We cannot find a common ground when they live in the land of fantasy
They are led to believe they are fighting a war against evil forces and they will come on top because “their hearts are pure.” Their whole strategy is based on fantasy politics and what some wishful thinker has told them works. Bullets should work like in a Hollywood TV show: A bit of pain, a little hole and back to normal by the following week for the next episode.
They are not prepared for reality.
Most of them have not seen ugly death. The only corpses they deal with were properly made up. dressed and packaged in a box, given a glance and then quickly put away. Dealing with the presence of real blood maybe once a month if females, small accidental kitchen accidents and maybe a blood donation that demands they are given a cookie and juice least they pass out.
They are posers acting up against people limited by good manners and protocols. They think they are dealing with weaklings easy to overwhelm.
And then reality hits at 1,300 feet per second.
The worst part? They will somehow sublimize what they saw, put it away and continue with the same wreck train of thought… till it happens to them.
Stupidity deserves no pity.
I think yes these people are so stupid its almost unbelievable. I once read that there is a Catholic doctrine called invincible ignorance. Some times that seems what you have here. A cop with a gun tells you to do something you do it.
I will admit I've led a fairly protected and "uninteresting" life. When I was a kid and played Cowboys and Indians, The good guys always won and the bad guys always "died" dramatically and then got up and we all went to someone's home for cookies and milk. That said, I was always intelligent and knew were playing fantasy not practicing reality. As I grew up and learned to shoot and hunt, I understood the power of firearms. Maybe it helped that one of my friends in elementary school was in a wheelchair due to an accident from a .22. I simply can't imagine that an "adult" in this era does not understand that a) law enforcement personnel are armed with real guns firing real bullets, b) if in danger of death death or previous bodily harm, cops can and will use deadly force to stop the threat or attack, and c) What part of "deadly force" don't you understand?