Esther replies.

[E L BROOKFIELD <E.L.Brookfield@mmu.ac.uk>]

Ok, so I was just getting something off my chest... it was a 
spontaneous outburst.

I read the so called joke and it left me with a yucky feeling inside. 
I know that 99% of humour derives its impact from some kind of 
offence. Please, I'm many things but not naive.

But police violence is for me just something too awful to contemplate 
making a flippant joke about on a totally unrelated newsgroup.
It just felt to me as if the point of the joke was the difference 
between slowing down and stopping, and the fact that a policeman 
beating up someone was used to illustrate the point seemed to have 
been overlooked. Very dangerous, to me that signals not so much an 
acceptance of, but an awareness of misuse of power that has lost its 
shock value, its the norm, 'Hey policemen beat people up, thats 
something everyone knows about, so everyone will get my joke huh?'.

Here in Britain we've had a lot of awful miscarriages of justice, 
innocent people sent to prison on the basis of 'confessions' beaten 
out of them by the police:
Guildford Four
Birmingham Six, are the most notable, but several individuals mainly 
mentally handicapped have served life sentenced only to have them 
overthrown on the appeals court.

This is something that I feel very strongly about as a member of 
Amnesty International (as is Kate) so just understand that I am not a
kiljoy, but that particular joke just mad me feel sick.

Right thats it. I'm off my soapbox, but given the amount of replies 
I've had I felt that I had to justify my response.
                     Give me deeper understanding..
                     Esther.x (I always sign with a kiss, don't you 
                               kiss when you say goodbye, even after
                               an argument?)