Monkeys and Municipal Mindreaders

[XLFD]

Why do some posts on social media get their author in trouble, even when they have no intention for their words to do so?

It's a topic that has reared its ugly head at the Ludington Torch at least twice.  Back in mid-2014, Safetygate occurred.  To summarize, one of our commenters made a post unfavorable to the mayor and city government, featuring criminal activity that they may engage in.  An investigation followed involving the local police, the state police, and even the FBI that indicated it was totally permissible and non-threatening free speech, and yet a public meeting was effectively cancelled and the students have not been able to attend a real city council meeting since. 

Earlier this fall, two Torch members were singled out for making some posts that two city officials took as threatening.  One offered a medical cure for City Manager Shay's mouth, one wanted some time alone with Councilor Krauch.  The element that was lacking from these being threatening, as the two officials attested they felt they were, was any threat of violence made by the posters. 

Both members swore they had not meant the posts as threats, so fortunately once again, common sense prevailed and both members were exonerated.  However, they were both publicly shamed and threatened repeatedly with unrealistic legal punishments because officials read more into words than there was meant. 

The police involved with both episodes over-investigated the words and meanings of three citizens, so one may think it odd if I relate two episodes of free speech infringements that involved other police departments in Michigan and defend the actions of the police officers in both cases.  Ironically, in both situations the involvement of the police begins with a policeman engaging in Constitutionally protected free speech. 

The first involves Canton Police Officer Kenneth (John) Kleszcz, who made a three word comment under a live-streamed video of rioting in Michigan following the election where Donald Trump not only won Michigan, but the nation in securing the office of US President. 

On Friday morning, while off-duty, Kenneth apparently wrote the comment, "GO HOME MONKEYS" ,and Mlive reports that

"A police officer in Metro Detroit has been suspended over allegedly making a racist comment on a Facebook live feed of an anti-Donald Trump protest.   The Canton Township Police Department (CTPD) reports that it was made aware of one of its officers making a racial social media post.  An internal investigation into the post was immediately initiated and the officer, a one-year veteran of the department, was suspended pending the completion of the investigation."

In reading this, I failed to see the racial element; perhaps its from me living in a mostly-white community, but I took this as it was said.  The dictionary definition of 'monkey' shows it used most often as either describing the smallish sized primate with a tail, which definitely doesn't apply here.  It could refer to any primate as well, which would not exclude any human being.

But then, being that he likely did not mean either of those non-racial definitions, the next two (highlighted) are definitely not racist either.  I have called several mischievous white kids monkeys, even my daughter and nephews.  The next definition is even more applicable to these rioting people, who are not all one race (is not such an insinuation by the media or CTPD racist itself?), because they are being dominated and controlled by their liberal/progressive leaders.

A quick look at Canton Township (inside Wayne County) shows that Kenneth deals with a population that is 3/4 white, 1/10 black, and 1/7 Asian.  Since there is more Asians in Canton, and many monkeys are native to Asia, is his alleged racial slur towards them?  Are you not a confirmed racist yourself if you believe it may refer to some other race?  Of course you are.

This alone is definitely nothing to suspend and defame a police officer about and it's a waste of police resources to investigate it any further than asking him whether he meant anything derogatory about any race when he made the post.  In other news to the north...

According to the Traverse City Record Eagle, "an off-duty Traverse City police officer wheeled a pickup truck affixed with a Confederate flag outside a local protest against President-elect Donald Trump, cracked open a beer and drew a confrontation from an African American rallygoer.

The flag ruffled an otherwise-peaceful event Friday, when hundreds of locals descended upon the Open Space for the "Love Trumps Hate" rally. Marshall Collins Jr., of Traverse City, raised a fist in the air as the truck circled the event.

Collins, who is black, later confronted the white man who drove the truck, parked it in a restricted zone and sipped a Bud Light while a crowd grew around the vehicle. He said the man denied the flag's history is steeped in racism and division."

The Record Eagle is a very left-leaning newspaper, so their relation of the news has a bit of a skewed perspective.  So you have the flag drawing a confrontation from Collins, who actually raised his fist in the air and approached someone in an intimidating manner to spew his erroneous beliefs of the flag.   Fists and encroachment doesn't seem to show that love trumps hate.  Then once it's learned that the man was a TCPD officer, the protesters try to threaten and intimidate the department to get the long-time police veteran fired for his peaceful behavior on Veteran's Day.

In the officer's defense, let's start off by noting that Confederate soldiers are American Veterans worthy of remembrance on Veteran's Day.  If Officer Peters had southern heritage of any type, it would not be untoward to fly the battle flag like he did on Veteran's Day, it would be a sign of respect.  The flag has historically not meant what the protester says it has, as we've looked at in two local stories in the LT:  Yankee Transplant Attacks Local Store and MCC Confederate Flag Flak is an Administrative Creation. 

Like the three other instances I've noted here, the 'peaceful protesters' read something into another person's free speech that isn't necessarily there, and now expect his superiors to do the same.  Your faulty interpretation of another's words or symbols should not be used to infringe the free speech rights of others; that's not what our country is about.

But, as we have seen in Portland, Oregon, Detroit, Chicago, and elsewhere the "Love Trumps Hate" rallies are little more than an excuse to devolve into riots or take out frustrations on the most terrible thing around, Donald Trump and his possible supporters-- or other flags, like the American flag.

These are the types of people who know nothing about their own social duty to respect the rights of others and to tolerate the free speech rights of others, as these others tolerate theirs-- when they do so without harming others.  The two police departments in these two cases should do what the LPD should have done in the other two cases, quickly decide that the First Amendment allowed such expressions, mindful that we should all do so responsibly.

[XLFD]

The Traverse City police officer has been officially suspended.  Police Chief O'Brien said the behavior was intimidating and not a reflection of the police department’s mission, according to the newspaper.  “We will get through this,” O’Brien said. “The community will get through this.”

http://woodtv.com/2016/11/13/police-officer-suspended-after-driving...

Meanwhile in Mason County, the Ludington police and Mason County Sheriff's Office still have not told the public that their officer's actions were intimidating and not a reflection of the police department’s mission in tasering Joe McAdam when he was handcuffed to a hospital bed, after McAdam was gang-tackled and beaten up by both police departments in the middle of Ludington Avenue.  They have admitted by deposition and in a pricy settlement that McAdam had not done anything illegal that night, and promoted most of the officers involved since.

[Willy]

It's getting pretty bad When even the police are being restricted in voicing their opinions, free speech and expression. If these officers were on their own time then I can't see how any punishment is justified. I can understand if they did this while on duty because they represent their departments while wearing their uniforms. I'm getting damned tired of this movement to stifle peoples opinions just because they have differing views and ideas.  These fools that call for others to be stifled had better understand that they will be next ones to be silenced if they don't stick up for those being targeted now.

[XLFD]

It is getting bad, and this is exactly how you lose the freedom of speech.  The local government of Traverse City had their press conference this morning and the mayor, police chief and others threw their fellow officer under the bus (see:  http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2016/11/officer_su...) for Constitutionally protected activity in his off hours. 

I keep re-reading the facts of the case and try to make sense as to why somebody flying a confederate flag on their privately-owned truck on public streets would be the subject of a criminal investigation (this is said at the press conference), while somebody who started a confrontation and raised their fists in the air towards that person is being looked at as a victim.  This should be scary and irrational stuff to anybody who looks at it objectively as concerns the implications.

[XLFD]

TCPD officer Peters has resigned this evening from his job, how sad.  We have so many officers doing terrible things without consequence, but persecute a veteran officer without any other demerit on his record for something as meaningless as this. 

When we can strip an off-duty police officer of his basic rights of expression like happened in this case, our civilization is in deep trouble for all of us.

http://www.9and10news.com/story/33708059/breaking-traverse-city-pol...

[XLFD]

Twenty year Traverse City Police Officer Michael Peters released a statement today that should give us all a pause to reflect on this day that we give thanks for living in a free country, one that won't be free forever if we decide that rights are only owned by certain people and not by others:

“I feel obligated to clear the air on a misunderstanding which took place at the Open Space during a rally on 11/11/16. It seems that a large group of individuals who were present, expressing their 1st amendment right, took extreme exception to me exercising mine.

It is my opinion that if there is one major deficiency that many on the left side of the political spectrum possess, it is their instinct to react primarily on emotion as opposed to fact. Is the confederate battle flag an undisputed symbol of hate and/or racism in this county? The factual answer is no. Is this a controversial item which is capable of evoking emotion in certain individuals? Unarguably, yes.

I can't speak for everyone on my side, but I can confidently make a statement that represents the waves of individuals across this country who share my opinion. Many of these individuals display the flag not out of racial divisiveness, but to pay homage to southern pride. And those who fly it outside the South have adopted it as the symbol of everything that is the American country boy. Why is this flag a common sight at events such as rodeos, car races, and county fairs both in the north and the south? It has nothing to do with racism, and everything to do with embracing and celebrating the simple lifestyle that is the country boy/girl.

I spent my formative years in the company of young men who were farmers and bull riders, drove trucks and wore cowboy hats, chewed tobacco and drank beer out of a can. Not one had a racist bone in his body, yet most displayed the rebel flag in one form or another, through belt buckles, shirts, or the flag itself. None of us construed this as racist, and none of us could fathom in this day and age how anyone could interpret it as such. Much like everything else in history, this symbol has evolved, and has evolved into something far removed from its civil war roots. I find it frustrating that the self proclaimed "progressives" in this country, who seem to want to change everything else about this nation's history, stubbornly cling to this symbol as being racist in nature, and refuse to acknowledge the positive transformation that it had made over the years.

But the big question that most in this community would like answered from that day is one of intent. My appearance at the rally that day was not one of racial bias. If it had been, I wouldn't have sought out an event that was made up of 99% white liberals. My intent was simple, because if there's one other thing that this flag represents, besides the proud hayseed lifestyle, it is the antithesis of political correctness. There is a rapidly growing segment of the population in this country who seem to be offended by anyone who dares present anything politically incorrect to them, and normal people are growing weary of it. I simply showed up that evening to present a differing political view to a group of people who seem to think that they own the patent on free speech rights.

The decision to resign was my own, and based upon the fact that after 20 years of being in this profession, it was time for a change. This decision was also made easy due to the fact that the fight for my job was clearly going to be an uphill battle. It seemed that the many key players in the court of public opinion, including the chief of police who was on record as stating that the "flag stands for hate", had already come to their own conclusions that my intentions were nefarious.

It should be noted that there was a gentleman in attendance that day who did seem particularly outraged and has since become a pivotal figure relating to this incident. I have attempted to reach out to this individual in the hopes of sitting down and educating each other on our vastly different experiences involving this issue. With any luck, a civil discussion can be engaged in, where we may be able to both leave the table with a little better understanding of the other's viewpoint.

So in closing, the next time you witness a truck full of young men in cowboy gear, displaying the confederate battle flag, I implore you to reconsider their motive for doing so. They're likely not the racist rednecks that you've been told about by your uninformed friends.”

http://www.9and10news.com/story/33784339/former-traverse-city-offic...

[Willy]

I understand why he resigned but if people keep bowing down to the left there never will be an end to this oppressive madness of silencing people who hold different views. If the officer was willing to give up his job, he should have remained and put up a fight because backing down only makes lefties bolder and more convinced that they are in the right. We have to stop giving in to these numbskulls. Just like the Grand Rapids school bus driver was told by school officials to stop playing Christmas music on the bus because it might offend some students. We all have to tell these people, to go --ck themselves. This is the only way this censorship will stop.