Comments on The Burd Report: Who says cops are humourless?

"neanderthal" -one (man or woman) who s...

2009-08-06T19:35:30.877-04:00

"neanderthal" -one (man or woman) who suggests a caveman in appearance, mentality, or behavior - Merriam-Webster

Even neanderthals had a gender-role defined existence, according to what I've read in the past. While some behaviours seem to indicate otherwise, I'm pretty sure that humanity has evolved well beyond that level of gender-specific definitions, but I have encountered people who seem to have stubbornly tried to resist the rest of the world's changes in attitude. Being 'politically correct' has nothing to do with that.

As far as Ben's comment about sensitive male, I doubt if their sensitivity is as much about gender as it is about feeling antagonistic towards a number of things that include gender, authority, seniority, etc. It must be difficult to live with such frustration coming at you at every turn.

btw - I have not made an assumption as to the gender of 'anonymous' since their comments so far could come from either.

Methinks we have a sensitive male who cannot stand...

2009-08-06T13:07:50.797-04:00

Methinks we have a sensitive male who cannot stand assertive women. Confusing statements with sexist statements. This anonymous person, or two anonymous people, should learn the difference between strong flat statements directed to males as just that as opposed to seeing comment coming from a female directed at a male as sexist. I hope he/they is/are not married or else he/they will be living in a conversationless household

Manfred, let's just say the officer was being ...

2009-08-06T12:56:21.728-04:00

Manfred, let's just say the officer was being a little creative in awarding the ticket for the finger gesture. Humourous even, because if it went to court it would be thrown out. Unfortunately, I doubt the driver has the balls and the smarts to do so.
As far as your neanderthal comment goes, you've entered the PC world, my boy. As far as I can ascertain, neither gender has ascendency in that interesting species.
A few years ago I attended a human resources seminar wherein the lady speaker told the group of about 75that females had achieved rightful equality in the workplace. A statement which no one in that room would dispute. She went on to state, " that if any men in the room didn't like it, they could just suck it up ". Pretty offensive comment, even coming from a neanderthal.

It's too bad some of these posters won't p...

2009-08-06T12:27:36.752-04:00

It's too bad some of these posters won't put their names to their opinions. They might be allies if they were willing to stand up and be counted.

There is a certain comfort in being veiled, along with the absolute freedom to say whatever one likes, but ultimately we will all need to voice our discontent if we expect anything to change.

Like I said before, as long as we are afraid to speak out, they have won.

The newspaper business being what it is, and the h...

2009-08-06T12:05:58.940-04:00

The newspaper business being what it is, and the human attention span being what IT is, there are limitations to what ends up on the printed page. We must assume that what is there is actually truthful, but we can not assume that it's complete. There may well be more to the story, and that can only come from two reliable sources - the officer and the driver. That's the premise of my original comment. If any of the anonymous's disagree with that, I'm all ears and eyes.

I don't know if the officer's gender played a part, but I'm leaning to the side that says the tick(et)ed driver may have been more cautious with his indication of displeasure, had the officer been a male. Some neanderthals still haven't come to accept the changes in gender roles, and I'm not suggesting he is one of those - but I'm thinking it! Any exception to that is also welcome comment.

Jennifer , that chest beating must be really hard ...

2009-08-06T11:53:08.043-04:00

Jennifer , that chest beating must be really hard on the breasts. To the female officer, it's more like two fingers up than two thumbs up. What a load of sexist crap.

Wow. Kind of like putting a sticke saying "I&...

2009-08-06T11:21:38.601-04:00

Wow. Kind of like putting a sticke saying "I'm not just with stupid -I AM stupid!" on your forehead while you sit in an endless Timmy's Drive-Thru lusting for nothing more in life than another double-double and a call from a Leafs scout about your little knucle-dragger, eh?

No, don't worry Jennifer. Nothing untoward will ever happen to you. Just keep showing up front and centre at Our Cops Are Tops rallies and wearing red on Fridays and gawping away through tear-filled eyes as yet another kid comes home in a box. Don't think too hard about things. Respect authority -all kinds of authority, from cops to teachers to erstwhile generals who left their troops in the field.

Don't worry, Jennifer. Be happy.

I think its interesting to note that the clown who...

2009-08-06T10:56:09.544-04:00

I think its interesting to note that the clown who gave the OPP Officer the finger did so as he was driving away. Apparently he didn't have the balls to do it to her face.

As always from the same ole same oles, blah, blah,...

2009-08-06T10:00:46.154-04:00

As always from the same ole same oles, blah, blah, blah, to the female officer, I say YOU GO GIRL.!!!!!!!!

I dunno, Rick Norloch may win the next election by...

2009-08-06T09:29:24.196-04:00

I dunno, Rick Norloch may win the next election by more than he did last time. Not just Politically Correct anymore, but just plain Correct, thank you. Gettin' to look a little like Kansas around these here parts. Great year for corn, n'all.

While I'm at it, a couple of more points: Reme...

2009-08-06T08:17:29.823-04:00

While I'm at it, a couple of more points: Remember the great show of police force at Const. Chris Garrett's funeral down King St.? Christ, the OPP even had sharpshooters on the roofs. What the hell was THAT all about anyway? Then began the relentless push for postumous glorification -an unseemly effort if ever I've seen one. This on top of the street naming, the monuments, the dog parks. By God, hell or high water, we were never going to be allowed to forget that fallen officer. Never in a million years.

Maybe that cop who objects so much to having her authority mocked or questioned ought to take a moment and read the side of just about every cruiser in North America -except the OPP's. The part where it says "To Serve And Protect". Maybe she ought to ask herself (a) just who was being "served" anything other than a frivolous ticket and (b) who or what, other than her own dignity, is being 'protected'.

About the regular trips down the Highway of Heroes: First of all if there were such a thing as Truth In Advertising it wouldn't be called the Highway of Heroes at all. It would be called exactly what it is: The Highway Of Expendable Political Capital. Beacuse, dammit, that's all it is. Dead kids dying for nothing -absolutely nothing. And why do the autopsies have to be performed in Toronto? Why can't they be performed in Trenton? For that matter, why do we need autopsies at all? Hell, every one of the soldiers dies the same way -blown to pieces by an IED. What do the results of the autopsies say I wonder? Are there any surprises? Did the soldier show signs of carrying the swine flu bug too? Did that hasten his death from dismemberment? My point is this: The 401 parades are nothing more than a recruitment poster on wheels. It's sick in my opinion. And totally unnecessary too. But, patriots all, we go right along with this By Jingo! claptrap. Which leads me to leave you with this: What do Buzz Hrgrove and Rick Hillier have in common? They both know exactly when the hell to leave the building.

There were any number of aspects to the story as r...

2009-08-05T22:06:40.717-04:00

There were any number of aspects to the story as reported that simply failed every test of non-editorial reportage. For instance (as I recall) the reference to The Finger being The Trudeau Salute -or something like that. Well, I've never heard that reference put quite that way before. I attribute its use to a lingering-but-unrepentent right wing stupidity that simply couldn't handle Trudeau's intelligence and to this day blames everything but hoof-and-mouth on one of the greatest statesmen, parlimentarians and world leaders this country has ever seen. It's like, God love us, we can't even remember what a RaeDay was but by the blue jesus we know EXACTLY who to blame for all the assorted ills (gas prices, gas shortages, high taxes, low taxes, in-between taxes) we did or didn't suffer way back when. It's just that we need a godamned enemy, don't we? We're just such a godamned spiteful, small minded bunch when you get right down to it that now, God love us, we take great pleasure in the misery of others. We laugh at the sap that gets another ticket for standing up to authority. We chuckle at the poor bugger who can't cash in the winning ticket. God....what's gone wrong that we think Pete Fisher is somehow conveying an unassailable truth? I'll tell you what's wrong: He IS conveying an unassailable truth. But that truth isn't about the cops, the soldiers, the 'bridgels',the Heroes, the hearses, the Hortons, the hockey or any of the rest of what we just keep hearing day-bloody-in-and-day-bloody-out.

No. It's about us. The unassailable truth that we -US- are so utterly willing to accept what's being fed to us all as some kind of truth.

Manfred: A moment of your time and considerd judge...

2009-08-05T21:33:03.829-04:00

Manfred: A moment of your time and considerd judgement if you don't mind:

If the officer involved had expressed her frustration with the citizen in exactly the same way, and had the citizen felt the same sense of insult as the officer seems to have felt, what action might the citizen have taken -right then and there- to redress the insult? What options might be available to the citizen? The same as were available to the officer?

In other words, if the shoe had been on the other foot...

Why are we so quick to assume that we have ALL the...

2009-08-05T17:33:53.218-04:00

Why are we so quick to assume that we have ALL the pertinent details that led to the second charge? If this does go to court, and the story is laid out in full detail, I would not be surprised to hear that there were mitigating circumstances that take the "how dare they" edge off the original 'news' item. Now I can't wait to read the details.

btw - Of all the cops I've met, I can't remember facing one that was not courteous and fair. Every one of them acted impartially and completely professionally, regardless of the circumstances. I also don't agree with the last comment by DJC. I believe they deserve the same respect that we expect from them.

Of course, as with anything, there will likely be some exceptions, but not enough, I venture to say, to demean them as a profession.

OK so I am now humbled and ashamed of my flippant ...

2009-08-05T17:27:35.433-04:00

OK so I am now humbled and ashamed of my flippant response, after reading DJC's obviously superior and definitely serious comment.

He is absolutely right. The law & order, crimestopper mentality has crept into the mainstream in a big way, and personally there are issues I would not dare discuss in any kind of public venue for fear of retribution from that sector.

It's becoming more like a police state all the time, and that atmosphere sure as hell prevents much needed discussions from happening. And if you can't even talk about stuff, how can you act on it?

EXACTLY! The system works well for them doesn't it?

I hope this case sees its way to a courtroom. The ...

2009-08-05T14:40:20.562-04:00

I hope this case sees its way to a courtroom. The officer involved clearly had no authority under either the Highway Traffic Act nor the Criminal Code to lay a second charge. It is, obviously, an attempt at getting even using her authority. As well it's childish and petulant. But the bigger story is the har-de-har-har take from the media. Just like the poor sap who went to cash a winning lottery ticket and found out the OLG was acting as a de facto arm of Julian Fantino's personal army. All this stuff is just a laugh riot until it happens to us -and don't think it can't or won't. As long as we treat this overzealousness as lite comedy the cops and other government authorities will take it as our endorsement that we're all for heavy-handedness.

DJC

I'm sure the men out there who just hate women...

2009-08-05T12:02:48.159-04:00

I'm sure the men out there who just hate women in authority positions will go wild over this one, never mind they secretly wish a lady cop would yank down their pants and give them a good rousing spanking for being bad boys.

Personally I'm not sure if this is an example of heavy handed authority or just a wicked sense of humour.

There are worse things than giving somebody the finger, after all. I can see why some might think this cop got carried away, but at the same time the guy may well have deserved the extra ticket if the gesture was just the final act in a tirade of rudeness directed toward the cop, who was just doing her job.

Does Pete Fisher have an opinion on this? Will we ever know if he does?