Sinister Cultural Marxist
12th February 2013, 16:34
I'm assuming that everyone here is critical of the police as an institution. That makes a certain amount of sense (although there are some obvious cases of cognitive dissonance, like a Marxist-Leninist or Maoist saying all police are horrible when every state which resulted from a Marxist-Leninist and Maoist revolutions required a substantial policing force which ultimately had the same problems of a "capitalist" police force). The argument, obviously, is that police serve the role of ensuring that the Capitalist system operates smoothly through the domestic monopolization of force in favor of the ruling class.
Now, what would you do if you witness a severe physical assault, sexual assault, murder or other significant crime? Would you call the police? Lets assume that there are no circumstances which would obviously indicate that the victim would not want it reported to the police, and in the case of the murderer that there were no circumstances which could explain his or her cruelty (say, he's sticking up a 7-11 and he shoots the clerk to death after getting the money). And if you do, how would you defend yourself against charges of hypocrisy from a conservative or liberal? I have to say, I wouldn't be opposed to telling the police. Not out of any love for the police, but out of dislike of people who use wanton violence against innocent people (though they are sadly the same far too often). It seems if the ruling class has a stated interest in safe streets for whatever reason (to protect property values, ensure workers get to and from work on time, assuage their moral conscience, be able to walk the street themselves without getting killed, or whatever else) and that coincides with a woman's desire to feel safe in her own community, a worker's desire not to get murdered at his place of employment and a pedestrian's desire to walk home without being severely beaten, then so be it. It doesn't mean that I'm not also critical of it as an institution. I go to Target and buy some shitty t-shirt, knowing they have non-union labor both here and abroad, not because I like non-union labor but because being naked doesn't help my critique of their institution. Likewise, I'll report your ass if you rape someone, kill an innocent or kick some guy's teeth out for no reason, not because I like the police but because I want the people I love and everyone else for that matter safe from antisocial behavior.
I guess this question came to my mind a while ago when there were a couple of accusations of rape that went around at some of the occupy camps, and I remember wondering if the people at the camp were going to enforce some kind of "no-snitching" policy about that, which to me would have been inappropriate. The act of policing may be reactionary and socially harmful in general, but it seems that it is only women (for the most part) who suffer having rapists on the street, the weak who suffer violent thugs, and the innocent who suffer from murderers going free. However, I guess the issue is how we make it coherent with the political and economic critique of the police force as an institution.
That said, while I would still not mind reporting it, it is utterly perverse to punish a rapist by sending him to the rape factories that are the US prisons - the US prison system is even more oppressive in nature than its police force, although they are a part of the same broader institution.
Now, what would you do if you witness a severe physical assault, sexual assault, murder or other significant crime? Would you call the police? Lets assume that there are no circumstances which would obviously indicate that the victim would not want it reported to the police, and in the case of the murderer that there were no circumstances which could explain his or her cruelty (say, he's sticking up a 7-11 and he shoots the clerk to death after getting the money). And if you do, how would you defend yourself against charges of hypocrisy from a conservative or liberal? I have to say, I wouldn't be opposed to telling the police. Not out of any love for the police, but out of dislike of people who use wanton violence against innocent people (though they are sadly the same far too often). It seems if the ruling class has a stated interest in safe streets for whatever reason (to protect property values, ensure workers get to and from work on time, assuage their moral conscience, be able to walk the street themselves without getting killed, or whatever else) and that coincides with a woman's desire to feel safe in her own community, a worker's desire not to get murdered at his place of employment and a pedestrian's desire to walk home without being severely beaten, then so be it. It doesn't mean that I'm not also critical of it as an institution. I go to Target and buy some shitty t-shirt, knowing they have non-union labor both here and abroad, not because I like non-union labor but because being naked doesn't help my critique of their institution. Likewise, I'll report your ass if you rape someone, kill an innocent or kick some guy's teeth out for no reason, not because I like the police but because I want the people I love and everyone else for that matter safe from antisocial behavior.
I guess this question came to my mind a while ago when there were a couple of accusations of rape that went around at some of the occupy camps, and I remember wondering if the people at the camp were going to enforce some kind of "no-snitching" policy about that, which to me would have been inappropriate. The act of policing may be reactionary and socially harmful in general, but it seems that it is only women (for the most part) who suffer having rapists on the street, the weak who suffer violent thugs, and the innocent who suffer from murderers going free. However, I guess the issue is how we make it coherent with the political and economic critique of the police force as an institution.
That said, while I would still not mind reporting it, it is utterly perverse to punish a rapist by sending him to the rape factories that are the US prisons - the US prison system is even more oppressive in nature than its police force, although they are a part of the same broader institution.