Mark Coffey's column this morning leaves a great, unanswered question: what, exactly, has gotten under his skin?
The point is obvious -- he's tired of people taking potshots from the sidelines. I've made the same critique in the past. However, there seems to be enough passion behind the words to indicate that something in particular is bugging him. Does anyone know him well enough to know?
He didn't really drop any clues. The whole article seemed a bit pointless to me. Oh, wait...since I don't write for a newspaper maybe I don't have a right to an opinion?
What a bunch of pap. So, by his thinking, the only people qualified to critique somebody's job is somebody else doing that job? Are we in a caste system? If I don't get Whiney Bobby's computer fixed, and he starts bitching that I don't know what I'm doing, am I allowed to tell him to stick it because he doesn't have years of IT experience?
Thicker skin, people. Society allows that, as we all have specialized jobs, the right to speak up with somebody's not doing their job properly. The baseball player that struck out? What the guy calling him a bum is doing is being invested in the team, in the welfare and success of it, and by getting irritated that the jerk can't hit the ball to save his life, he's doing the best thing he can. He doesn't HAVE to be born with an innate ability to play, or spend years in college ball.
If a cop cuts me off, tailgates me, or blows off my neighbor's break-in, I'm going to call him out publicly or privately. I don't HAVE to be a freakin cop to do it. As a member of society, its my right. If the cop doesn't like it, well, maybe the cop should either bone up on his skills, or grow thicker skin.
Same with firefighers, ditch diggers, and public servants.
Settle down, Coffey.
I don't know the specifics that got him going. But I don't think he is talking about appropriate responses to situations. Rather, I think the taking potshots at how someone works when they are going above the norm just to do the work.
I see a fair amount of this in OR. For example, the old Parcel-A project is used to taint the current City Council rather than used as a learning tool to say if we don't want a situation like that again, let's do it differently. It is taking a learning experience and claiming that the lesson can't be learned. It is a divisive way of being rather than a community one.
Some days, columnists simply run out of ideas.
But then again Cracker, that is all conjecture since Coffey didn’t really explain for himself. Appropriate responses are in the ear of the beholder.
I would suspect that he is ranting about the criticism that was offered recently following the 4th of July party in Scarboro.
Frankly I agree with AT. Regardless of what Coffee is angry about, folks do have a right to question the way that the police do things. Granted people can be unreasonable. Much like it is unreasonable for Coffee to assert that unless you are a cop, you have no right to criticize.
I guess that is my point since he didn't actually say that. I think the context he opens in the beginning when he says, "Now while I value someone who is knowledgeable, wise, and seeks to help by correcting actions that could be detrimental, I do not have much respect for those who seek only to run others down in what appears to be a sad little effort to make themselves look important."
So I think he is making a distinction when someone criticizes in incident of police brutality versus someone who says our police suck.
I took his article as someone is saying they can do his job better than he can....not necessarily about the entire department.
And with regards to the fireworks, you didn't see my comment posted today under a different thread. I'm still tiffed over the fact that fingers aren't being pointed at the Fire Chief. After all, if he sent someone to a class and only found out at the last minute that they didn't have a license, then there's a BIG problem. The Fire Chief allowed fireworks into our city's facilities (which apparently were supposed to have a permit that we didn't have) and be stored by the city (with a permit that we didn't have).
The Fire Chief didn't do HIS job. He delegated the work and it didn't get done. Therefore, it's HIS fault that we didn't have fireworks.
Am I shouting from the sideline? You bet I am!! It's MY tax dollars that make up HIS paycheck.
I'm not offering to do his job. I'm telling him to do his job. It's what WE pay HIM to do and I believe that WE have that right.
After reading the comments here I had to go read the column. Daco is right - the article is pointless. It could refer to just about anything and, furthermore, he could be right on or completely off base. He's right about the perpetual critic who offers nothing constructive and seems to live to tear down others' effort. But at the same time, there is a valid role for the critic, as AT points out. By not providing any context, Coffey comes off sounding like some kind of nutcase. Obviously, something tripped his trigger, but who knows what it was?
Hmm... room for all points of view to be right in this one, I guess, since specifics weren't indicated by the columnist.
As a school board member, I don't expect everyone else to run for the school board before voicing an opinion (that would give me a very limited pool of opinions, and make the job much tougher for me). However, there are times when people hound us continuously that we're not doing any part of the job right, when I do wonder why they don't just run and fix it all.
Maybe it's criticism of the police; maybe it's the fireworks fiasco. Maybe it's the upcoming football season. But, if anyone should run into him in the next few days, buy him a cup of coffee and ask exactly what's bugging him.