From Radley Balko‘s Huffington Post article on the Keene BearCat issue:
“These people are crazy,” Massery said. “They hate cops. They hate the government. They remind me of the Jehovah’s Witnesses who take on the Red Cross. Why is anyone listening to them?”
Jim Massery (right), standing in front of the BearCat
I must say that I found this statement from Jim Massery, the Lenco representative I met at the city council meeting on the BearCat, to be a bit confusing. Jim and I had had a good conversation following the BearCat meeting in which he stated that Keene had the most passion in standing up to police militarization that he had ever seen. So why is he quoted on the Huffington Post as saying I’m crazy? If I’m crazy, why did he even bother to hold a conversation with me, much less to pay me such a nice compliment?
If he thinks I’m some whack-job, why didn’t he stand for his opinions and tell me so to my face?
That doesn’t really sound like the way a Christian ought to conduct himself.
Radley’s article continues:
The Keene city council will take up the issue again next month. Massery predicted opposition from Keene residents will ultimately be in vain. “We have Bearcats in 90 percent of the 100 or so largest cities in America,” Massery said. “This is going to happen. It has already happened. To resist now would be like saying police officers should scrap the Glock and go back to the revolver. It’s a fantasy.”
Jim, I am a Christian. Jesus Christ was a peace activist. You claim to be a Christian, yet you’re going to sit there and say that peace is a fantasy?
That doesn’t really sound like something a Christian would say.
Additionally, we the “citizens” of Keene do not want to have a BearCat in our peaceful city, and we the “citizens” have worked very hard to express our feelings.
Jim, are you saying that our feelings do not matter and that you would like to force us to have a BearCat in our city?
That sure doesn’t sound like something a Christian would do. Personally, I’m starting to think that you do not understand the teachings of Christ at all, Jim.
And here’s the real kicker, again from Radley’s article:
“All we do is make trucks,” Massery said. “How the trucks are used after the police department gets them isn’t something we can control. You’ll have to ask the police department or city council and Keene about that.”
Jim, if you were alive during the life of Christ, and if you worked for the company that made the cross on which he was crucified, would you be able to look at yourself in the mirror in the morning or fall asleep at night? Would you? Would you truly feel that how the crosses were used after you sold them to the people who murdered Christ is none of your responsibility?
If nobody manufactured crosses, upon what would Christ have died? Or would he have died at all? Have you ever thought about that, Jim?
Are you really a Christian, Jim?
On your blog, you claim to be a Conservative, Christian, Citizen.
However, your actions prove that you’re nothing but a hypocrite and a fraud.
