Sticking it to evaders Mike Masterson

I’ve written lately about bystanders and others dying in our state and across the nation because of needless wild police chases, many of which wind up featured on the cable TV show Cops, the wilder the better to enhance one’s chances of appearing on an episode of chasing “the bad boys.”

And that doesn’t include all those injured and permanently disabled by this archaic practice.

It’s always seemed reasonable and feasible that, technology being what it is today, we should agree to develop a safer way to apprehend those who choose to hop in a vehicle and flee arrest for crimes ranging from misdemeanors to felonies.

And it’s finally happened in 2015. Officers in Iowa and Florida now have cannon-like devices inconspicuously mounted in the grilles of their cruisers that use compressed air to fire a GPS device, which sticks to a fleeing suspect’s vehicle.

That means the chase is ended and the evader is tracked by a police computer until he or she can be safely apprehended.

Known as StarChase, the device doesn’t come cheap. Each runs about $5,000 plus some $500 for each sticky bullet. But we’ve reached the point where these devices seem necessary to avoid so much needless death and carnage because police feel the need to chase a suspected criminal on public streets and even sidewalks.

It invariably boils down to the ageold question: How much is any life, or in this case, thousands, worth?

Form replacing substance

We all have things in this life that cause us to question the direction of society and what we agree to accept as normal and true.

I’ve lately been wondering when exactly it was that we began to accept form over substance and even truth.

At what point did we collectively decide that merely presenting the illusion of meaningful action, and practically anything else for that matter, is as acceptable as seeing whatever the objective is actually done?

At what point did we stop becoming outraged by obvious lies and contrived promises told by those we elect to lead us and ignore their misdeeds simply because their handlers and public relations firms tell us to return to sleep and accept that darkness is actually light?

Can we possibly have become that ignorant, so willingly dupable in but a few decades? Anyone else recall having the words honesty, integrity, character and honor drilled into them as children? Hardly every hear those words in public today, do we?

Back in 1970 when I was a student at UCA, Professor Dean Duncan emphasized that form in a writer’s delivery can be nice and entertaining, but never should replace the substance of the fundamental message and truths you are supposed to convey.

Even my news profession that once prided itself on being a watchdog in the public interest (rather than a political spokesperson or apologist for one radical viewpoint) has fallen in large measure into replacing all obtainable known facts with frilly form, irrelevant content and pure-dee spin. Without a society’s objective watchdogs whose master is the public interest, whom can we believe?

Who, in such a bizarre environment, also remains to hold those in elected and appointed positions of authority over us (regardless of political party) accountable for their form over substance?

This scourge reaches well beyond the media. Far too many health-insurance plans and companies present one face to hook customers (form) then deliver just the opposite in coverage and service (substance). Odds are you may have encountered this sad example the hard way.

Many politicians run campaigns based on promises to salve the ears of listeners as they plead for votes. They pledge to do one thing and take action on matters of popular concerns, then head in the opposite direction once they are elected and begin to hang out with the established good ol’ boys.

In today’s “Alice in Wonderland” world, when employers are asked for a reference, most can no longer be honest for fear of being sued for telling the truth, so they present politically correct baloney or incomplete facts. In this lunacy, police who maintain law and order are vilified by groups of those who would rather law enforcement officers not even be alive because truth doesn’t outweigh their notion of political correctness .

The examples are virtually endless. Yet I feel certain the more astute among you can clearly see, even when it comes to our personal relationships and dealings, that the notion of placing form over any kind of actual substance has become not only acceptable but regularly practiced.

If a lie or understatement or deception serves one’s agenda, then why not offer it? After all, everyone (including our leaders) are getting away with these Machiavellian methods, aren’t they? Besides, what are the consequences for choosing form?

I can readily assure you the consequence to preferring form over substance in our personal lives and across society is the loss of vital trust and credibility. Without both, the center of our fabric unravels and becomes washed away by the winds and rains of time. Look around, my friends, and see this tragic cultural shift occurring right before our eyes today.