Comments

116
@112: I'm not agreeing to anything. The calling of mental illness was an ad hominem attack on an argument. One poster said that a golf club could be perceived as a weapon (and it can) and the other called that poster mentally ill for thinking so.

I hate to break it to you, but ad hominems are useless on the Internet. The only thing we do here is discuss things. This isn't politics, this isn't business, and this isn't the media. We don't influence anybody. We either have a nice discussion, learn some things, flex our mental muscles in forming arguments, or we snipe at each other with insults and derail the entire process. Using an ad hominem attack so that you can ignore someone's argument or a strawman argument like yours to make your counterargument easier only prevents you from having to actually debate the points. You lose the opportunity to think, discuss, and learn. If this is your goal, then have at it, matey. Otherwise, acknowledge my points, respond with a thoughtful counterpoint, and don't perpetuate childish argument tactics and tacit bigotry.
118
@109, if you read a comment that essentially says, "If you are actually scared of golf clubs, I hope you are getting help with that fear," with the obvious implication being that said phobia is unlikely to be a problem here, and think that the writer is shaming someone for a real mental problem, I think you are the one making leaps of logic. And if you really think, "I hope you're getting help" is a method of shaming (albeit, for what is a nonexistent problem), then I believe you are the person bringing shame into the picture.

But my guess is you're just concern trolling. You don't actually believe the person Seaman was responding to has a serious, life affecting featfear of golf clubs, do you? Or that Seaman looks down upon the very treatment he suggested? Your fake sincerity is falsely touching.
119
@118: "You're afraid of golf clubs? That is a strange phobia, hopefully you are getting help with your psychiatric problems."

Casual bigotry 101. But I'm just concern trolling, right? Tell me what types of casual bigotry you approve of? Is calling someone a retard fair? How about a pansy? What calling someone a bitch? Is racism fine? Let me know what types we shouldn't call people out on.
120
@118: And just to be clear, the implication wasn't that the person really had mental illnesses, just that mental illnesses were used to as the bludgeon, much like 'retard' is. Both are bigoted.
121
@118: Let me rephrase the post:

"You're afraid of golf clubs? That is stupid, hopefully you are getting help with your mental retardation."
122
@118: "You're afraid of golf clubs? That is so gay, hopefully you are getting help becoming a fucking man."
123
Delirian, who do you imagine is the victim here? As someone who deals with mental illness personally and in my familly, I'm not offended by the way Seaman denied the seeming lie that golf clubs tend to be scary. But again, I see no shame or judgment in suggesting that a person with real, actual problems seek help. That appear to is far more troubling than anything Seaman said.
124
*That you appear to...
125
@123: Let me get this straight, you are diagnosing @Samsmom with a mental illness based on one comment saying that people have to obey the police? That is simply a statist opinion. I disagree with it, but it isn't a mental illness. It isn't something that impairs social or occupational life nor is it something that causes significant personal distress. It isn't a mental illness. It is an opinion probably held by half the country and perhaps the majority of the world.

Seriously, don't start going along the lines of "I disagree with you thus you must be ill". "You are a conservative, therefore you are mentally ill". It doesn't work that way. Mental illness isn't normal or correct versus abnormal. It is a disability. And you aren't disabled just because you are an asshole*.

* And just to be clear, since sometimes people don't understand the differences, but an insult is not an ad hominem. An ad hominem is an attempt to discredit someone's argument by discrediting their person. Insults can be fair game as long as their purpose isn't to derail the conversation.
126
@120, I disagree. The point was that the only way a golf club being used as a cain would seem scary would be if one were to have a phobia of golf clubs, which is unlikely. Barring said phobia, the comment Seaman was responding to would be groundless and unjustified, which was his point.
127
@125, I am not. I have no idea what lead you to think I was. In fact, I have clearly stated the opposite multiple times. Arguing with you is bizarre. Is what you've written a strawman? Please tell me. I'm dying to see more of your pedantry and obvious mastery of fallacious reasoning.
128
@126: Again, you are interpreting far more of the mental state of a poster than is possible from one post. This is similar to posts saying that any resistance authorizes police to use excessive force. The point of the argument wasn't that a golf club is a weapon (though it certainly can be), it was that non-compliance authorizes the police to give you a beatdown. This is similar to posts saying that Eric Garner shouldn't have resisted and that he brought it upon himself. The golf club is the initiator, but the real issue I think @Samsmom cares about is compliance. I think her argument was simply trying to justify the actions of this police officer and the excuse of the golf club was useful in that argument. @ Merchant Seaman's response was simply to use bigotry to derail this rather than call out the obvious statism and put the compliance in context. There was no reason whatsoever to call someone mentally ill (or the equivalent forms of retarded or gay as I pointed out) in this conversation, nor did it have any beneficial effect on the arguments. It only exposed casual bigotry, which I pointed out (as I have pointed out with racism, sexism, homophobia, insults on mental capacity (from a former Stranger staffer), etc.,) time and time again on these forums. I don't feel bad for bringing it up and I will bring it up again in any conversation that uses it. Bigotry should be stamped out.
129
@127: You are right. I read your post too fast. My general point stands, but it doesn't apply to you or your post.
132
@115 this article speaks to Whitlach's possible mindset during the incident where she wrongly aarrested a black man. It doesn't provide evidence that the arrest was wrong, however. Nor do her actions on camera or on Facebook show that she calls African Americans 'niggers' in her spare time or that she has stolen and smoked SPD evidence. Those claims lack corroboration and have come from a source that would seem to require it.

@126 you are ascribing to me a choice made by Master Seaman, not myself. Since your problem was with his post, and particularly with how his post addressed phobias and mental illness, I was speaking to that. I do not think he was wrong to call into question the idea that this particular golf club was likely to be used as a weapon, and I think he did so effectively and inoffensively.

However, I do not know if @93 meant that the club was likely to be a weapon or was just making the claim that it (like almost anything) could possibly be used as one--probably the latter, trivial position, which went unaddressed by Seaman. If the former was the intent, then Seaman has handled it. If the latter was intended, not only is the claim trivial, it also ignores the specifics of the situation. Therefore, @93's comment is easily dismissed.

As to derailing the conversation, that is something you have engaged in far more than anybody in this thread (with the possible exception of myself for humoring you). Planks, motes, eyes, and all that.
133
My later comments above are intended for Delirian. Having some issues with my phone's touch keypad.
134
This SPD officer violated this retired veteran's civil rights, obstructed justice by lying and falsified a public document by filing a false police report. All three of these are federal offenses(felonies) and this officer should be investigated by the F.B.I., charged and prosecuted. You are I would be.
135
Does anyone believe Whitlatch is the only racist cop in this Dept.? There is a culture of racism in most big city police depts. How do you believe she could have been successful for such a long time in the dept? She survived because many of her peers and supervisors have the very same opinion of minorities.
137
Can you imagine the lethal potential of those walkers? The ones with tennis balls on the legs?

Supposedly infirm octogenarians pose real and present dangers to our brave street warriors.

SWAT may need to be deployed if one of these lethal walking weapons is seen on the mean streets of Seattle.
138
I'd like to see the cop get offered some kind of retraining. Give her a chance to choose to change. If she refuses, fire her. If she's fired with no opportunity for transformative justice, she'll be even more hostile and a likely candidate for recruitment by an organized white supremacist group.

Obviously I'm assuming the SPD is not a cohesive organized white supremacist group like the ones described at the Southern Poverty Law Center website.
139
Why is this newsworthy? Simply because of this quote that appears in the original slog article:

"If this person had been white," said SPD spokesman Sean Whitcomb, speaking by phone on Tuesday, "I would imagine it would have been the same outcome. We don’t believe this was a biased policing incident. We don’t believe the officer acted out of malice or targeted this man because of his race."

The account from the girlfriend is further proof that the department had every reason to know full well that this woman was racist. Is it an indictment of CW? Maybe. But more importantly its an indictment of departmental incompetence. We're not gonna eradicate racist police officers any time soon, but the bigger problem is having a police department that condones, does not know how to deal with, or investigate, racism and how it influences policing. This is the state of affairs we are faced with that the SPD wants to pretend doesn't exist. They would like nothing better than to make Cynthia Whitlatch a pariah, we need to refocus our attention and indignation on the department.

This article could have done a much better job of explaining the relevance of this information and how it reflects badly on the department and not just Whitlatch herself
140
@132

Really?

So, between

1- The video of her harassing and assaulting an ELDERLY BLACK MAN who can barely stand

2- Her facebook comments that CLEARLY show she has ingrained race based HATE for african americans

3- Everything we know about the SPD so far (every academic study, judicial committee required study, and nonprofit study) showing white SPD officers have SERIOUS bias in their reaction in the mere presence of black people, or that they specifically target black people for criminal enforcement....including in crimes whites are the majority of Seattles offenders (drug crimes, about 60% of the SPD's grant budget)

4- A CONFIRMED former associate of Whitlatchs word

You look at 1, 2, 3 and 4 and say "That doesnt prove anything"?

Are you the type of person that looks at a cross burning and sees "a lower case t on fire...no harm in that, dont make it racial you race hustlers!"?

Cognitive dissonance is the last mental defense of a racist.
141
@139

Its newsworthy because its further proof of yet another racist Seattle cop with a (metaphorical) 'hard on' to abuse and attack black people.
143
lol what a pair of fugly dykes
144
America, living in a Golden Age of Authoritarian Incompetence
145
A convicted felon you say? Good heavens! She sweeped a jeep under the rug!
146
So the criminal that committed a crime, smoked pot and knew she was a racist and waited 10 years to tell the story....sounds like the pot calling the kettle..well you know!
147
A person that is a lesbian should/would understand hate because being different, race, color, sexual orientation.

    Please wait...

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