This is going to be a short post so I don't devolve in to a crazy-eyed chainsaw-wielding redneck. So swatting is a thing apparently. It's been a thing for a while and it has always been fucked up beyond anything like acceptability. If you hit that link up there you might note that when the police discussed the penalty of the Nov. 6 2014 swatting as a fine and, possibly, a year in prison.
People die in SWAT raids. I've covered it before, but SWAT actions terrorize civilians, ruin lives and, occasionally, melt babies. So calling in a bomb threat or hostage situation on someone to fucking troll them makes you not a fucking person anymore. The idea that these fuckers get anything less than dropped in a fucking hole is disgusting to me. Many swatters are apparently kids. That doesn't change my opinion at all. If your shitty fucking kid is willing to fuck up someone's life this badly they don't get to try again, and you probably shouldn't either.
Showing posts with label Law Enforcement. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Law Enforcement. Show all posts
Monday, March 30, 2015
Monday, December 22, 2014
Jesus Christ Not Again
So, ugh, we've talked about shitty police stuff before. I can't describe how much I want to not have to do this, but I can't help it at this point. I've been trying to hold my tongue for a while here, hoping it would get better, but my hopes are often vain and counter to the impulses of human nature. So I'm just going to say it.
If you choose (and in our culture it is fucking always a choice) to go into law enforcement you need to understand that you aren't a person while you're wearing your uniform. Police officers are servants, says it right there in the oft repeated, usually disregarded motto, protect and serve. Any system of policing that values the safety and comfort of officers over the safety of absolutely all civilians, criminal and casual observer alike, is despotism. You went into a field where a certain (astronomically low) percentage of the population feels the need to kill you, don't fucking antagonize people. The role of a police force is to protect the populace and ensure that those who commit crimes against that populace are processed by the legal system arbitrated by the society. It is absolutely fucking never okay for a police officer to kill. It doesn't matter if your life is in jeopardy. It doesn't matter if you feel entitled or justified. You are not a person. You, as a police officer, are a construct manifested by our society to make sure that due process is maintained. Any law that protects you above a citizen is tyrannic, and system that allows you to kill is, at best, catastrophically unjust. Police officers are representatives of justice, as the society they serve defines it. No extra privileges, no special treatment. They are mechanisms as long as they are acting in an official capacity, and civilians the second they aren't.
If you choose (and in our culture it is fucking always a choice) to go into law enforcement you need to understand that you aren't a person while you're wearing your uniform. Police officers are servants, says it right there in the oft repeated, usually disregarded motto, protect and serve. Any system of policing that values the safety and comfort of officers over the safety of absolutely all civilians, criminal and casual observer alike, is despotism. You went into a field where a certain (astronomically low) percentage of the population feels the need to kill you, don't fucking antagonize people. The role of a police force is to protect the populace and ensure that those who commit crimes against that populace are processed by the legal system arbitrated by the society. It is absolutely fucking never okay for a police officer to kill. It doesn't matter if your life is in jeopardy. It doesn't matter if you feel entitled or justified. You are not a person. You, as a police officer, are a construct manifested by our society to make sure that due process is maintained. Any law that protects you above a citizen is tyrannic, and system that allows you to kill is, at best, catastrophically unjust. Police officers are representatives of justice, as the society they serve defines it. No extra privileges, no special treatment. They are mechanisms as long as they are acting in an official capacity, and civilians the second they aren't.
Friday, September 5, 2014
For Great Justice
You know whats cool about being a cop? You can break the law and get away with it because, hey, you are the law! Did I say cool? Sorry, I didn't mean cool, I meant fucking stupid. Seriously, what the hell guys? I feel like I need to say this now: I don't hate cops. I think that they preform a necessary and valuable service for the people. I also know that there have been cases in which cops have broken the law and have gone to jail. But when all is said and done the fact that there has been no punishment for police who have committed crimes in any case at all, is something that I cannot abide.
The story that made me want to write about this is the policeman who killed the former COO of napster because he was texting while driving. The excuse they gave was that he was in the middle of texting a reply to another officer asking a work related question. This is bullshit. Do you know why texting while driving is illegal in the majority of states? Because shit like that happens! People die because someone didn't want to wait/pull over to send a message. The police are supposed to be paragons of justice in our country, hell, in most of the world. These are not supposed to be people in uniforms "just doing their jobs". They are the people we let guard our streets and uphold the rule of law. They are supposed to be the best of us. As Eshi has said, "We outsource our self-defense to these people at the most vital times". They are the ones that we chose to let represent our social Ideals. This means that they must be held to a higher standard of accountability then your normal everyman on the street.
A couple of the news stories I linked to earlier could have been considered accidents and not intentional crimes. That sucks and its super unfortunate for everyone involved, but you still killed a person. I know you don't want to be punished for something you didn't mean to do, but all actions have consequences and you have to live with them, especially if you are the one who is supposed to hold people accountable in the first place.
Really anytime a person has power that can impact people around them, they lose some of their freedom to act in anyway they like. When you have power over people if you fuck up, you hurt all of the people effected by you. You have to bear the responsibility of your actions. I believe that this is especially true if you are an elected official and you break the law. You don't get the minimum sentence or just paying a fine because you are important. No, you get jail time motherfucker. Did you cheat on your significant other, and then proceed to tell people who can and can't get married based on a moral code you possess? Nope, you get publicly fired. You don't get to resign gracefully. We elect people to represent us, and as such they should always act in a way that corresponds to that trust. You don't get to make mistakes. I get that your job is hard and sometimes you make mistakes, but those mistakes cost too much for you to ever get a pass.
The story that made me want to write about this is the policeman who killed the former COO of napster because he was texting while driving. The excuse they gave was that he was in the middle of texting a reply to another officer asking a work related question. This is bullshit. Do you know why texting while driving is illegal in the majority of states? Because shit like that happens! People die because someone didn't want to wait/pull over to send a message. The police are supposed to be paragons of justice in our country, hell, in most of the world. These are not supposed to be people in uniforms "just doing their jobs". They are the people we let guard our streets and uphold the rule of law. They are supposed to be the best of us. As Eshi has said, "We outsource our self-defense to these people at the most vital times". They are the ones that we chose to let represent our social Ideals. This means that they must be held to a higher standard of accountability then your normal everyman on the street.
A couple of the news stories I linked to earlier could have been considered accidents and not intentional crimes. That sucks and its super unfortunate for everyone involved, but you still killed a person. I know you don't want to be punished for something you didn't mean to do, but all actions have consequences and you have to live with them, especially if you are the one who is supposed to hold people accountable in the first place.
Really anytime a person has power that can impact people around them, they lose some of their freedom to act in anyway they like. When you have power over people if you fuck up, you hurt all of the people effected by you. You have to bear the responsibility of your actions. I believe that this is especially true if you are an elected official and you break the law. You don't get the minimum sentence or just paying a fine because you are important. No, you get jail time motherfucker. Did you cheat on your significant other, and then proceed to tell people who can and can't get married based on a moral code you possess? Nope, you get publicly fired. You don't get to resign gracefully. We elect people to represent us, and as such they should always act in a way that corresponds to that trust. You don't get to make mistakes. I get that your job is hard and sometimes you make mistakes, but those mistakes cost too much for you to ever get a pass.
Monday, August 25, 2014
The Most Charitable Thing I Can Bring Myself to Say About Police
I've been trying very fucking hard to keep my mouth shut about whats been happening in Ferguson the past couple weeks. As Michael Brown's funeral is today and I'm not a complete fucking ogre, I'm going to refuse once more to exploit the agony of his family's loss for the sake of a discussion. My heart goes out to them. I truly hope they find the justice they so clearly deserve.
However, while I have no desire to salt wounds, I have no such compunction against picking scabs. The systemic abuse of authority is something I must engage.
Authority in general is a bit of a touchy subject to me; both in that I don't have any, and in that its a philosophical minefield. I believe that the right to reasonable self defense is a primary human right. Now, people aren't always reasonable and not everyone is capable of protecting themselves. With this in mind its pretty natural to prevent people just loosing their shit all the time (both literally and figuratively) by outsourcing self defense. These days we call these defenders "police", and the entire impetus for their existence is and needs to be the reasonable defense of the civilian population against anti-social factors. Now, that means that the whole purpose of a police force ought to be peacefully deescalating dangerous situations when possible and utilizing just enough force to detain those who would do active harm to society. This does rather heavily mug my previous post on Ethics in that these actions are meant to ensure justice, i.e. the appropriate punishment of anti-social elements and the rehabilitation of those capable of recovery. Anything other than this is meant to make wronged parties feel better and that is an intrinsically moral issue, if you want to feel better that's all on you.
The unfortunate worm this this particular apple is that most police are just people doing a job. Because of the way we interact with law enforcement (note the different terminology), they are given undue, and often vindictive, protections. It is intrinsically unreasonable to make it a crime to assault an officer; being assaulted is an expected vocational hazard when dealing with the sort of people who tend to require police intervention: the actively violent and the anti-social. Besides there are already laws against assault, making a special law for people who assault cops is ridiculous. It is intrinsically punitive to have laws punishing resisting or avoiding arrest, making laws designed explicitly to add to an initial crime is just beating a dead horse. The fact that a police officer can beat a homeless man to death, or murder a young man in front of his family, or melt a baby with a flash/bang grenade or ever kill someone not actively trying to kill another person, and have any hope of still being a police officer is fucking disgusting and a gross miscarriage of justice.
Unfortunately, it is a core aspect of any kind of authority to maintain and accumulate power. Even the most well-intentioned person, given a degree of command, will seek more power under the auspices of being able to do more good. Don't get me wrong, I am not saying all police are corrupt, or that everyone in a position of power is bad. I am simply saying that being in a position of control tends to encourage one to seek more control. Authority, like a fucked up super solder cocktail, can't help but emphasize preexisting traits, and not one of us is ever really a saint.
However, while I have no desire to salt wounds, I have no such compunction against picking scabs. The systemic abuse of authority is something I must engage.
Authority in general is a bit of a touchy subject to me; both in that I don't have any, and in that its a philosophical minefield. I believe that the right to reasonable self defense is a primary human right. Now, people aren't always reasonable and not everyone is capable of protecting themselves. With this in mind its pretty natural to prevent people just loosing their shit all the time (both literally and figuratively) by outsourcing self defense. These days we call these defenders "police", and the entire impetus for their existence is and needs to be the reasonable defense of the civilian population against anti-social factors. Now, that means that the whole purpose of a police force ought to be peacefully deescalating dangerous situations when possible and utilizing just enough force to detain those who would do active harm to society. This does rather heavily mug my previous post on Ethics in that these actions are meant to ensure justice, i.e. the appropriate punishment of anti-social elements and the rehabilitation of those capable of recovery. Anything other than this is meant to make wronged parties feel better and that is an intrinsically moral issue, if you want to feel better that's all on you.
The unfortunate worm this this particular apple is that most police are just people doing a job. Because of the way we interact with law enforcement (note the different terminology), they are given undue, and often vindictive, protections. It is intrinsically unreasonable to make it a crime to assault an officer; being assaulted is an expected vocational hazard when dealing with the sort of people who tend to require police intervention: the actively violent and the anti-social. Besides there are already laws against assault, making a special law for people who assault cops is ridiculous. It is intrinsically punitive to have laws punishing resisting or avoiding arrest, making laws designed explicitly to add to an initial crime is just beating a dead horse. The fact that a police officer can beat a homeless man to death, or murder a young man in front of his family, or melt a baby with a flash/bang grenade or ever kill someone not actively trying to kill another person, and have any hope of still being a police officer is fucking disgusting and a gross miscarriage of justice.
Unfortunately, it is a core aspect of any kind of authority to maintain and accumulate power. Even the most well-intentioned person, given a degree of command, will seek more power under the auspices of being able to do more good. Don't get me wrong, I am not saying all police are corrupt, or that everyone in a position of power is bad. I am simply saying that being in a position of control tends to encourage one to seek more control. Authority, like a fucked up super solder cocktail, can't help but emphasize preexisting traits, and not one of us is ever really a saint.
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