Exhibit A

Going to plant a seed for you dear blogger readers.

Two words.

Very important words.

All I need are these two words, to turn your world, upside down.

And no the two words, are not upside down. Though that is clever.

No, the two words (drum roll) are…

abstract and arbitrary.

ab·stract

adjective

adjective: abstract

abˈstrakt,ˈabˌstrakt/

1.      1.

existing in thought or as an idea but not having a physical or concrete existence.

"abstract concepts such as love or beauty"

synonyms:		theoretical, conceptual, notional, intellectual, metaphysical, ideal, philosophical, academic; rareideational "abstract concepts"
antonyms:	actual, concrete

o    dealing with ideas rather than events.

"the novel was too abstract and esoteric to sustain much attention"

o    not based on a particular instance; theoretical.

"we have been discussing the problem in a very abstract manner"

o    (of a word, especially a noun) denoting an idea, quality, or state rather than a concrete object.

"abstract words like truth or equality"

o    of or relating to abstract art.

"abstract pictures that look like commercial color charts"

synonyms:		nonrepresentational, nonpictorial "abstract art"
antonyms:	representational

verb

verb: abstract; 3rd person present: abstracts; past tense: abstracted; past participle: abstracted; gerund or present participle: abstracting

abˈstrakt/

1.      1.

consider (something) theoretically or separately from something else.

"to abstract science and religion from their historical context can lead to anachronism"

2.      2.

extract or remove (something).

"applications to abstract more water from streams"

synonyms:

extract, isolate, separate, detach "he abstracted the art of tragedy from its context"

o    used euphemistically to say that someone has stolen something.

"his pockets contained all he had been able to abstract from the apartment"

o    withdraw.

"as our relationship deepened you seemed to abstract yourself"

3.      3.

make a written summary of (an article or book).

"staff who index and abstract material for an online database"

synonyms:

summarize, précis, abridge, condense, compress, shorten, cut down, abbreviate, synopsize; rareepitomize "we'll be abstracting material for an online database"

noun

noun: abstract; plural noun: abstracts; noun: the abstract

ˈabˌstrakt/

1.      1.

a summary of the contents of a book, article, or formal speech.

"an abstract of his inaugural address"

synonyms:

summary, synopsis, précis, résumé, outline, abridgment, digest, summation; wrap-up "an abstract of her speech"

2.      2.

an abstract work of art.

"a big unframed abstract"

3.      3.

that which is abstract; the theoretical consideration of something.

"the abstract must be made concrete by examples"

Origin

Middle English: from Latin abstractus, literally ‘drawn away,’ past participle of abstrahere, from ab- ‘from’ + trahere ‘draw off.’

ar·bi·trar·y

ˈärbəˌtrerē/

adjective

adjective: arbitrary

1.      based on random choice or personal whim, rather than any reason or system.

"his mealtimes were entirely arbitrary"

synonyms:		capricious, whimsical, random, chance, unpredictable; More casual, wanton, unmotivated, motiveless, unreasoned, unsupported, irrational, illogical, groundless, unjustified; personal, discretionary, subjective "an arbitrary decision"
antonyms:	reasoned, rational

o    (of power or a ruling body) unrestrained and autocratic in the use of authority.

"arbitrary rule by King and bishops has been made impossible"

synonyms:		autocratic, dictatorial, autarchic, undemocratic, despotic, tyrannical, authoritarian, high-handed; More absolute, uncontrolled, unlimited, unrestrained "the arbitrary power of the prince"
antonyms:	democratic

o    Mathematics

(of a constant or other quantity) of unspecified value.

Origin

late Middle English (in the sense ‘dependent on one's will or pleasure, discretionary’): from Latin arbitrarius, from arbiter ‘judge, supreme ruler,’ perhaps influenced by French arbitraire .

Morality, like measurement, is an abstraction we kooky humans, superimpose upon the world. Feet or meters or yards or minutes or seconds don’t exist in nature. If you can’t sense it, it’s abstract and you have never, ever, yes you, sensed a yard or a second.

Ah but measurements sure are valuable to us kooky humans. Ah, quantity how we love you. Quantify this quantify that, measure this measure that…we love it.

But, can we say the same about morality?

Not so much. History is nothing if not Exhibit A for the trial of moral objectivity. Right and wrong are as relative as Uncle Chester, and none of us like Uncle Chester, but dammit he’s kin, so we keep him around.

Morality is arbitrary, another whim we superimpose upon the world but without the value of measurement.

In fact, it might be time to jettison this arbitrary, relative, nonsense in favor of some good old cogitatin’.

Who’s with me?!

Fathoming A Mortality Table

 So I was listening to the President's Town Hall last night when I heard a statistic and said to my wife incredulously "Is that right?"

I like to think of myself as semi-informed for a parent of two toddlers with a j-o-b and a two hour commute.

But did the POTUS just say that the leading cause of death for black males aged 18-34 is homicide?

http://www.cdc.gov/men/lcod/2013/blackmales2013.pdf

Pivot

There’s a pivotal line from a BB King CD, Live In Cook County Jail where he is telling a story to the crowd about changing a man and says that 

“you can’t raise him over again.” 

Well I can’t go back in time and get new parents and get different parenting. But when my wife holds up a mirror and reflects my nurture history right back at me, I do think about changing my behavior. But, it ends there. I feel that I can, to some extent, change the output, the behavior, but I can’t, don’t have the power to change, my feelings. I can’t I can’t I can’t. Won’t implies some sort of effort and control and I feel like I have none over my feelings, as it pertains to my marriage and my relationship with my wife. This lack of, this inability, to feel differently comes from my parents and the parenting I received, viewed. If my wife is correct and I am angry and cold, from where does this derive? Insecurity? People get the same external input but have different feelings about the input. I wish I could change my feelings. Or do I? Are my feelings not valid because they cause turbulence? Why is turbulence the measure of validity? My nurture is pivotal indeed. But pivot to where?

Like A Critter In An Attic At Midnight

The gas poured out. He struck the match and everything went aflame. The fire burned hot enough to melt the bones. He wanted to cover up his deed but he uncovered his soul; laid it bare to his conscience. His conscience scritched like a critter in an attic at midnight, gnawing at woods, souls, hearts, and minds. His naked soul was pelted with images of char and sounds of wail. The guilt washed over him like blood, encasing him with no chance of escape…or innocence. Though the state would never know, though his parents would never know, he would know and this knowledge would be his prison till he stopped breathing.

Escape Is Not An Option

I heard an interview on the commute in this morning with Jason Mark, editor of the environmental quarterly Earth Island Journal, about his 12/9/14 op ed in the New York Times entitled What ‘Interstellar’ and ‘Snowpiercer’ Got Wrong.

The op ed piece is here.

The gist of the article and the interview is that it is dangerous to bank on an escape from our environmental misdeeds a la worm holes or moon/mars colonies and that Hollyweird movies may be enabling the escape idea with movies like Interstellar. 

Take in this paragraph from the op ed:

Movies, of course, are based on the promise of escape. Illusions are fun, until they slide into delusion. A scant 536 people have slipped the surly bonds of Earth. Which means we won’t squish the human race through a wormhole anytime soon, nor establish a colony out among the stars for anyone but a lucky, stranded few. Escape is not an option, at least not in a time frame relevant to our current environmental predicament.

Mr. Mark said in the radio interview: “culture is powerful,” intimating that these cli-fi movies could be doing harm to our ultimate plan for dealing with our climate if we start to believe these movies and think we can escape to Mars.

Now go a little bit deeper, where it is colder and darker. At bottom, in the Heideggarian sense of the term, what this all boils down to is salvation. Culture is indeed powerful and the majority of the culture promises salvation, knows how to get it, knows you need it, knows you want it…salvation. Be it from a dystopic earth or a polar ice cap melted water world or from mortality itself, salvation can be yours.

But, in the words of Mark, “escape is not an option.”

There is no salvation, no escape from your own most possibility that cannot be outstripped.  

What if our powerful culture recognized this truth and lived accordingly, authentically?

Maybe that would be heaven on earth.

Both Ways

What does it mean when the Dallas Police Chief says:

"We don’t feel much support most days. Let’s not make today most days. Please. We need your support to be able to protect you from men like these who carried out this tragic, tragic event.”

What kind of support? Moral support? Why would you need moral support when you get paid to do this job, when you chose to do this PROfession over others?


And should locals not trained in emergencies be assisting you during tragic events? They don't know what to do and ignorance during emergencies would undoubtedly make things worse. I stayed at a holiday inn express last night but you really don't want me performing your emergency vasectomy.

No, what the chief is de facto referring to is that he and the police department don't feel liked by the community.


I do not doubt that it is hard to do your job when you don't feel liked. I do not doubt it is hard to do your job when people are apathetic to your job duties.

What does being liked, disliked, or even ignored have to do with completing your job duties?   

In the end, after all the emotions calm and the news cycle plays it out, doesn't it go both ways?

So Dallas Police Chief David Brown, I ask you, don't you think it goes both ways?

Do you think, David, that the citizens of Ferguson could have been "liked" by their Police Department?

https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/opa/press-releases/attachments/2015/03/04/ferguson_police_department_report.pdf

6

III.

FERGUSON LAW ENFORCEMENT EFFORTS ARE FOCUSED ON GENERATING REVENUE

9

IV.

FERGUSON LAW ENFORCE MENT PRACTICES VIOLATE THE LAW AND UNDERMINE COMMUNITY TRUST, ESPECIALLY AMONG AFRICAN AMERICANS

1.

FPD Engages in a Pattern of Unconstitutional Stops and Arrests in Violation of the Fourth Amendment

16

2.

FPD Engages in a Pattern of First Amendment Violations

24

3.

FPD Engages in a Pattern of Excessive Force in Violation of the Fourth Amendment

54

C.

Ferguson Law Enforcement Practices Disproportionately Harm Ferguson’s African-American Residents and Are Driven in Part by Racial Bias

62

1.

Ferguson’s Law Enforcement Actions Impose a Disparate Impact on African Americans that Violates Federal Law

63

2.

Ferguson’s Law Enforcement Practices Are Motivated in Part byDiscriminatory Intent in Violation of the Fourteenth Amendment and Other Federal Laws

D.

Ferguson Law Enforcement Practices Erode Community Trust, Especially Among Ferguson’s African-American Residents, and Make Policing Less Effective, More Difficult, and Less Safe

79

1.

Ferguson’s Unlawful Police and Court Practices Have Led to Distrust and Resentment Among Many in Ferguson

79

2.

FPD’s Exercise of Discretion, Even When Lawful, Often Undermines Community Trust and Public Safety

81

3.

FPD’s Failure to Respond to Complaints of Officer Misconduct Further Erodes Community Trust

82

4.

FPD’s Lack of Community Engagement Increases the Likelihood of Discriminatory Policing and Damages Public Trust

88