, therefore, got what's coming to her.

You can find plenty of "TJ Sotomayor's in the world - shit-stirrers with an agenda that fits their vision of the world - one that lacks true reason and a sense of decency and compassion. Or, you can open your eyes and see things for the way they TRULY are. The choice is ours to make.