|
When such trust is placed in someone, some group, for them to do something wrong, it has quite an impact, even to the point where you don't question whether it really was wrong. People will jump on the police for the smallest thing, because they expect the police to be perfect. And while this may be an unreasonable expectation, it is a valid one. An understandable one. The police wield such power, that they cannot make a mistake. They have to act in a way that justifies to the public that power, or they won't be trusted (and some would say they already aren't), and we have to trust the police. To not trust would be worse than trusting a group that might make a mistake.
The police are only human. Every day they make hard decisions, make calls that no-one else would, or could, make. I respect them for that. But I hope they realise that they will be criticised if they make a mistake. That there will be no "people make mistakes". It's a cliche, but it's appropriate: "With great power comes great responsibility".
__________________
"Oh, irony! Oh, no, no, we don't get that here. See, uh, people ski topless here while smoking dope, so irony's not really a high priority. We haven't had any irony here since about, uh, '83 when I was the only practitioner of it, and I stopped because I was tired of being stared at."
Omnia mutantu, nos et mutamur in illis.
All things change, and we change with them.
- Neil Gaiman, Marvel 1602
|