Although we love to view the world in absolutes, things are seldom black and white. Heroes have skeletons in their closets and assholes secretly donate money to the ASPCA commercials with Sarah Mclachlan. Okay, maybe not.
But the point is that the world is a complex place, full of moral ambiguity, double standards and mixed feelings.
So we have taken the task upon ourselves to bring back the epic binary of “good” versus “bad,” “right” versus “wrong,” and “virtuous versus “evil.”
We humbly present to you: Asshole and Hero of the week.
Asshole(s): LAPD
Via: trbimg.com
A report was publicized this week about an incident that happened last September in which police officers ignored a suspect’s pleas for medical attention, ultimately allowing the man to die from an asthma attack.
Jorge Azucena was arrested in Los Angeles after running a red light and forcing a gaggle of police to pursue him in a brief chase. Once they got to him, Azucena told the officers that he couldn’t breathe, that he had asthma. One sergeant told him that if he could talk, he could breathe. They ignored him as his physical condition visibly worsened and booked him in a South Los Angeles police station where they deposited him facedown on the floor.
When paramedics arrived soon after, he was dead from an apparent asthma attack.
There were nine officers and two sergeants present, any of whom could have helped Azucena at any point.
Hero: Peter Shumlin
Via: cmsimg.burlightonfreepress.com
Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin has pushed forth a new set of drug policies that starkly rival the War on Drugs agenda. These new policies, which are largely aimed at the state’s overwhelming heroin problem, include a stronger emphasis on addict rehabilitation and treatment rather than solely punitive measures.
Under the new policies, people caught using heroin will be offered a chance to avoid prosecution by joining a treatment program. Synthetic opiates will be administered to patients in the treatment programs to assist with withdrawal. A good Samaritan law has been put in place to protect users from prosecution in the case that they need to call an ambulance for someone who has overdosed. Police officers and EMTs will begin carrying the drug naxalone, which can reverse a heroin or opioid overdose.
Vermont may seem a ways away from our cozy South, but we can learn a lot from this model. What Shumlin has put forth is more than a set of policies — he has effectively opened up a discourse about the ways we, as a society, view addiction and addicts. The War on Drugs has dismissed these humans as no more than criminal scum for decades. Shumlin has opened the window for the possibility of viewing these souls as more than parasitic wastes of life; he is suggesting the crazy notion that they are people who need help.
Featured photo courtesy of: vnews.com
