Enh. I have no strong feelings about this. Like everyone who has ever had to hold his tongue because some clown with a badge was being a dick, my naturaly sympathies lie with Gates. But the last time the Court of Public Opinion whipped itself into a lather, three lacrosse students almost went to jail under the auspices of a corrupt prosecutor.
This, however...
Now, the question I have about this whole thing? Which one of his fucking neighbors called the cops on him in the first place? I may not know all my neighbors, but I see them enough to recognize them and wouldn't feel the need to call the cops if one had locked their self out of their house.
...I have an opinion on. It could have been a new neighbor. It could have been someone driving by. It could have been a babysitter three houses down. It could have been someone who'd known him for three years and just didn't get a good enough look a him.
Moreover, what would the reaction have been if it had been a burglar? The reaction would have been, "Jesus Christ, why did no one call the cops?!" If someone were breaking into your house, presumeably you would just want someone to call, instead of balancing it, "Well, it could be Bowden. Or maybe not. He could lose all his fancy electronics if I don't call and it's burglar. Or he might be pissy if that's him, but I just can't tell...."
The urge to just assume everything is fine, or that someone else will do the right thing when something weird or dangerous is going on is powerful and harmful. Most of the time, no one does anything, which is actually the wrong thing to do.
That it fucked up in this case is sad, but doesn't change my general opinion.
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Date: 2009-07-29 03:12 pm (UTC)This, however...
Now, the question I have about this whole thing? Which one of his fucking neighbors called the cops on him in the first place? I may not know all my neighbors, but I see them enough to recognize them and wouldn't feel the need to call the cops if one had locked their self out of their house.
...I have an opinion on. It could have been a new neighbor. It could have been someone driving by. It could have been a babysitter three houses down. It could have been someone who'd known him for three years and just didn't get a good enough look a him.
Moreover, what would the reaction have been if it had been a burglar? The reaction would have been, "Jesus Christ, why did no one call the cops?!" If someone were breaking into your house, presumeably you would just want someone to call, instead of balancing it, "Well, it could be Bowden. Or maybe not. He could lose all his fancy electronics if I don't call and it's burglar. Or he might be pissy if that's him, but I just can't tell...."
The urge to just assume everything is fine, or that someone else will do the right thing when something weird or dangerous is going on is powerful and harmful. Most of the time, no one does anything, which is actually the wrong thing to do.
That it fucked up in this case is sad, but doesn't change my general opinion.