Don't you think there is a new Class emerging?

[state's fiend]

A class of cops and security officers of many stripes. The law enforcement class has been increasing exponentially over the last several years----to astronomical levels!

[Martin Blank]

Marx considered them a part of the petty bourgeoisie -- a part of the class of "committeemen, bailiffs and overseers" he talked about in the Communist Manifesto.

Miles

[Sabocat]

Never mind " a new class emerging", but in reality, "a new class encouraged". Take a look at the lineups for TV programs lately. Law and Order, Law and Order Special Victims Unit, Law and Order Criminal Intent, Young Prosecutors, 24, The Badge, etc, etc, ad infinitum, ad nauseum.

A not so subtle brainwashing of the American population to not only embrace the new "Law and Order", but embrace it's employees as super heroes.

[Martin Blank]

Originally posted by [email protected] 5 2006, 01:41 PM
Never mind " a new class emerging", but in reality, "a new class encouraged". Take a look at the lineups for TV programs lately. Law and Order, Law and Order Special Victims Unit, Law and Order Criminal Intent, Young Prosecutors, 24, The Badge, etc, etc, ad infinitum, ad nauseum.
I must admit, watching Law & Order: Criminal Intent is a guilty pleasure of mine. I suppose it's because I like guessing the "O. Henry twist" endings before they do.

But the whole Law & Order phenomenon is an interesting element of bourgeois culture. In a sense, these television "law enforcement/justice" programs are a modern Potemkin Village. They are meant to pacify and soothe the ills of those petty bourgeois who are freaked out about "crime".

Miles

[LoneRed]

I agree with Miles, as in they themselves dont constitute a class, but instead are a part of the very system, as in, they are used to make the state legitimate by force.
as well that, they are trying to tell people if things go wrong we will find them. The problem is that, they offer answers to the consequences, not to the problem

[viva le revolution]

The state or any political system is preserved and kept in place by the repressive and oppressive institutions, Standing army, police, courts etc. etc.
As capitalism is declining and growing more oppressive daily for the workers and peasants the repressive arm of the state grows stronger as there is a graeter need for suppression. This is not the emergence of a new class, since repressive institutions within a state have existed since the primitive days of slave societies!
This is just an indicator of the weakening of capitalism and increased radicalism of the working masses.

[loveme4whoiam]

I'm quite partial to CSI and occasionally some Law and Order: Special Victims Unit. I also really liked the Cold Case programmes (the BBC series, not the US version) too when they were on. Perhaps it is some attempt at recruitment (I know I wanted to be a forensic psychologist for a while, if thats evidence) but mainly I take these programmes as entertainment. Perhaps they are aimed at people less critical of everything than I am :lol:

I haven't had a great deal of contact with the police (although I once actually petted a sniffer dog as I walked past it, how foolish was that!) - they are rarely seen on the streets here apart from on Friday and Saturday nights, when they are most definitly needed. In the UK it would seem that the police aren't the oppressive arm of the politicians that they are in the US *waits to be flamed for suggesting such a thing*. They are much more just trying to keep the peace like they are supposed to. At least, they are in my (unpolitical) area of the UK.