I watched a video the other day of a police officer brutalizing an elderly person. Sadly, I watch a lot of videos like that.

The cop repeatedly barked commands at a frail man in his 70s who presented no imminent threat to anyone and had not been accused of anything violent.
The man declined to put his hands behind his back as ordered, and calmly explained to the cop why the cop was mistaken about something.

The cop's response was to throw the elderly man to the ground, causing serious injuries, including one broken bone, that landed him in the hospital for weeks. The man was also charged with a crime, though prosecutors quickly dropped the charges after bodycam footage was released.

The reason I bring this up is because the man (and some of his family members and neighbors) asked the cop why he had to be so brutal.

His response was, "Because you weren't listening. When the police say something to you, you must listen."

The irony is, the man HAD been listening, and he responded intelligently and factually. He tried to engage in a reasonable conversation, and he ended up in the hospital because of it.

See, the cop didn't really mean the man wasn't listening. He meant the man wasn't instantly obeying him, that the man wasn't respecting his authority.

To that cop, such disrespect entitled him to punish the man with brutal violence. He did punish the man with brutal violence.

And his supervisors are backing him up 100%.

The police department investigated the incident and found no misconduct, despite a non-violent 70-year-old man ending up in the hospital for weeks, probably permanently disabled at least to some extent.

To prevent all that, all the officer needed to do, himself, was to slow down and listen and treat the man like an equal.

If he had done so, he would have soon learned that the man was being entirely reasonable.

But the officer couldn't do that. Because he was too offended at having his authority questioned.