Sheriff Joe is a little like the alien life force in the classic Star Trek original series episode "Day of the Dove," wherein the alien feeds off hate and can only be defeated with laughter.
Witness Arpaio's recent excursion to speak at a country club in San Diego. Protesters, of course, assembled outside the venue to berate him. And characteristically, Arpaio felt the need to go out and confront them in person.
That Arpaio gets off on these encounters is a no brainer. The man's ego is a colossal whirlpool sucking up everything in its path. Shout at him, call him a Nazi, that all makes his day.
Don't get me wrong, I love the fact that he's demonstrated against worldwide, wherever he goes.
But I wonder sometimes if protesters would be better off imagining him in his stocking feet and a pair of his own pink boxers, preferably restrained with pink handcuffs, and laughing their backsides off at him. After all, that's the state he may be in once the federal grand jury investigating the MCSO finishes its task.
It may not work, but mockery, ridicule and outright humor might make Joe wither quicker. It would have to be scathing, of course, like when one protester at the last big march here in Phoenix donned an Arpaio head and a pair of pink panties and pranced around.
"If you don't like the sheriff," he told a crowd of white alter kockers at the country club. "At least respect the uniform, and don't teach our kids to hate cops."
Here, I agree with the sheriff. We don't need to teach anyone to hate cops or disrespect the uniform. Arpaio can handle that all by himself.
