And this is encouraged by America's cultural attitude towards criminals in general. Politicians tend to be judged harshly for appearing "soft on crime". People tend to immediately jump to the worst possible preconceptions whenever they hear the word "criminal". Those harmed by police tend to get zero sympathy as soon as it's revealed that they might have been guilty of anything at any point in their lives. It's still not uncommon for people to talk about how police who capture a drug dealer or violent criminal should just take haul them off somewhere to be immediately executed and left to rot. When there was a mass shooting at the Los Angeles airport several months back, I heard several people in the office propose exactly this, and that was tame compared to the shit I hear anytime a child abuse or rape case makes headlines. And being convicted of a felony might as well be a death sentence, considering all the fundamental rights you lose forever and how impossible it becomes to find a job and support yourself.
The worst is that since criminals are enemies, the mindset goes,
people they like can't be criminals. It's disgusting. It leads to people advocating death for drug possession and then cheering on a person who abuses drugs because he's "on their side" and thus can't be a
real criminal.
Wow. America might be the worst first-world country I've ever seen.
America does some things pretty damn well, and some things exceptionally poorly, and because of it's structure often manages to do both at the same time. Most first-world countries, and most countries in general, are pretty shit in a lot of ways, it's pretty pointless to call out one as being "the worst" - it tends to lead people to the mistaken perception that their own country is actually all that much better. Which is exactly how America has gotten into this sort of predicament, they've been using the "Wow, these guys we're opposed to are the absolute worst, aren't they?" from WWII and Germany through the cold war and the USSR up until today and the "terr'r'sts". Pakistan, Russia, Mexico and several other countries could probably even compete with the US in terms of "worst police", depending on what factors you look at. The point is, this line of thought is insidious, dangerous, and unproductive. One has to identify the actual, specific problems that country is suffering from, understand why they happen (hint: Part of why "the worst" is a silly term to use is that it boils down to a question of
the worst for who, and
who benefits?)
Of course, this is a bit of a tangent, but one-liners like "wow, the worst!" aren't super conducive to the thread, and the attitude behind them is a contributor to why problems like these don't actually get fixed. You wouldn't believe how many times I've heard people defend fucked up shit in the US with "Well, at least we aren't as bad as (x) when they do (y)" and it's pretty disgusting.
This even happens within countries, and on this specific issue I've heard people defend their own department's problems with "What's the big deal? We're nowhere near as bad as the LAPD!"
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Topic: The Abusive Policing Thread: Beyond Brown, No Justice (Read 443762 times)