My problem with People Invested with Guns.
Here's the deal: I think that if I tell a cop that, by and large, the police are nothing but a bunch of paid thugs in the employ of the elite and end up spending almost all of their time enforcing traffic regulations or dealing with property crime because they could barely manage a "C" in high school…
I'm pretty sure that if I express that completely legitimate opinion; an opinion that any person living in a free and democratic society should be able to express...if I do that…I'm pretty sure that if the chips were down and in that one in a million chance that I actually need a cop to protect me; I actually need them to do their job, I'm almost certain that they aren't gonna be quite so Johnny on the spot. They won't be quite so diligent and dedicated. A little less willing to take a bullet for me. That somehow I'm not worthy of their sacrifice.
Why would that be? Because they are going to judge me. Completely outside of their mandate they are going to relinquish their duty to me as a citizen and let me 'see what it's like' without their help. That's bullshit. Either you are able to let go of those pesky human emotions and act as a tool of the state, or you aren't. If you can't let it go, then you are just like the rest of us and should have absolutely no special privileges. No guns, no cuffs, no authority. Just like us.
bullies by any other name - just like the ones unleashed on the Aztec, the Inca, hell, the Americans as a whole, Africa, etc...
ReplyDeleteSend out your anti-intellectual, well armed bruisers, and have them enforce policy.
I've been looking at the idea of a volunteer police force. And a minimum of a 4 year university degree if you are going to wield authorized instruments of violence.
ReplyDeleteThe cop you are describing is badly trained. He also probably chose policing as a way to continue doing what he was good at growing up (violence and intimidation) and getting paid for it.
ReplyDeleteI say cops aren't trained as well as they should be in relationship to the power they wield and the pressure they face. I want all my cops to have a Bachelor's degree in something. Just so long as I know they have the ability to think, reason, learn and compromise. Then, I would double their salary. Make it so children growing up actually want to grow up to be police. Make the job into something more respected by the public and more honored by each policeperson. (Then we are headed down the road to where our society can do without with policing altogether.)
Yeah, whatever. The powers-that-be don't want police like that. They want aggressive, uncompromising, frightened police. They don't want the cops to understand the public that they "protect". They simply prefer the public be scared of cops. If this requires the police to illegally bust a few heads every now and then, or exercise selective policing ... this is all the better as long as that story spreads and deters other would-be authority-questioners.
When will they start hiring reformed criminals out of jail to be police? Talk about a deterrent. You would NEVER want one of those cars pulling you over.