ON SHEEP, WOLVES, AND SHEEPDOGS

e-mail message | Unknown | Dave Grossman

[tx_eggman]

I am a Man. An individual. A hunter/gatherer. I do not ask for others to sacrifice their lives for me, nor will I sacrifice any part of my life for them absent a compelling reason for me to do so.

Is it lonely in your cave?

[archy]

The students, the victims, at Columbine High School were big, tough high school students, and under ordinary circumstances they would not have had the time of day for a police officer. They were not bad kids; they just had nothing to say to a cop. When the school was under attack, however, and SWAT teams were clearing the rooms and hallways, the officers had to physically peel those clinging, sobbing kids off of them. This is how the little lambs feel about their sheepdog when the wolf is at the door.

Not quite. At least one of the SWAT teams clearing the schoolrooms at Columbine did so *clearing by fire* with automatic weapons fire into rooms in which surviving victims were present. Another fired full-auto bursts down a hallway to keep survivors in their rooms, and there's the particularly notorious example of the SWATzie cop who ordered the two students trying to stop coach William "Dave" Sanders from bleeding to death to *stop what he was doing* and get their hands up...whereupon Sanders bled to death in the school's SCI-3 science classroom.

At about 3:00 PM, about three hours after Klebold and Harris had reportedly *committed suicide* in the library....

[BallandPowder]

Powder..Patch..Ball FIRE!


Very good read.... I could have been a wolf long ago but my children turned me into a sheepdog.

[roaddog727]

Hooah

[archy]

tribes

sorry.

Nice find. Bookmarked.

[Dead Corpse]

Is it lonely in your cave?

Trite. Another one that doesn't get it. So little sheep, how are you today?

[BOATSNM8]

The sheepdog gets it's sustenance from the Shepard and rarely goes hungry.

[tx_eggman]

Trite. Another one that doesn't get it. So little sheep, how are you today?

Armed and ready.

Oh, and by the way, in community for nearly 2 decades with like minded people who I would and do trust with all that is precious to me.

Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken ... Ecclesiastes 4:12

[El Gato]

In this country, we are all supposed to be sheepdogs, at least at need. It's why we have the Second Amendment.

That's not to say we don't need full time sheepdogs, we obviously do, especially for defense against the wolves and bears out there. However for the other less dangerous but still very numerous predators, there will never be enough full time sheepdogs, the flock needs there own teeth for those.

Think of us more like elephants. Peaceful and productive members of the herd to be sure, but ready to stomp threats, without having to wait for the sheepdogs.

[El Gato]

there <== their.

Dang fingers have minds of their own.

[oyez]

Unfortunately, some of sheep dogs have strayed off the reservation er ranch.

[El Gato]

You know that in the end, there is no significant differences between wolves and dogs. They are the same species. They can interbreed, and the offspring are likewise fertile. There are differences in detail, but at the end, they are the same.

Dogs have been known to go feral as well.

[jjm2111]

I agree w/ you two. I own dogs. I am not one.

[fireforeffect]

Try reading "On Killing" by Grossman.

Or if you prefer the novel, read "The Two Space War" by Grossman and Francowski.

[Dead Corpse]

Who says I stand alone? Individuals who treat each other as equals, can stand against a common enemy without having to treat each other as sheep and sheppard.

[jordan8]

If policemen are sheepdogs, who do they work for? Certainly not the sheep.

Sheep are made not born. If the public are sheep it is because the real wolves at the top have worked to make it so. And that work has been the job of the sheepdogs as well. He doesn't just protect, he is primarily a herder. (Orwell has an interesting take on this in Animal Farm.) The "sheep" don't like the sheepdog not because he reminds them that there are wolves out there but because he resents being herded in an ever tighter circle.

This whole article is infused with the sort of contempt for the public and fascistic militarism that is becoming a disease among law enforcement. Not to mention a Barney Fife-like pretentiousness. You're literally far more likely to die of heart disease from excess dough-nut consumption than on duty, so back it on up a little, Barn. You're not commandos, you're not sheepdogs, this ain't a war, even the criminals aren't war enemies, and you ain't warriors. Officers of the Law is good enough.

[GOPJ]

Great post. Thanks

[Grut]

The "old retired Colonel" is an arrogant twit. We are nonviolent because it's the best way to live; on those rare occasions when violence is called for, we 'sheep' can bite pretty hard.

The sheep meme is popular with those who would be shepherds, whether shepherds of the Left or Right. It ought to be given the back-of-the-hand by anyone who thinks the essence of government by the people is the presumption that the people are competent.

[jjm2111]

I have a big dislike for the prevelance of SWAT teams and the militarization of police forces. Too much $$$ spent on blackhawk gear and balaclavas and not enough on training.

[Simo Hayha]

Using this sheep-wolf-sheepdog analogy and bringing it down to New Orleans during the Katrina aftermath, consider the manner in which the sheepdogs confiscated weapons. They walked up to doors, for all I know, knocked on them, and when someone answered they asked for, I reckon, and took whatever weapons were on hand. In one case, the police sent there from California slammed an old lady and took her gun.

Contrast that approach to Columbine, that someone posted about earlier, or any entrance to a suspected criminals lair.