True Equality and the Law's Blind Eye

A fellow I know, a mild mannered governmental employee, was struggling with a new computer program at work when he cried out in anguish, "I hate this thing. I'm going to kill someone!"

Fire in the hole!

Protocols were initiated, phone calls made, police arrived and he was separated and detained. Intense and harsh questioning and searches ensued. He ended up in an anger management class with a "material threat of violence" history attached to his work record.

This is a fascinating example of an entity mimicking law enforcement. Law enforcement in drag. The hinge is the "zero tolerance" notion; disguised as an effort to make people safe, it is actually a structure to prevent highly paid administrators from having to make decisions. So a child in a school with a water pistol is treated like Dillinger in a bank, a farmer who kills a protected rodent with a plow is treated like Joseph Hazelwood. All shading is removed. Everything merges towards the middle. Everything is representative of everything else.

This approximation of law enforcement and justice can also be a very self-righteous imitation unhinged, as it were, from the intention of law or "zero tolerence." From a recent George Will article: "Nancy Black, 50, a marine biologist who also captains a whale-watching ship, was with some watchers in Monterey Bay in 2005 when a member of her crew whistled at the humpback that had approached her boat, hoping to entice the whale to linger. Back on land, another of her employees called the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to ask if the whistling constituted “harassment” of a marine mammal, which is an “environmental crime.” NOAA requested a video of the episode, which Black sent after editing it slightly to highlight the whistling. NOAA found no harassment — but got her indicted for editing the tape, calling this a “material false statement” to federal investigators, which is a felony."
 
It goes on..and gets worse. The unfortunate Ms. Black tries to help two killer whales feed off a kill and became libile for other charges of interfering with the feeding of whales. Her home has been raided and her friends told not to talk to her. This started in 2006 and countless dollars and inconvenience and anguish later, still continues.