Opinion--"Don't Back the Blue?"

Now that I have your attention, I hope you let me explain. The world is full of great people...and awful ones. We see it in all genders, ages, races, religions, etc., and just as it isn't right to lump "all Millenials," or "all women," or "all white people" into assumptions on who they are, we shouldn't be specifically backing people soley because of their occupation.

Photo byMelany Love

The sad truth is there are scummy and dishonest people in every profession: doctors, lawyers, teachers, cops, real estate agents, politicians…not even clergy are exempt! We all know it; at some point or another, we’ve all been cheated and/or lied to by someone in a position we desperately wanted to trust. But somehow when it comes to social media, we seem to forget. We get so focused on defending “the good ones”--our spouses, friends, selves, or whoever, that we are willing to defend an entire profession--crooks and all.

Photo byMelany Love

We don’t stop the jerks who sully the reputation of those “trusted professions” by defending them or hiding their wrongs to save public face and further a pretty lie. We stop them by outing them, by saying they have no place among the honored in that profession. If we truly do back the blue, treasure our educators, or trust our scientists, then we owe it to them to clean house and help remove those who make the whole profession seem untrustworthy or corrupt.

Love and support the good PEOPLE, the ones who deserve and need the encouragement to continue fighting the wrongs in their profession, especially the corruption within. When evil goes unpunished and is more profitable than doing the right thing, it attracts all the wrong people and the good are often “discouraged out.” How do you fight a system when you're increasingly outnumbered? This kind of poison holds some striking similarities to the mafia, and the greater the foothold it is allowed to take, the harder it will ever be to remove.

Don't "Back the Blue." Back the GOOD Blue (and all the good ones in every occupation).