a cynic's view on our hearts

Let me start by saying that I have nothing against cops. My grandfather was a cop, some of my friends are cops, and if I were to play cops and robbers right now, I would want to be the cop. I especially admire them for their courage and selflessness in risking their lives to protect people like us. But when I see things like this, I shake my head in disgust.

Power corrupts.

And not just cops ... power corrupts our politicans, our pastors, our celebrities - everyone just wants to know how much they can get away with (Even batman was distraught when he realized what he had to become to stop the joker). Sure, being a police officer isn't easy, but do you seriously have to go knock a guy over and then lie about it in the police report? There were no cars forced to weave and stop, the biker wasn't trying to run into you, and I didn't see you fall to the ground ... in fact, you were the one who sped up to take the guy down. If you had good reason to arrest the guy, that's fine, but don't lie about the circumstances to make it look like you're the good guy? ARGH.

Yesterday a lawyer and a cop convinced me to never voluntarily offer information to the police under any circumstance, and now I really understand why. You really should watch the video yourself, but here's a 3 point summary:

1) Anything you say can only be used against you, never to help you.
2) Cops make honest mistakes - and their mistakes can screw you over big time.
3) There are countless ways cops can frame what you say to incriminate you, even if you're innocent.

So what's moral of the story? People are evil. You are evil. I am evil. Everyone is morally corrupt and is drawn to do evil things no matter how hard we fight against it. I know I'm painting a pretty grim picture of humanity because of one idiot cop - but let's face it, if you had that kind of power over people (and the law), if you had no accountability, you would eventually act the same way that cop did.

Thankfully, there is one solution to our wickedness.

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