In response to Andie Flores' Feb. 13 column, "Who is surviving in America?":
(Andie) Flores has a point in the mistargeting of innocents, but her calls for due process ring rather hollow when Chris Dorner, as Flores puts it, "(declared) war against the Los Angeles Police Department." Does she really expect the department to sacrifice the lives of police officers on the altar of due process in such an extreme circumstance? Or does she expect the department to do nothing as Dorner kills off its members, simply because he was killing for a cause?
I still find it insane that people see their opinion as though it was handed down from the heavens to such a degree that they find it acceptable to say, "My right to express this opinion outweighs any of your rights that get in my way." We saw this during the Occupy movement, when protesters smashed windows and tried to shut down ports. We see this when people ask the government to regulate media content, and we certainly see the sentiment when people say that certain TV stations or radio talk show hosts should be shut down simply over ideological disagreements. The Dorner affair, however, reaches a whole new level of insanity in saying that disagreement is sufficient cause to deprive someone of their life.
Immediately someone is going to think that I've missed the mark because of alleged cases of discrimination and mistreatment. Even so, I think this question has to be asked. Dorner could have gone to the media. He could have posted information on the Internet. He could have organized protests or filed insistent reports. He could have also done all that I had listed at the same time. It's not as though the police would have been able to arrest him for doing those things. Why did he have to go so far as to try to kill police officers and their families?
Why are we saying that it's acceptable to kill people simply to make a point?
Corbin Smith
Graduate student
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