James Stanley is the opposite of a Public Servant, and surely has no business claiming to be a First Responder nor pretending to be a Fire Fighter when he pours gasoline over an already volatile subject and then tosses a match. His obvious oblivion to the devastation created by America's opioid crisis doesn't bode well for his compassion and ability to handle a simple COVID-19, racially charged or economically sensitive incident such as real fire fighters confront in these trying times, much less an actual fire with propane tanks on the porch and pets under the bed.
"Me thinks [they] doth protest too much." - with apologies to Mr. Shakespeare for involving his words with the tight-hearted and small-minded. Sigh. It really is hard for the rich to drive their money-laden camels through the smallest gate. Thank you Susan. I did not hear about this.
We have an expression for that in Fire Training: muscle memory. James Stanley's muscle memory has been firmly established, just as Derek Chauvin's was before him, and it's just a matter of time until it costs a life (assuming it hasn't already.)
That is a completely unacceptable response, heat of the moment or not. Civil servants need to show a higher standard of behavior. This fireman did not.
This whole thing is annoying as hell - why can't be let people serve other people. Who cares who the sponsor is so long if their driving purpose is helping others - can't say the same of the white supremacists groups, even if they try to cover up their actions with "charitable contributions".
Chief Thurz condemned Stanley's statement, suspended him, and accepted his resignation, and it happens to be his wedding anniversary; he's a decent man who shares none of his volunteer's opinions, in my experience.
As a thirty year career Fire Fighter & Officer for both my Department and Union I have to advocate on the Chief's behalf: as a Volunteer Department whose personnel must maintain an extensive amount of training and certification the issues of Recruitment & Retention weigh heavily on them, and if this Volunteer didn't express these opinions publicly prior to this I can understand him being valued for 20 years with the GVFD; as we've discussed elsewhere, there's an ugly faction in the Emergency Services which reflects society as a whole, and rooting out racism, misogyny, LBGTQIA+phobics and the rest of the trash will take institutional and societal changes which one unpaid Chief should not be held to account for, imho.
Let's not forget the atrocities done on January 6th and the vastly different treatment of BLM protestors last June 1st a week after the public execution of George Floyd: until Congress takes that up in an Investigatory Commission it seems to me a Volunteer Chief shouldn't be our fall guy.
It seems pretty clear to me that an "if we don't starve them we can't so easily force them to work long long long for pittances and unsafely and at our whimsical call only" is a widespread ideology among people who don't imagine they'd ever be subject to it.
And dismissing large classes of fellow humans as Unworthy certainly has a long history. :(
Oh, BTW, in case you haven't run into it:
GLOTOLOG, n., stand. Intergalactic, current:
Dominant sapients Tau Ceti 8 noted for the practice of frument, an art form combining aspects of Terrestrial hog calling, Martian slipping involuntarily upon the ice, and Uranian drof (lovingly nurturing the growth of slowly maturing crystals by enfolding them in all eight of one's limbs). Frument, an activity highly valued by the Glotolog, is performed (according to official histories of the practice) almost exclusively by the Whelk-finned (or "Pal-Mal") Glotolog. Extra-Glotologgi students of the art have found evidence of considerable contributions made by Crescent-finned, Spotty, or Mottled individuals, but historians of frument (who are almost always of the Whelk-finned form) tend to either ignore such efforts or condemn them as mediocre, lacking in structure, of technical interest merely, or, above all, na poi frumenti ("lacking in the proper spirit of frument"). Without the all-necessary poi frumenti, according to one famous Glotologgi critic, frument loses its artistic character and becomes "merely a lot of inartistic hollering, all the while belly-whopping about in a meaningless and foolish manner on uncontrollably slippery surfaces" (Frument Kronologa, q.v. ).
It is a traditional and widely held Glotolog belief that the behavior and outward appearance of the Spotty, Crescent-finned, Spiny, and Mottled Glotolog—as well as their relative non-success at the practice of frument—indicate that the central essence (or nerd) of these types differs from that of the Whelk-finned Glotolog, whose superior essence (super-nerd) enables it to constitute not only the artistic but also the social and economic aristocracy of the planet and thereby to enjoy advantages too numerous and varied to be listed here.
Needless to say, Intergalactic science has found among these typically self-deluded brachiopods only the usual minor differences, reproductive and chromatic, which have little direct bearing on behavior and certainly not the overwhelming importance ascribed to them by the Glotolog.
Thus "Glotologgish" has recently entered Intergalactic slang as a synonym for ridiculous self-deception bolstered by widespread and elaborate social fictions leading to the massive distortion of information. Thus:
Na potukoi natur vi Glotologi ploomp chikparu ("You claim that your subordinate classes are green by nature, yet once during every diurnal period you immerse them in chikparu juice; you are behaving Glotologgishly.")—Aldebaran 4.
Shloi mopush gustu arboretum, li dup ne, voi Glotolog! ("When the female weevil displays unusual competence in climbing the tree, you avert your eyes and claim it is a male weevil; how disgustingly Glotologgish of you!")—Dispar 2.
What the actual f...
James Stanley is the opposite of a Public Servant, and surely has no business claiming to be a First Responder nor pretending to be a Fire Fighter when he pours gasoline over an already volatile subject and then tosses a match. His obvious oblivion to the devastation created by America's opioid crisis doesn't bode well for his compassion and ability to handle a simple COVID-19, racially charged or economically sensitive incident such as real fire fighters confront in these trying times, much less an actual fire with propane tanks on the porch and pets under the bed.
Say his name...
NO argument.
"Me thinks [they] doth protest too much." - with apologies to Mr. Shakespeare for involving his words with the tight-hearted and small-minded. Sigh. It really is hard for the rich to drive their money-laden camels through the smallest gate. Thank you Susan. I did not hear about this.
There was at least one story in the Courant. It focused on the foul firefighter.
That firefighter needs to be fired. I guess that person forgot that they serve all residents of the town. Even those that may be different from him.
To me, it looked like he was caught up in the heat of an argument, and went right where he shouldn't have gone. Let them die?
We have an expression for that in Fire Training: muscle memory. James Stanley's muscle memory has been firmly established, just as Derek Chauvin's was before him, and it's just a matter of time until it costs a life (assuming it hasn't already.)
To me, it's like dismissing someone's bad behavior on, say their drinking. In fact, I think drink removes all our inhibitions and that? Is who we are.
That is a completely unacceptable response, heat of the moment or not. Civil servants need to show a higher standard of behavior. This fireman did not.
This whole thing is annoying as hell - why can't be let people serve other people. Who cares who the sponsor is so long if their driving purpose is helping others - can't say the same of the white supremacists groups, even if they try to cover up their actions with "charitable contributions".
I guess some people prefer hunger for other people. It’s gross.
Chief Thurz condemned Stanley's statement, suspended him, and accepted his resignation, and it happens to be his wedding anniversary; he's a decent man who shares none of his volunteer's opinions, in my experience.
James Stanley is another matter entirely; his Facebook profile is... telling. https://www.facebook.com/unclesnizzleyo
I feel fine the chief. This tars the whole department, which isn’t fair but.
As a thirty year career Fire Fighter & Officer for both my Department and Union I have to advocate on the Chief's behalf: as a Volunteer Department whose personnel must maintain an extensive amount of training and certification the issues of Recruitment & Retention weigh heavily on them, and if this Volunteer didn't express these opinions publicly prior to this I can understand him being valued for 20 years with the GVFD; as we've discussed elsewhere, there's an ugly faction in the Emergency Services which reflects society as a whole, and rooting out racism, misogyny, LBGTQIA+phobics and the rest of the trash will take institutional and societal changes which one unpaid Chief should not be held to account for, imho.
Let's not forget the atrocities done on January 6th and the vastly different treatment of BLM protestors last June 1st a week after the public execution of George Floyd: until Congress takes that up in an Investigatory Commission it seems to me a Volunteer Chief shouldn't be our fall guy.
If it's any consolation James Stanley has resigned from the Glastonbury Fire Department, hopefully returning to his regular job as a gravedigger where he can contemplate the fate of poor Yorick and all who struggle with addiction, hunger and other human afflictions: https://www.courant.com/community/glastonbury/hc-news-glastonbury-firefighter-resigns-20210505-hubynxfjtzhqvgtrylqxk6ryqy-story.html
Wow. Well, what did we all learn from this?
I wonder if Stanley learned anything.
Eat every carrot and pea on your plate? No, that's what my grandpa taught me. "If you can't say something nice, don't say nothin' at all"?
It seems pretty clear to me that an "if we don't starve them we can't so easily force them to work long long long for pittances and unsafely and at our whimsical call only" is a widespread ideology among people who don't imagine they'd ever be subject to it.
And dismissing large classes of fellow humans as Unworthy certainly has a long history. :(
Oh, BTW, in case you haven't run into it:
GLOTOLOG, n., stand. Intergalactic, current:
Dominant sapients Tau Ceti 8 noted for the practice of frument, an art form combining aspects of Terrestrial hog calling, Martian slipping involuntarily upon the ice, and Uranian drof (lovingly nurturing the growth of slowly maturing crystals by enfolding them in all eight of one's limbs). Frument, an activity highly valued by the Glotolog, is performed (according to official histories of the practice) almost exclusively by the Whelk-finned (or "Pal-Mal") Glotolog. Extra-Glotologgi students of the art have found evidence of considerable contributions made by Crescent-finned, Spotty, or Mottled individuals, but historians of frument (who are almost always of the Whelk-finned form) tend to either ignore such efforts or condemn them as mediocre, lacking in structure, of technical interest merely, or, above all, na poi frumenti ("lacking in the proper spirit of frument"). Without the all-necessary poi frumenti, according to one famous Glotologgi critic, frument loses its artistic character and becomes "merely a lot of inartistic hollering, all the while belly-whopping about in a meaningless and foolish manner on uncontrollably slippery surfaces" (Frument Kronologa, q.v. ).
It is a traditional and widely held Glotolog belief that the behavior and outward appearance of the Spotty, Crescent-finned, Spiny, and Mottled Glotolog—as well as their relative non-success at the practice of frument—indicate that the central essence (or nerd) of these types differs from that of the Whelk-finned Glotolog, whose superior essence (super-nerd) enables it to constitute not only the artistic but also the social and economic aristocracy of the planet and thereby to enjoy advantages too numerous and varied to be listed here.
Needless to say, Intergalactic science has found among these typically self-deluded brachiopods only the usual minor differences, reproductive and chromatic, which have little direct bearing on behavior and certainly not the overwhelming importance ascribed to them by the Glotolog.
Thus "Glotologgish" has recently entered Intergalactic slang as a synonym for ridiculous self-deception bolstered by widespread and elaborate social fictions leading to the massive distortion of information. Thus:
Na potukoi natur vi Glotologi ploomp chikparu ("You claim that your subordinate classes are green by nature, yet once during every diurnal period you immerse them in chikparu juice; you are behaving Glotologgishly.")—Aldebaran 4.
Shloi mopush gustu arboretum, li dup ne, voi Glotolog! ("When the female weevil displays unusual competence in climbing the tree, you avert your eyes and claim it is a male weevil; how disgustingly Glotologgish of you!")—Dispar 2.
GLOTOLOG, n., colloq. Intergalactic, current:
Information control without direct censorship.
https://utpress.utexas.edu/books/rushow
I learn so much.
Apologies have become so cheap. In a moment of immoral clarity, he spews his truthful hatefulness and then says I’m sorry. There, all fixed.
James Stanley! Say his name! Asshole!
Just a really bad day for us when a first responder suggests some people aren't worth saving.