I just re-read this part and I'm really conflicted. Yes, standing up against wrong often has negative consequences for the do-gooder. Assholes who are smart tend to rise to positions of power and then they use their power to enact rules to protect themselves from the negative consequences that should (in a perfect world) follow their assholish deeds.
Then they convince useful idiots to argue on their behalf. "Don't stand up to evil because it will get you in trouble." The useful idiots blame the victim and use condescending words to describe the victim, such as "throwing a tantrum".
If the founding fathers had listened to your argument we would be British and have bad teeth. Many colonials paid the ultimate price that made their world materially worse. But they stood up for what is right and they are remembered as heroes, not as tantrum throwers.
Am I saying always fight the cops when they are doing wrong? Nope. But blaming someone who does is the same thing as taking the side of evil and arguing on its behalf.
<sigh>
I AM NOT saying "Don't stand up to evil because it will get you in trouble."
I AM saying "Don't stand up to evil by being an idiot." If a cop is being an asshole to me and the only alternative I can see is to be an asshole back, then I deserve my Darwin Award. That's admittedly harsh, but for fuck's sake people, THINK! Actions have consequences.
So the bond at the jail was $5,000 and the reporter on tv said she would be free if she posted 10% of it = $500. Then why she could not get her relatives (many from the multiple public announcements on tv) and friends to post it for her? Why she had to stay in jail for several days (3 days)?
I have never been in jail before so I am not clear on this, can anyone with experience explain?
Three possibilities. First is that her relatives and friends were tired of bailing her out. Remember that she had had several legal run-ins, citations and arrests in the preceding year, and while one can continue loving a hot mess, after awhile one gets tired of supporting their bad behavior. Second is that she was too embarrassed to ask for help. Third is that her friends and relatives collectively could not come up with five hundred dollars. That might be an outside chance considering that she was a college graduate, but in my younger years I would have been hard-pressed to come up with an extra twenty dollars on short notice. Being poor means that almost all your money is allocated to inflexible items before you get it. For instance, a friend got his car popped for being one day late with the payment; after that you have only a few days (I believe he had three days) to redeem the car by paying the outstanding balance plus exorbitant repo and storage charges before they sell it at auction. This is virtually ubiquitous among the "buy here pay here" dealers; it's just how they operate. If you are poor and you have done stupid things with your money, that may be the only practical option to get a car. Unsecured personal or payday loans may also have very short triggers (nothing to repossess but if you want to preserve your future ability to borrow you have to abide by the terms, which mean if you don't pay on time you have to pay a lot more.) Same with utilities; being poor means you can't always pay on time, which means you don't have much leeway before they cut you off.
I lean toward the first guess, simply because of the reports that she was despondent that no one would answer her calls. Could be because she was a horrible person, but more likely it's because she had been dependent on others to the extent that they really wanted "someone else" to take this call and so weren't taking her calls without realizing that her life was literally at stake. As a college graduate without $500 of her own, we can assume she had been out of work (or at least, without well-paid work) for a considerable time, which isn't unusual in this economy. If my guess is correct, then she was experiencing one of the most devastating things possible - being without hope for a long period, suddenly getting hope, then seeing that hope snatched away. (Can't start that new job if you are in jail.) That's just a guess of course, but it's worth thinking about when that hot mess we love calls and we'd like to ignore it and have "someone else" make it better this time. Sometimes we don't get a second chance.