13 December 2005

San Fran: A Mayor Fails to Get It

The video on the page this week isn't me blathering on about whatever caught my attention, it's the videos made by San Francisco police officers which came to the attention of the Chief and the Mayor causing all sorts of whining and stupidity.

The videos are a bunch of skits primarily making fun of the police themselves, or, perhaps more accurately, making fun of the way the police see themselves as being perceived. One newscast I saw said that the videos came to light when an officer posted them on his website (not able to confirm that).

Now, I'm not saying the videos are right. I'm also not saying that I wouldn't have done something equally as silly when I was in my fraternity in college (thank goodness portable cameras weren't prevalent back then) or that I wouldn't even now. However, I've got to say that putting these out there wasn't the brightest move in the world.

Why? Well, because of people like me, of course. The next time the pictured officer is in a case charging a homeless Black man the video of the (clueless) officer running over a Black homeless lady could make for some wonderful impeachment/bias evidence.

Still, the way you handle something like this is to counsel (a nice sanitary term for "chew out") the officer and make him take it down. You don't call a press conference and commence le Festival. I'm not an expert in San Fran politics, but this just screams of a mayor trying to use the situation for political gain.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

your fraternity in college?

That would by the Phi Taus wouldn't it? I can recall stories about them in my day.

Anonymous said...

They were nicknamed the Fry Taus at UK. That is, before they were forced to dissolve the chapter after numerous violations ending with hazing troubles.

Ken Lammers said...

MDP,

Why, yes, I am a Phi Tau. I was there when the fraternity moved from the old quad to the new houses and was in the process of changing from the High Taus to "the smart guy fraternity." Now they keep winning Yerkes cups and best Phi Tau chapter awards.

I was talking to a fellow alumnus a couple weeks back and he said that going to a Phi Tau party now is almost like going to an SAE party except that the guys are a little friendlier and much more likely to be talking about molecular biology.

Ken Lammers said...

MM,

Yep, Kappa chapter went from being a big dog on campus to losing their charter in nothing flat. If the reason I was given was correct they needed to be shut down for a little while (and they're back now). However, I don't know the truth of what I was told because it came from a Phi Tau national rep and nobody (not just the folks from my Delta chapter)trusted anything which came from Phi Tau national.