Deal Dope, We’ll Shoot Your Dogs

Lead-into-gold is unlikely, though I can still sympathize with the old alchemists for trying. It would at least have a positive outcome. But I can assume with confidence that they never even conceived that weed-into-violence-&-dead-dogs was either viable or desirable. However, like many other things which were never foreseen in the earlier part of the dark ages, it has come to be.

I have a little mental exercise which I perform while observing such bizarre events. I strip both parties of their clothing and apparel, but they can keep what is in their hands (guns, “dope”, etc.). This places the situation into what I consider a more proper perspective. When you see a bunch of naked people running around with flashes and bangs, you kind of have to know there is something serious going on to accept it. In such situations as the video referred to, it all seems extraordinarily ridiculous. Of course there are other methods of invoking perspective, like common sense and ethics, but we each have our own style.

While it is not immediately certain that this is no house of horror, it quickly enough becomes clear that these are not hard-core criminals. Nevertheless, officers must follow safety procedures and secure the area. The order of such procedures here seems to have been:

1. Dress accordingly, and equip personnel with items of war.
2. Use flash grenades to disorient pot-heads, apply shock and awe, and be massive assholes in the name of a set of laws which these officers themselves could not even begin to comprehend beyond their abridged authoritarian mental toolkit.
3. Secure the area of confused dogs (and cats if present).
4. Apply efficiency – aka – do not waste time to allow the animals a fair retreat, and kill them before they can even attempt.
5. Disable fire alarm and act tough.
6. Forget to mention anything about Miranda Rights, and ask stupid questions.
7. Molest pot-heads, and search for subversive plant-life.
8. Go home, pork the wife – or some other subject with very poor taste in companionship, watch some tely, and maybe tell some friends about your hard-core home invasion of a few nerdy marijuana merchants.

Meanwhile, the US government prescribes high-tech amphetamines to soldiers and pilots, and the pharmacies and booze industry thrive. These tough swat guys would – if they could – invade military bases, liquor stores and pharmacies; but they know they are outmanned, and instead go on living with a tormenting awareness of their inability to stop these elite “dope” dealers.