Don't Shoot the Messenger

I heard a story recently that disturbed me. A young family we know was Swatted. I wasn't familiar with Swatting, but Ward says it's been around for a long time. It involves making a false 911 call about a dangerous disturbance at someone's house. That activates a heavily armed police response, often a SWAT team. It has been deadly at times, with the homeowners shooting what they think are intruders invading their homes in the middle of the night. The SWAT team fires back, shooting to kill. The Swatting call is meant to harass and intimidate.

Both parents were at work, and the babysitter was home with the toddler when the police arrived. They were responding to a call about loud arguing at the house that sounded dangerous. When the police arrived, the house was quiet, so luckily, they didn't break down the door. They asked to come in. However, the babysitter, a newly arrived au pair from South America, wouldn't open the door until she called the mother and asked what to do. (By the way, everyone is happy how the babysitter protected the child and just didn't let the police in until she was sure it was safe.) The mother said to let them. They did a complete search of the house, found nothing, and left.

I guess you could say that all's well that ends well, except for the emotional trauma caused by the whole incident. I can only imagine how terrified the au pair was and how unsettling it was for the family to think about someone wanting to Swat them.

An investigation is underway, but no one knows who made the call or why. The father is in law enforcement, so maybe someone didn't like what he stands for. Or maybe someone thought the au pair was an illegal alien. 

This is another example of the shoot-the-messenger mentality. Too often these days, people's anger is directed at the messenger, not the real cause of their anger. And they don't think about all of the innocent people they hurt along the way with their "protests". There are many examples I could give of this, but I think I'll end now before this post gets too political. But it all makes me upset.