Smart ass remarks by the police appear to be pretty intimidating. The remaining Redds pled guilty to a range of felony charges on Monday in connection with their life-long love of grave robbing. Turns out it took two moving vans (albeit boxes were only stacked two high) to cart off the illegal loot accumulated in the family homes. It took 20 agents more than a day to collect and pack up the materials. Not that the folk of Blanding are reconciled to the facts yet -- they still seem to think that the police should have knocked on doors and talked over with the looters why the looters should stop. A curious view of crime I say. West Side Story as documentary.
The story is still cast as a clash between a more or less innocent local practice and the heavy hand of the federal agencies. And that is a shame, but neither part of the story is right. The local practice was just a habit of stealing and grave robbing. Nothing about that deserves much praise or concern. That the conduct was theft and grave robbery was well known. Who owns the land is not a secret, nor was it a secret that the materials removed were valuable archaeological material, of importance to the remaining Indian cultures, and that there was monetary value to the loot. Not really so different from drilling for oil on someone else's land. It is a willful blindness. The other side is also far off the mark. When people are complaining about police making smart ass remarks, it is plain that such folk are way into the dark of the wood. Police pretty regularly destroy the insides of homes when making arrests, and break bones, and so on. Some smart remark is not all that painful, and better indicates that someone thinks they are above the law. The arrested were believed, reasonably, to be armed and to have discussed use of arms. In that context, one would expect the agents to arrive with guns out. It seems acceptable enough here in the terrible wasteland of urban Zion.
I think these attitudes are part of the entrenched view of the rural that they are better than most Americans and deserve special consideration beyond the range of subsidies already provided.
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