2/28/20 - "Soldiers, and Cops, and Quacks, Oh My!" Part 2 Moving on, let's examine another sociological system, even more dear to the hearts of those infatuated with society - The police. Nothing is more valuable to us than our personal safety, or that of those we love, and most people believe that the police are the best way we have of protecting ourselves from violence and other forms of crime. The police force poses a threat against potential criminals - They should be fairly certain that they will face prosecution if they commit some overtly criminal act. While I agree that such a threat is a positive force, I'd say that most of what the police do is NOT beneficial, and that any truly adamant criminal can still get away with COMMITTING a crime. Most people who trust the cops will want to ramp up forces when they suspect that the police will be incapable of stopping crimes, but that, of course, is fallacious thinking. No matter how many police officers you paid to patrol the streets, criminals would always be able to find an opportunity to commit their crime. Aside from that, police departments are expected to fund their selves (with the fines associated with arrests and convictions), and most of us don't commit any sort of serious crime. This makes the police predatory. They must literally hunt to survive, and any benign citizen might be their prey. Personally, I have experienced cops trying to pressure me into making traffic errors, so as to initiate contact. Once they make contact, they can inspect you in so far as the law allows - but many cops are willing to bend or break the rules to find things that they can use against you. This makes driving your car risky business. Even if you've gone completely straight (as I have), and never break even the most trivial laws, the fact that the police TRY to pull people over all the time should make you nervous. People attracted to police work are often a dangerous personality, and handing them lethal weapons and a license to kill is probably a recipe for disaster. In fact, we've seen this happening a lot, lately. It makes me feel like I'm being stalked, whenever I'm driving my car - Hardly the force for freedom that the television portrays. Given that those criminals who are truly insane will not be stopped by a police presence, and that the vast majority of police activity relates to petty crimes (some of which shouldn't even be considered lawlessness), this is another stark example of a sociological system that is mostly psychological. Getting rid of the cops would be a rash move, in the immediate. The presence of police certainly DOES prevent a lot of crimes, but why are there so many criminals? The system doesn't need to exist, in the future, if we begin to enlighten ourselves today. The prevalence of rape, for example, must be the direct result of social dysfunction. In a healthy society, no one would have all that much trouble finding a mate, but this society is completely demented - leaving a large portion of us alone. It's no wonder that so many people resort to violence, but the typical, ignorant response is to VIOLENTLY punish the "criminal". A rapist is the direct product of psychological abuse, and most of the public would deny that. They make no effort to empathize with the person, and feel compelled by a great zeal to deal out punishments. This is the hysteria of a mob mentality, and any mob is capable of entitling its members to criminal acts - Burn the witch, crucify Jesus - It's all possible, with a little support from the group. "Should they not be punished, then?" Not necessarily. It should be made sure that they are safe to be members of society before they are released, but this is not the important issue. The important issue is to prevent these sorts of things from ever occurring. You don't do that by ramping up police forces, you do it by demanding a higher quality of character in the common person. Entitling people to being abusive and apathetic is simply unacceptable. As much as this culture praises itself for creating people with great attitudes, I find that the general attitude promoted by its ideology to be very poor in quality. Police may be necessary for the time being, but this is directly related to the psychological health of the general population. Why is it so assumed that people are incapable of controlling their selves? Most people will tell you that they KNOW they would be unsafe, if not for "police protection". In fact, that protection only exists as a threat. We'd be much better off if crime were naturally non-existent. How? It would be a simple matter of improving our relationship with our fellow man. If society were all-inclusive, if "families" were extended throughout communities, if we were not expected to live survivalistically, and often in isolation, crimes would disappear. Its prevalence is a direct effect of exclusivity and hatred. |