The people you hang out with are either like you or are of the belief that politeness is intrinsically good. You do not deserve politeness. You are the very definition of authoritarian scum and I am horrified beyond belief to see that someone on my friendslist associates with you.
Believe it or not, there *are* potential distinctions between "does not trust protesters and gives police the benefit of the doubt when dealing with the historically hysterically irrational" and "Loves the stasi". Hal goes too far, in my opinion, to defend the police and assumes they are always both honest and correct until proven otherwise. I believe this is a very bad assumption. You, on the other hand, assume that all cops are evil, which is an EQUALLY bad assumption.
The cops are clearly in the wrong, this time. That doesn't mean they're always wrong.
In another comment he mentions that he engages in riot cop training- he's not just acting as an enabler, he's one of them.
And I don't assume that all cops are evil- I assume that every individual cop is an asshole until proven otherwise. Personal history and experience bears out the wisdom of this approach.
He's infantry in the Canadian Armed Forces and has worked professionally as a security guard. He has, in fact, been involved in riot cop training.
And once again, your invocation of "one of them" conflates him, with his mistaken default belief in the inherent wrongness of protesters and his default belief that people who threaten others should not be allowed to do so, with the idea of police who abuse their authority. This is an expression of *your* mistaken default belief that all police are dangerous to you and society, and have no motivation beyond active malice.
I assume that every individual cop is an asshole until proven otherwise. Personal history and experience bears out the wisdom of this approach.
One might suspect, were one a suspicious sort, that the reaction you get from them is somewhat dependent on how you treat them in the first place.
I find it much more useful and more practical to remember that the police are *me*. Or, more specifically, that they're fellow people from my own society who've chosen to do a job. Do some of them abuse the authority this job gives them? Absolutely, just as there are abusive middle management and abusive politicians and abusive store clerks - but it's an extreme minority who abuse their authority deliberately and who sought out this authority so that it could be abused.
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(no subject)
Date: 2007-08-26 08:54 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-08-26 09:11 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-08-26 09:15 pm (UTC)oh, mercy.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-08-26 09:42 pm (UTC)The cops are clearly in the wrong, this time. That doesn't mean they're always wrong.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-08-27 12:42 am (UTC)And I don't assume that all cops are evil- I assume that every individual cop is an asshole until proven otherwise. Personal history and experience bears out the wisdom of this approach.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-08-27 12:57 am (UTC)And once again, your invocation of "one of them" conflates him, with his mistaken default belief in the inherent wrongness of protesters and his default belief that people who threaten others should not be allowed to do so, with the idea of police who abuse their authority. This is an expression of *your* mistaken default belief that all police are dangerous to you and society, and have no motivation beyond active malice.
I assume that every individual cop is an asshole until proven otherwise. Personal history and experience bears out the wisdom of this approach.
One might suspect, were one a suspicious sort, that the reaction you get from them is somewhat dependent on how you treat them in the first place.
I find it much more useful and more practical to remember that the police are *me*. Or, more specifically, that they're fellow people from my own society who've chosen to do a job. Do some of them abuse the authority this job gives them? Absolutely, just as there are abusive middle management and abusive politicians and abusive store clerks - but it's an extreme minority who abuse their authority deliberately and who sought out this authority so that it could be abused.