once a week

so, i think, though i have made this promise to myself before, that i have decided to write something here once a week.
i've decided that can be anything.
a random thought.
an observation.
a rant.
whatever.
but something.
just anything.
i used to write for hours a day.
and if not writing, i was drawing or reading or playing violin or piano.
(music is always playing at my house)
but now, music is it. i just listen for hours. 
and sometimes i read.
but most of my time is spent on the internet.
reading up on news, catching up with people and watching firefly or merlin or harry potter...
i have been using the internet and my computer, in general, as a means of escaping real life.
which isn't bad if i did it in moderation, but i haven't.

so, now, i think i will try to hold myself to about once a week. when the mood hits.
and hopefully the mood will hit more often as i pick this back up again.

the official bit of today's post
Ferguson, Missouri.
GAWD, that place is really in turmoil.
(that could really be said about our nation, in general... or even society as a whole.)
but the police, in yet another documented act of unwarranted aggression towards citizens, shot an young, unarmed man in Ferguson.
what the media is playing up is his race. as if that is somehow the catylist. 
(to be blunt,) fuck that.
i don't care if the person they shot was white, indigenous, asian, black, latino, purple or a fucking little green man from outer fucking space.
they. shot. an. unarmed. citizen.
again.
seriously.
how could police not think that this wouldn't eventually bite them in the arse?!
that said.
protests - i am all in favor for. as far as i am concerned, every damn citizen, no matter their race, should have taken to the streets over this. 
in peaceful protests.
rioting? mmm, yeah, not so much. looting?  fuck no.
both of the latter options reek of crowd psychology... that whole crowd mentality?
you know: that thing everyone loved in highschool pep rallies when everyone got so riled up because school spirit.
not really school spirit.
i mean, did you really think that your school was that awesome?
or was it more that you were whipped into a frenzy because others were doing the same?
because i felt rather like an outsider because... well, i was somewhat immune to that.
i faked it at times. (it was exhausting!)
but that is what happens at rallies.
just look at the emotional reactions at both pro- and anti- 2nd amendment rallies!
"save the children!"
"because constitution and 'merica!"
(don't even get me started on what i think of the pledge of allegiance)
the people of Ferguson are so emotionally charged (and with good reason) that all it takes is one trouble maker to get them riled up enough to get violent. and with businesses and people who have no bearing on the situation.
that shit bothers me.
that is why i avoid participation in so many things.
i hate how everyone pretty much ends up sharing one thought and acting on it.
well, no... i suppose if i was alive in MLK, Jr.'s day, i'd be all in on a peaceful protest.
marching, holding others accountable by being present day in and day out in order to draw attention to your cause (i mean, look at that cindy sheehan woman protesting in front of the white house a few years back) is the way to go.
stepping in (peacefully) by recording and vocalizing your dissent when an officer of the law goes too far is the way to go.
whipping a crowd into a frenzy to beat down said officer? not so much.
that said, we are back to the fact that the police (generally) deserve this. they (again, generally) have been overstepping their bounds for too long.
they've been beating up 70-something year old men who were suffering from diabetic attacks,
they've been tasering deaf men having diabetic attacks,
they've been breaking people's arms when they don't immediately stop having their seizure as ordered to do so by the cops. (the fuck?!)
(and please don't get me started on how they treat the family pets!!!)
tasing people and attacking people and shooting people who resist arrest.
who are being arrested... for what exactly?
well, never you mind, they can figure that out after they slap a resisting arrest charge on top of... whatever it was they were doing. ...or not doing.
that is the greatest problem.

so, militarization and mobilization of the police force in Ferguson?
just going to make matters worse.
it will just make more people angry.
and it just solidifies our (the people's, general) belief that the police are no longer here to protect and serve, but the police are, in fact, the enemy of the people.
and that, dear government, is NOT how you want the general or popular opinion to fall.

is there an answer?
not an easy one, that's for sure!
they could start (nationwide - though police unions would take issue with it) by suspending without pay any officer who is involved in a questionable incident.
and they should definitely get outside involvement to investigate such incidents.
and they should publically apologize and take responsibility for the shooting of the innocents.

and as for us?
for crissakes, people, google jury nullification!
educate yourselves!
good gawd, when you are called in for jury duty, consider all the evidence and then ask yourself who the victim of the supposed crime was.
was it a person?
a private citizen?
was property stolen? trashed?
or was the "state" the victim?
was it just a violation of a law on the books, yet no one was injured?
if the last two fit the bill, acquit.
find the alleged criminal not guilty as there is no real crime.

know your rights when you are stopped by an officer.
respectfully decline all searches.
answer no questions.
request an attorney.
and know about jury nullification.

honestly, nothing will change (we will just continue in a downward spiral) until we educate ourselves and allow logic and intelligence to beat out raw emotion.

i feel for this young man's family.
i cannot imagine.
but i highly doubt that rioting and looting are helping them deal with anything in the long run.