Quote:
Originally Posted by Adder
I'm going to tell you, again, that organizers who have been leading these movements do not need your advice.
Also, go read that medium post. There aren't any truly good cops.
You've literally done nothing to educate yourself on this in the last two weeks, huh?
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You realize that more than a week ago I posted a piece explaining that the police are not in the business of protecting people, but in the business of protecting the status quo and private property.
So spare me the sanctimony. You're on my corner.
The reality is, We Are Not Going To Abolish Police, or The Carceral State.
I'd love for that to happen, but it isn't realistic. Old voters respond to fear. Saying "Let's Defund the Police" scares them. They go out and vote for whoever takes the other position.
I think Biden knows this and is shrewdly avoiding making the debate one of extreme positions. I read the Medium piece, and I agree with it. But it's not realistic to argue for abolishment.
I'm simply being pragmatic. And I don't like it very much. I have nothing but scorn for our entire adversarial justice system. It's too imperfect. It relies too much on people viewing themselves as being warriors and competitors (Me prosecutor! Me send you to jail for as long as possible!). It's dumb, cold, and filed with untalented, mean, lousy human beings.
I would throw prosecutors and many legislators into the "Bastards" category. Do we need to jail people for a decade for LSD? Do we need to have potential 30 year maximum sentences for non-violent crimes so untalented prosecutors can scare people into pleas? Does the deck have to be so fucking stacked against the accused that to they've only got a 5% chance of winning in a fed prosecution?
It's a miserable, cruel, Calvinist system. It's ancient, unenlightened, and I hate with the power of a thousand suns the people who claim to be "tough on crime." I detest the ignorance and arrogance that allows for that mindset.
I'd like to punch a lot prosecutors, cops, judges, and legislators right in the fucking mouth. Or better yet, make them spend on a night on the streets in one of the worst neighborhoods in Baltimore.
But I know they aren't going anywhere any time soon. And I know the propertied classes in this country are going to support them because they know these "control structures" are the only line of defense between them and the people without assets who are getting fucked out of a decent life. So instead of giving the people with money - the winners in the status quo - a basis to pass laws to enable and encourage the cops and prosecutors to engage in even more extreme crackdowns, I say Work Within the Possible.
