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craffy

Member Since 17 Aug 2011
Offline Last Active Aug 18 2011 04:45 AM

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ATF Philosophy

17 August 2011 - 10:48 PM

ATF has a history of lies, misinformation, an overbearing mentality, and disenfranchising many of its employees. Typically, their best and brightest employees. Anyone with an intelligent mind or creative ideas is considered an "outsider." ATF even treats the licensees / permittees so critically and without respect it creates animosity towards the agency, it's people, and the government as a whole. Waco and Oklahoma City were the blowback of such a militaristic approach to enforcing laws. It is well known you cannot approach people with an iron first and expect them to be obedient and / or submissive forever - either your employees or the people you serve. America is not a communist state....yet. I am sure, if those in a position of authority had their way, they would prefer total control over everyone, everything and at all times.

The lack of self-relection within this agency is truly beyond belief. It's always someone else's fault and anyone trying to make it better is simply dismissed with passivity or seen as a trouble-maker for attempting to go against the status quo. If they promoted individuals with intelligence, "people skills" and tact, they might have better luck in creating a positive work environment. They should stop having so much animosity towards people who try to make things a bit more tolerable by giving input. They should stop all of the trivial gossip, start focusing on their duties, and never tolerate uncivilized behaviors in the work place such as the physical hostilities, backstabbing, snitching, abuse of authority, bad attitudes, and inflexibility. They should stop promoting those who don't follow the rules, are not qualified to be in a position of management, or are promoted based on some type of "status" such as race or the good ol boy system. This only creates more animosity. Everyone knows this is the current employment practice. They should learn to promote those that do excellent work and have tact. Then send them to intensive managerial training - pass or fail - just as agents or IOI's are sent to training to learn their duties. Everyone knows this is how it should be. After all, not everyone is meant for management - regardless of their credentials.

Finally, get rid of the egos and the "we're above the law" mentality. The most probable escape from one's own biases begins with the admonition to disenfranchise oneself from self-importance. Ego must be disallowed to have its sovereignty over the facade it creates about the importance we all have about ourselves. In this way, we are able to step back from our programming and see an identity about ourselves emerging that dispels the myths of who we have lived with all of our lives and thought we were. If you can do this, and it takes time, then you will begin an association with the world around you that you never saw before - you never saw it before because "YOU" were in the way. Once we all get out of the way of ourselves, the little, the big, the trace, minute, mass, the dead, the alive can be observed without the hazardous props of self-importance. You cannot "see" anything as long as you refuse to stop seeing you first. Ego is a flaccid misconception of ourselves that continually needs "puffing up" through the distortions and lies that we all perpetuate as our true (false) identities. Our positions in life, income levels, physical appearance, social status, symbols of importance, i.e., badges, ID cards of officiousness, the offices we hold, academic qualifications, licensures, fancy cars, big homes, and other materialistic items, all of it. These are the very masks that we present to camouflage ourselves to others and therefore with this type of self-indenturing to our pretenses, we are always focused on them, our false selves, and cannot see what is going on around us in person, place or thing.

ATF is one of the biggest examples of hypocrisy that exists in the government. They are supposed to enforce laws relevant to firearms and explosives (and alcohol and tobacco to a limited extend), yet, they cannot even obey the basic, unwritten law of humility, integrity, and equality in the workplace. They should not be attempting to enforce any laws until they can learn the human characteristics of respect, dignity and fairness in the office and when dealing with licensees.