Yes, the title of this blog is probably facepalm-worthy to most, but I simply couldn't resist. Pulp Fiction and the upcoming The Hateful Eight director, Quentin Tarantino, has come under fire recently for a comment he made at an anti-police brutality rally in Manhattan, where he said, "I'm a human being with a conscience. And if you believe there's murder going on then you need to rise up and stand up against it. I'm here to say I'm on the side of the murdered."
In response, many police unions called for a boycott to all of Tarantino's films. John McNesby, president of the Philadelphia union, said this in a statement:
"Mr. Tarantino has made a good living through his films, projecting into society a large violence and respect for criminals; he it turns out also hates cops."
Then just yesterday, Tarantino was interviewed by the Los Angeles Times and responded to the boycott threats with this:
"I'm not being intimidated. Frankly, it feels lousy to have a bunch of police mouthpieces call me a cop hater. I'm not a cop hater. That is a misrepresentation. That is slanderous."
He added:
"What they're doing is pretty obvious. Instead of dealing with the incidents of police brutality that those people were bringing up; instead of examining the problem of police brutality in this country; better they single me out. And their message is very clear. It's to shut me down. It's to discredit me. It is to intimidate me. It is to shut my mouth, and even more important than that, it is to send a message out to any other prominent person that might feel the need to join that side of the argument."
Could Quentin Tarantino have been a little more careful in how he phrased his initial quote? Sure. However, did he at any time say he hated cops? No, and this goes back to a blog I wrote a couple months ago. It's felt, ever since the Black Lives Matter movement truly made their voices be known, especially with regard to members of the black community being killed by cops, a majority of the country has had the false notion that, "You're either with all cops or you're against them." This, of course, is incorrect. A Critical Thinking professor would term this a false dilemma fallacy, where a person is provided only two options when in fact there are more than two. It's also false generalization. Just because an individual like Tarantino says he hates the acts of a few cops, labeling them as murderers, that doesn't mean he believes all cops to be such. If a person said he couldn't stand the acts of an abusive mother, would this then mean he couldn't stand all mothers? No, of course not. Not only that, but despising police brutality is far different than despising police. One can respect the police force as a whole, yet not respect a small percentage of cops whom ignore the law. Why, when people expect police officers to obey the law like anyone else, are they called cop haters when they criticize an officer who doesn't? Most cops may be good, upstanding citizens, but at the same time, when a cop crosses the line and commits a criminal act, Tarantino and others like him have every right to criticize that individual. If the Oscar-winning film director ever decides to provide a false apology to the police force, he should say this: "I'm sorry for holding powerful authority figures like cops to a higher standard than the average person; I'm sorry for asking all cops to obey the law like everyone else; and I'm sorry for asking cops who overstep their bounds to be held accountable and face the legal consequences." As far as I see it, though, Quentin Tarantino has nothing for which to apologize. He never said he hated the police; he simply said he hated police brutality.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/quentin-tarantino-comments-police-brutality_56391bb2e4b0b24aee47dab3
In response, many police unions called for a boycott to all of Tarantino's films. John McNesby, president of the Philadelphia union, said this in a statement:
"Mr. Tarantino has made a good living through his films, projecting into society a large violence and respect for criminals; he it turns out also hates cops."
Then just yesterday, Tarantino was interviewed by the Los Angeles Times and responded to the boycott threats with this:
"I'm not being intimidated. Frankly, it feels lousy to have a bunch of police mouthpieces call me a cop hater. I'm not a cop hater. That is a misrepresentation. That is slanderous."
He added:
"What they're doing is pretty obvious. Instead of dealing with the incidents of police brutality that those people were bringing up; instead of examining the problem of police brutality in this country; better they single me out. And their message is very clear. It's to shut me down. It's to discredit me. It is to intimidate me. It is to shut my mouth, and even more important than that, it is to send a message out to any other prominent person that might feel the need to join that side of the argument."
Could Quentin Tarantino have been a little more careful in how he phrased his initial quote? Sure. However, did he at any time say he hated cops? No, and this goes back to a blog I wrote a couple months ago. It's felt, ever since the Black Lives Matter movement truly made their voices be known, especially with regard to members of the black community being killed by cops, a majority of the country has had the false notion that, "You're either with all cops or you're against them." This, of course, is incorrect. A Critical Thinking professor would term this a false dilemma fallacy, where a person is provided only two options when in fact there are more than two. It's also false generalization. Just because an individual like Tarantino says he hates the acts of a few cops, labeling them as murderers, that doesn't mean he believes all cops to be such. If a person said he couldn't stand the acts of an abusive mother, would this then mean he couldn't stand all mothers? No, of course not. Not only that, but despising police brutality is far different than despising police. One can respect the police force as a whole, yet not respect a small percentage of cops whom ignore the law. Why, when people expect police officers to obey the law like anyone else, are they called cop haters when they criticize an officer who doesn't? Most cops may be good, upstanding citizens, but at the same time, when a cop crosses the line and commits a criminal act, Tarantino and others like him have every right to criticize that individual. If the Oscar-winning film director ever decides to provide a false apology to the police force, he should say this: "I'm sorry for holding powerful authority figures like cops to a higher standard than the average person; I'm sorry for asking all cops to obey the law like everyone else; and I'm sorry for asking cops who overstep their bounds to be held accountable and face the legal consequences." As far as I see it, though, Quentin Tarantino has nothing for which to apologize. He never said he hated the police; he simply said he hated police brutality.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/quentin-tarantino-comments-police-brutality_56391bb2e4b0b24aee47dab3
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