JOG
I know Andy wasn't real, but he was the model. Today the model is some gun toting dude laying waste to everything in sight. Andy represented an idea that was ideal. We no longer make any pretense.
I'll bet the blacks and Hispanics around here wouldn't agree.
One last thing, I submit that much of the attitude about cops has to do with age. I am in my early thirties, white, pretty affluent for my age, good family life forever, professionaly educated, etc.. Most of my friends are as well. To a man, every single male friend of my age or younger has been arrested at least once. Mostly for public intox, ect. while in college. Of those that were arrested, seventy-five percent or so were roughed up in one way or another. Did we deserve it? Arguably, yes, we were drunken assh****. But we were white college kids, so no harm done. What if we had been black or so-called "white trash". Things might be different for some of us today. In any case, getting a close-up view of the power of the "man" has made us all despise cops. In my experience it is a generational thing. All of the kids who became cops were almost to a man, the guys that were picked on in school, the guys who were hazed by the football team or otherwise maladjusted. The one guy in my fraternity who carried a concealed weapon to class and once pulled it on another fraternity guy who had stolen one of our pictures is now a cop. These guys are the ones who are entrusted with keeping order in society. They were losers then, and I suspect they are losers now. An MP in the Army that I made sure got a General Order of Reprimand and was busted a rank for pulling his weapon on another soldier and his mom, is now a cop in a big city police department. He was a loose cannon in the Army, and he is probably a loose cannon now. Only a gutless commander and political correctness kept him from being court-martialed for his stunt.
Listen, the dumba*** yankee comment was mostly a joke, but I consider myself well adjusted. I make a very good living. I have had very little trouble with the police. I know some and they treat me well. One quality cop is in my Sunday school class. However, I read, I see what goes on, and I question. I view cops a little like I do rattlesnakes. I don't hate them, I don't go out of my way to come into contact with them, fear of them doesn't keep me out of the woods, but you can darn well bet I keep a look out for them and avoid them if at all possible. I also understand that they can bite you and sometimes they don't really care who they bite.
