Hating On Professions

[the_std]

And by professions, I mean specific ones that hold positions of significant power over us. Doctors, lawyers, police officers, that sort of thing. I see so many people, in so many countries, from so many backgrounds, who immediately hate the people who have this kind of authority over them.

My theory is that people are uncomfortable with the idea of a human in a position of power over people's lives (godlike) but, as humans, are fallible. They can be greedy, power-hungry, mistaken, not perfect, and we cannot deal with them possibly being wrong. I dislike this knee-jerk reaction of hating all police officers, all doctors, all lawyers based on your dealings or discomforts with a few.

Yes, you might have a serious medical problem that doctors are having a hard time dealing with. It seems like they are charging you hand over fist and doing absolutely nothing about it. Or you were arrested/tried for something you didn't do, you were treated badly, you were pushed around and you didn't like it. But, unless you are in their position, unless you have the knowledge they do or the experience in the matter, I think it's completely unfair to summarily dismiss an entire profession based on the actions of a few. People do not express these opinions about gas-station attendants who fuck them over, or hotel clerks who mess up a reservation, or casino dealers who give them a losing streak. Why? Because we are far more comfortable accepting failure from the mundane than we are from the, frankly, godlike among us.

[Rageaholic]

Unfortunately, it's the bad ones who get noticed more than the good ones. Most of the popular cop videos on youtube are ones of cops roughing up skaters. Those particular cops live up to the bad stereotypes, but from what I can tell, they only account for a small percentage. The few cops I've dealt with were calm and collected, the opposite of the cops found in the youtube videos.

Same things applies with lawyers and doctors (though I wasn't aware doctors were hated too). It's the ones who screw up who get noticed. I can perfectly understand having higher standards for these people. After all with great power comes great responsibility, but just because a few aren't responsible doesn't mean they all are. It's something everyone should remind themselves every now and then.

[muses_nightmare]

I'd beg to differ about Casino dealers. There are people out there who think that all dealers are basically making sure they lose. Maybe not to the same level as police or doctor hate but it happens.

What I do hate is people who assume the worst about the police no matter what. I'm always one to give the benefit of the doubt. Such as the taser indecent at YVR a few years ago, I was always of the opinion that the police were doing their job, which was an incredibly unpopular opinion. Now people assume that all police will try and kill people with their tasers and want to take them away (I still don't think they were trying to kill the guy, or that he was as innocent as everyone lets on). I mean what's next? Taking away their guns?

As for doctors, I personally don't dislike them as a profession. I also don't think of doctors in terms of medical bills because I don't really have to worry about that for the most part (I'm Canadian). There are very good doctors out there, and there are terrible doctors out there. I agree people don't like the idea that someone out there knows more than they do, especially about their own body. A lot of people self-diagnose because of that. I can see people being more wary if they are paying for every test done out of pocket, because that gets pricey if they doctor can't figure out whats wrong in just a couple of tests. I don't think that should be aimed at the entire medical profession though.

[radiocerk]

Police officers volunteer to take on a really crappy job. Almost nobody likes them, and nobody seems to realize that, they too, are just trying to get through their day and earn a paycheck. In CA, where I used to live, there were people throwing fits over the new cop cars that had the light bars across the top of the windshield, because it was harder to tell when thye were behind them. Some of my friends tried to claim it was entrapment. They didn't like me when I pointed out that if they weren't breaking the law they had nothing to worry about.

As for doctors, a lot of theings fit into the description of "differential diagnosis". Which means we find out what IS wrong with you by ruling out everything that isn't. Almost every autoimmune fits this category. Some people spend years being bounced around from specialist to specialist because their symptoms clear up right before they see the doctor. That's not the doctor's fault. That's not even the fault of the medical system.

The problem is we see some of these people: police, doctors, insurance agents, lawyers, not as people, but as some faceless conglomeration, forgetting that, like us, they are just individuals. Some are better than others, some are smarter than others, but all are just doing their jobs to the best of their abilities. In some cases, those abilities may not be so great, but that doesn't affect all of them, except in the minds of others.

I try to remember at all times that all people are different. That this cop isn't the same as the one on TV or youtube, that if a doctor isn't helping me, I can get a new one. If you try to avoid just lumping people into groups in your mind (I say try for a reason, it not completely possible) you can look outside your own monkeysphere, and life gets a little easier.

[DrFaroohk]

It's especially hard to sympathize with the complainers and haters when they are all obviously in the wrong. I actually heard someone bitch about the cops giving her a hard time once just because they found a mirror, a razor and some pills on it! I mean, the nerve of those cops!

Or, "Damn man my lawyer fucked me. Couldn't even get me off that murder charge."

"Dude. You were found at the scene, with the weapon and the body, and they have a signed confession."

And people have no idea how shitty this country would be without lawyers. The cops would just be able to come break into your house and beat confessions out of you and plant evidence any time they wanted. Well, that's probably an exaggeration, but still.

The worst thing about those youtube videos is you can't usually see what's going on. Oh sure, you see a cop mercilessly beating a young college kid. What you don't see, due to the position of the camera, distance, angles, and shitty video quality, is the knife the kid has and he's giving the cop and good beating of his own. Or five seconds earlier when the kid shot fourteen other cops before he ran out of ammo.

[BlaqueKatt]

Some of my friends tried to claim it was entrapment. They didn't like me when I pointed out that if they weren't breaking the law they had nothing to worry about.

yup-entrapment-the luring, by a police officer, of a person into committing a crime so that he may be prosecuted for it. In a legal sense the person to prove entrapment must prove they had no intention of committing said crime until the law enforcement official enticed them.

The worst thing about those youtube videos is you can't usually see what's going on. Oh sure, you see a cop mercilessly beating a young college kid.

the news media is the same way-we had a HUGE story about a cop tazering a 14 year old "learning disabled kid" with asthma(press really played up the learning disabled-the "disablity" that had him in special ed classes was he skipped school so much he couldn't read ), they played down or didn't mention at all that said 14 year old was over 6' and 350 pounds-and had charged the uniformed officer knocking him down(assault), and was proceeding to flee(because he was "scared"-aren't they all ), he was being apprehended for severely injuring another student during an assault, because the kid he beat up "looked at his girl".

Yeah the media doesn't help much.

[Boozy]

And by professions, I mean specific ones that hold positions of significant power over us. Doctors, lawyers, police officers, that sort of thing.

Teachers, too. They had power over us when we were children.

Usually despised as a group by those who never emotionally-matured beyond grade school level.

[the_std]

Same things applies with lawyers and doctors (though I wasn't aware doctors were hated too).

The doctors one I see mostly in people who have chronic conditions or difficult-to-diagnose illnesses. They begin to hate doctors because they have to keep going back or they get bounced around from specialist to specialist, and the patient themselves seen no results except for a draining of the wallet. They then blame the doctors, saying they're good for nothing. I've seen it first-hand, an ex of mine has severe epilepsy with tonic-clonic seizures. They're so frequent and harsh that he's dislocated his shoulder many, many times and has now destroyed the socket around it, meaning that he can dislocate it just by leaning on it slightly. He is a professional pianist. This doesn't sit well with him and he uses it to defend his loathing of all doctors, because he's been to lots of neurologists and no one can figure out where the seizures are coming from or what is triggering them. This completely overlooks the fact that the human brain is still only barely understood and that there are many, many conditions stemming from it that science has not been able to accurately solve.

Many people expect doctors to be perfect miracle-workers, because they, the patients, are in pain and either cannot or will not see that, sometimes, there is just no good answer.

[BlaqueKatt]

This doesn't sit well with him and he uses it to defend his loathing of all doctors, because he's been to lots of neurologists and no one can figure out where the seizures are coming from or what is triggering them.

Wow that's sad-I've had some horrible doctors-as in one that wanted to just cast my severely fractured ankle without bothering to set it, one that told me I had cervical cancer(I didn't), and then asked me why I was crying. One that told me my salmonella from eating very undercooked chicken(hey I was drunk) was a migraine. I still respect doctors-I just cross the bad ones off my list of ones to see if I have a problem.

[Skelly]

Funny this...I don't break the law. I don't do drugs, I don't go out looking to beat people up, I don't rape, I don't vandalize/do graffiti, I don't carry weapons, I don't get totally shitfaced and violent when I'm out having a couple of beers...and I've found that the police have little to no interest in me and my doings. I'm sure there is some kind of correlation between my behaviour and the lack of police attention. The only interaction I've had with the police that I did not start myself was because I was at the wrong place at the wrong time, and I was free to leave after they had taken a look in my backpack and found no trace of spray cans and after I had given a short statement about what I had seen (guards had spotted some assholes doing graffiti in a tunnel that runs underneat the railroad tracks...).

Hell, they even let me leave with my HUGE Maglite flashlight even though they could've busted me had they wanted to...

[Lace Neil Singer]

I don't hate doctors; I just don't trust them, barring my own doctor. This is mainly due to doctors in my childhood and teen years screwing me over; one doctor refused to diagnose my exzema, claiming that it was self inflicted. Another doctor misdiagnosed me with Antisocial Personality Disorder. Therefore, I developed a mistrust of doctors. Hate on the other hand, is something else entirely. I don't see the point of hating someone I don't actually know.

[protege]

As someone who works in the financial industry--I'm an accountant--I've had plenty of hate directed my way. Somehow I'm partly to blame for the credit crunch, late feels, overdraft fees, not getting a refund, etc. Never mind that I'm just a peon.

[AdminAssistant]

My fiance works for a mortgage company, and he gets all kinds of nasty stuff directed at him from customers, as if he is personally responsible for their house going to foreclosure.

[Bronzebow]

The problem is we see some of these people: police, doctors, insurance agents, lawyers, not as people, but as some faceless conglomeration, forgetting that, like us, they are just individuals. Some are better than others, some are smarter than others, but all are just doing their jobs to the best of their abilities. In some cases, those abilities may not be so great, but that doesn't affect all of them, except in the minds of others.

I would agree with this except for one thing: the thin blue line.

My beef is actually with the polar opposite: people who will support corrupt cops till their dying breath, even when there have been obvious police misdoings. People who think it's fine that a policeman use excessive force at absolutely any point because, well, let's face it. They're police, and the badge is magical and means that there is no possible way for police to ever do wrong. Because there's a badge! And we trust them because they have power! Yay for logic!

People who think this police officer--who was a lying corrupt worm of a man, I might add--was in the right for tazing this mom. Why? Just because she called him on it? That requires a tazing?
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/324144...-today_people/

People who think it's all fine and dandy that some corrupt police will harass and arrest you for simply recording them on duty.
http://carlosmiller.com/2010/08/20/a...rding-of-cops/

Or even here:
http://www.contracostatimes.com/crim...nclick_check=1

Or this amazing story. Oh, but it's okay--the cop got suspended for two weeks. That's about fair for risking a man's life, then trying to cover it up, and then making an illegal arrest. Two weeks should cover it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNrA6...layer_embedded

And even the story of the rogue Philly narc unit that mugged local businesses to line their pockets:
http://reason.com/blog/2009/03/20/ro...cotics-squad-i

I could go on. And through all of these kinds of stories, you can find comments from people so wholly devoted to the idea that police are so inheritantly incorruptible that they just must somehow shift the blame of these corrupt officers' actions on to the user.

"Oh, that mother deserved to get tazed! It was her fault for defending herself! She should have just taken it and smiled at the nice truth telling police officer."

or

"I've never been targeted by a corrupt cop, so that means they don't exist. All these people who got harassed, beaten, humiliated, had their civil rights abused or stalked by rogue units? They musta deserved it."

Not all police are corrupt, of course, but that's a pretty poor defense to fall on when it is so obvious that there are some out there. And, to be perfectly honest? If you belong to the thin blue line or a police fraternity and defend your "brother," even when he is wrong? Well....even if you're a good cop, you're not really all that good anymore. You're a bad apple too.

I have to laugh when I hear people calling the corrupt officers bad apples. It's as if they have forgotten the other half of that phrase.

[jedimaster91]

Of the doctors I work with on a regular basis (mostly cardiologists) there are maybe one or two I would want anywhere near me. Several of them display an extreme lack of professionalism and outright ignore the patients. And I get that I'm the tech and you're the doctor and all you're there to do is your legal supervison duty. However, when you see me visably struggling to keep a patient from flying off the treadmill, do me a favor and push the little red button to stop the belt. I can't reach it from where I am and I don't fancy getting squished when this person's legs finally give out.

Sorry, stepping off the soapbox now. I just can't stand the docs that have the attitude MD = God.