You know what's kind of interesting and kind of depressiing? Being the sounding board for an old biker who needs to vent. Especially when you look like the kind of pussy he naturally assumes you to be. That happened tonight, which was a weird experience. As much of a bad way the guy was in, he had some stories to tell.
You know what's just plain depressing without any compensating virtues? When at the end of a landmark nightmare year for race relations and police accountability in America, you hear noises emanating from behind Rudy Giuliani's joke shop teeth. The man became mayor of the nation's biggest city on the back of David Dinkins being punished for being black during a time when black New Yorkers were rioting. That pretty much set the tone, as Rudy petulantly hid from civil rights groups and shamed citizens for getting shot by police. Towards the end of his reign he became America's Mayor for guiding the city through the 9/11 attacks without saying anything stupid (at least by the standards used while Dubya was president.) Then a few years later he was a figurehead for the semi-official bullying of Sufi Muslims' Park51 project. In short, just about every stage of his political career has been a clumsy exercise in racial divide-and-conquer. So when heyaks about what causes police killings after minimizing when it goes the other way, believe me, I listen with bated breath.
You know what's just plain depressing without any compensating virtues? When at the end of a landmark nightmare year for race relations and police accountability in America, you hear noises emanating from behind Rudy Giuliani's joke shop teeth. The man became mayor of the nation's biggest city on the back of David Dinkins being punished for being black during a time when black New Yorkers were rioting. That pretty much set the tone, as Rudy petulantly hid from civil rights groups and shamed citizens for getting shot by police. Towards the end of his reign he became America's Mayor for guiding the city through the 9/11 attacks without saying anything stupid (at least by the standards used while Dubya was president.) Then a few years later he was a figurehead for the semi-official bullying of Sufi Muslims' Park51 project. In short, just about every stage of his political career has been a clumsy exercise in racial divide-and-conquer. So when heyaks about what causes police killings after minimizing when it goes the other way, believe me, I listen with bated breath.
2 comments:
I'm sure that must have been an interesting conversation.
I agree with all you say about Giuliani. Can't stand the sight or sound of him, though. He looks like a talking skull.
"Interesting" is one word for it. Main problem was that I couldn't extricate myself until I actually left.
Your comparison is quite apt. If my city were going to be governed by a talking skull O'd pick another one.
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