Jeff Bridges On The Way It's Always Been Done

[holliscx]

THE WAY IT'S ALWAYS BEEN DONE

1. Start with a cage containing five apes. In the cage, hang a banana on a string and put stairs under it. Before long, an ape will go to the stairs and start to climb towards the banana.

2. As soon as the ape touches the stairs, spray all the apes with cold water. After a while, another ape makes an attempt with the same result - all the apes are sprayed with cold water.

3. Turn off the cold water. If, later, another ape tries to climb the stairs, the other apes will try to prevent it even though no water sprays at them.

4. Now, remove one ape from the cage and replace it with a new one. The new ape sees the banana and wants to climb the stairs. To his horror, all of the apes attack him. After another attempt and attack, he knows that if he tries to climb the stairs, he will be assaulted.

5. Next, remove another of the original five apes and replace it with a new one. The newcomer goes to the stairs and is attacked. The newcomer takes part in the punishment with enthusiasm.

6. Again, replace a third original ape with a new one. The new one makes it to the stairs and is attacked as well. Two of the four apes that beat him have no idea why they were not permitted to climb the stairs, or why they are participating in the beating of the newest ape.

7. After replacing the fourth and fifth original apes, all the apes which have been sprayed with cold water have been replaced.

Nevertheless, no ape ever again approaches the stairs. Why not?

BECAUSE that's the way it's always been done around here.

source: http://www.jeffbridges.com/because.html

[Too Tall]

I'd take this personally if he I didn't have alot of love for that cat.

[sk_tle]

Our best force and our worst weakness. Learning from others.

[Corso]

Growing up, we always respected/feared the police. My "gang" would get into some teenage trouble, but never, never mouthed off to the cops. Stories of cops throwing a beating and then bringing you home, where your dad would beat you again were the norm. Even when police would visit my house, "is your son home?", my respect for them would get me off the hook.

That was the norm...respect the police, because "that's the way it's always been".

To this day, I've never mouthed off to an officer, no matter the situation. Guess I'm a monkey too.


Too bad the youth of today have no problems dis-respecting law enforcement officers. Then again, they seem to have little respect for anyone.

[Dallas Tex]

Growing up, we always respected/feared the police. My "gang" would get into some teenage trouble, but never, never mouthed off to the cops. Stories of cops throwing a beating and then bringing you home, where your dad would beat you again were the norm. Even when police would visit my house, "is your son home?", my respect for them would get me off the hook.

That was the norm...respect the police, because "that's the way it's always been".

To this day, I've never mouthed off to an officer, no matter the situation. Guess I'm a monkey too.


Too bad the youth of today have no problems dis-respecting law enforcement officers. Then again, they seem to have little respect for anyone.

I'm pro law enforcement. But I believe some of the loss of respect is due to their own lack of self-policing their own, as well as the governmental shift of looking toward the police department as a 'profit center' rather than a 'cost center'.

Too many instances of friends getting popped for Public Intox when they opted to walk home instead of drive. "to drunk to drive home, is too drunk to walk home" said the cop about a block from my friends house. I wondered why would the police would do this. Then it hit me when I got him out of jail the next day. It cost $560. Now he has the option of hiring a lawyer, risking larger fines if found guilty & worse a permanent mark on his record (visible to every future employer)......OR forfeit the $560 via deferred adjudication and walk away w/nothing on your record. It was completely about the money.

Also, making the world safe from folks driving 59mph in 55mph zones. When I was a kid speeding tickets were $12 maybe $20. Now I haven't paid less than $300 for a ticket in years. I was in line to pay a ticket about a year ago, behind a young lady in her 20s holding a baby. She had gotten caught in the same speed trap that I got caught in: At the bottom of a hill, where gravity subtlety increases your speed unnoticed. She was horrified & astounded all at the same time, "I don't have $300 to give you, I have to pay my rent".

If there is in fact less respect for law enforcement nowadays, I'd blame things like I mentioned above more than anything else.

Sorry for the rant, probably not even the right place to post it. Its sort of in response to corso's post above.

[AJPM44]

Growing up, we always respected/feared the police. My "gang" would get into some teenage trouble, but never, never mouthed off to the cops. Stories of cops throwing a beating and then bringing you home, where your dad would beat you again were the norm. Even when police would visit my house, "is your son home?", my respect for them would get me off the hook.

That was the norm...respect the police, because "that's the way it's always been".

To this day, I've never mouthed off to an officer, no matter the situation. Guess I'm a monkey too.


Too bad the youth of today have no problems dis-respecting law enforcement officers. Then again, they seem to have little respect for anyone.

Did you not just see a state cop "respect" his job and publish pictures of a suspect thus endangering the trial? You do sound like a total monkey.

[jitahs]

Clearly this is an object lesson on rep power.

[davids]

...and this is why nothing ever changes in human culture.

Oh wait.

[boxerboxer]

That was the norm...respect the police, because "that's the way it's always been".

It sounds more like "Respect the police because they will beat the shit out of you."

[Corso]

Did you not just see a state cop "respect" his job and publish pictures of a suspect thus endangering the trial? You do sound like a total monkey.

Endangering the trial? Are you remotely serious? Maybe Sgt Murph was respecting the dead and maimed from this asshole, vs a mag respecting a killer to sell magazines.

"Because it's always been that way"...let's see, what's WRONG with that: slavery, women's rights, child labor, it's obvious this isn't the best practice.

Back to my original post: It was not a commentary on the state of Police across the country. It simply reminded me of how I grew up, and that it was ingrained in me, without exactly knowing why, like the Bridges example.

As i got older, I understand why the police should be respected, as their job is not an easy one. At all.

Mad at the police for speed traps? Don't speed. Drinking? Cop may have saved the friend from harm, even walking.

If you don't do anything outside of the law, you should have no problem with the cops. "but i was was JRA and a cop pulled me over and gave me crap..." maybe it was an attitude YOU gave out attracting the action. As we know most JRA stories are BS.

And remember, if someone steals your custom Parlee, or if your hit on the road and lying bleeding, or your kid doesn't show up on her way home from school, the first call you WILL make is to the cops, the same people you seem to have a problem with.