Left Lane For Violent People
Even border patrol guards have their pride. The directive from Homeland Security instructing guards to run for it if a gunman happens to confront them while on the job has some guards up in arms… Luckily, the border guard union is not taking kindly to this new de-fanged role. If this policy is followed, their job descriptions will likely change from Border Guards to Border Impediments, hardly something to brag about at a bar. The DHS obviously haven’t thought this through since implementing this new job policy will in fact bring in millions of school crossing guards who can easily replace their overpaid union ranks. We’ll have Don Knotts clones at every border post.
Most people today acquiesce to surly and snippy attitudes from border guards on the acknowledgement that they are only doing their jobs to “protect” the public. Such as the time I was asked by a border/customs officer on why I was going to Hawaii. We dutifully accept obnoxious attitudes because, after all, they are brave and put their lives on the line every day for the helpless public and presumably are compensated to some degree for this danger.
If the new policy gets put into place, then the “guard” aspect of their job disappears and they may as well be greeters at a Costco; only surly. Not a lot of jobs will expose you to possible gun violence, but something tells me that if the word “guard” or “officer” is in your job description and you are issued firearms, the risk of being exposed to violence is not just an abstract possibility.
If the Department of Homeland Security is successful in having their way on this issue, imagine how many other professions can be affected by this mindset. Lifeguards at beaches wouldn’t be obligated to jump into the water to save swimmers in distress. They would instead phone for backup from the Coast Guard and just yell “help! help!” until they arrive. The DHS is of course responsible for feeling up grandmothers in wheelchairs, terrorizing 4 year olds and making the travelling public unwitting porn stars during their airport inspections.
As in most inane policy directives that are foisted upon the hapless public, they usually emanate from the mind of a single misguided person. We don’t know who the genius was who thought up this policy, but he was aided and abetted by others who rubber stamped this idea without pushing back. But if you think about it, the public has been conditioned for years to accept the dictates of authority regardless of how much it flies in the face of common sense. How often are we told to “let the police handle it” instead of actively defending our own lives or property? It’s one thing to neuter the public, it’s another to de-claw those that are supposed to protect the neutered public. There’s a famous quote, much attributed to George Orwell, but actually by Winston Churchill that comes to mind:
“…We sleep soundly in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm…”
If the mindset of the DHS policy holds, forget the beds, start looking for skirts to hide behind.
Update: I can’t make this stuff up: Lifeguard fired