A: “Greetings. How are you this fine evening?”
B: “Well, I was good. Who are you, and why are you pointing a gun at me?”
A: “I’m your friendly neighborhood car-jacker, and I will be robbing you tonight.”
B: “Is this a joke?”
A: “Oh, I assure you this is no joke. I’m a respectable and proper car-jacker, and my goal here is to make the experience as pleasant for you as possible.”
B: “Then I’d like to keep my car, and be on my way.”
A: “I’m sorry, but I’m afraid that’s not possible. If you’ll just cooperate, we can get this over with as quickly and as easily as possible. Please give me your car keys.”
B: “No! Why would you do such a thing? This is wrong!”
A: “Now, now, there’s no need to get insulting or combative. I’m just doing my job, and doing it in a courteous and professional manner. Now stop resisting.”
B: “Calling car-jacking a ‘job’ doesn’t make it okay! You crook!”
A: “You’re only making trouble for yourself if you don’t cooperate. I’m being perfectly civil and reasonable. You’re the one making a big deal out of this. Now calm down and follow my orders, and you’ll be just fine.”
It never ceases to amaze me how many people think that as long as badge-wearing road pirates extort people “by the book,” and with a calm and “professional” demeanor, that makes it all okay. What cops do, day in and day out, is look for excuses to issue “citations”—which are demands for money backed by a threat of violence—mostly for technical, victimless “offenses.” As long as the highway robber has a neat and clean uniform, and uses overly formal language, and calls the extortion “law,” most people think that it's all perfectly fine. In fact, if the robbers are polite and respectable-looking, most people will eagerly condemn any who even verbally object to being the victims of that racket. (I bet the Mafia wishes they received such consideration. “Well, normally I wouldn’t like my shop being subjected to this shakedown, but just look how dapper and well-kept these kneecap-smashers are!”)
Committing armed extortion is wrong, even if you do it formally, politely and “professionally.” The job of a “law enforcer” is inherently immoral, because most of the “laws” they are required to enforce are about victimless “crimes.” If, for example, you forcibly kidnap people for possessing a plant that politicians don’t like, you’re a bad person. Using different words to describe what you are doing doesn’t make it okay. Saying that you’re “just doing your job” doesn’t make it okay. Expressing sympathy for your victim, and being almost apologetic while you commit physical aggression against non-violent people, doesn’t make it okay. (If anything, it just makes it extra creepy.)
As I’ve explained before, from the moment a cop puts on those red and blue flashing lights, he is absolutely threatening you with violence. He is not politely asking you to stop and have a chat. He is conveying the message—a message everyone recognizes—“You will stop, and you will stop now, or I and more of my gang members will make you stop, by any means necessary.” Everyone knows what happens if they ignore those lights and keep on driving: violence. And everyone knows what happens if they decide to calmly drive away while the road pirate is swaggering up to their window. Violence.
And that is true, even if the encounter ends with just a “warning,” or the guy telling you that your taillight doesn’t work. By comparison, do you think it would be okay for you to forcibly detain a complete stranger, under threat of bodily harm and kidnapping, just to tell him that his taillight is busted? If you coercive detained him “politely” and with a smile, would that make it okay? Of course not. And yet, to most people, having been subjected to authoritarian indoctrination their entire lives, the measure of whether a badge-wearer is a good guy or not depends only upon: 1) whether he committed extortion, assault and/or other violent aggression “by the book,” and; 2) whether he was calm and formal in his demeanor and language while committing such thuggery.
And it doesn’t seem to matter to most people how utterly ridiculous, intrusive, obnoxious or oppressive so-called “laws” get; as long as the politicians’ hired goons enforce them with a smile, most people are okay with it. This now includes random, warrantless, suspicionless detainment and interrogation of individuals and searches of their vehicles. But hey, as long as those Gestapo fellows at the Nazi checkpoints have a pleasant countenance and start with a friendly greeting, all is well!
Well no, it isn’t.
And then there is the classic Stockholm Syndrome response: “If you have nothing to hide and aren’t doing anything wrong, then just cooperate with searches and answer questions!” The implication is that good people shouldn’t mind being treated like criminals. Or cattle. And that there must be something wrong with anyone who thinks that, if he isn’t doing anything wrong, then he shouldn’t have to answer to random strangers with guns and badges.
And you can see how hostile or downright violent many of the badge-wearers get the moment someone doesn’t immediately and happily grovel before them, or doesn’t meekly obey their every arbitrary command. Because the cops believe the bullshit too: they think that everyone else has an obligation to bow to their supposed “authority” and do whatever they say, and that if you don’t—if, for example, you talk and act like a free adult human being who isn’t beholden to some god-complex jackass on a power-trip intruding into your life for no good reason—then you must be a criminal in need of a beating. Or a shooting.
But to the well-trained subject, the ultimate heretical blasphemy is to say that when people with badges are being violent aggressors against decent people who haven’t harmed or endangered anyone else, then those decent people have the right to defend themselves against such aggression, by whatever means are required to stop the aggression. So I might as well end this article with this, and see how many people who are still making excuses for their own subjugation dare to watch it all the way through:
(Larken Rose is a speaker, author and activist, having advocated the principles of non-aggression, self-ownership and a stateless, voluntary society for over twenty years. Donations to help support his articles, videos and other projects can be made by PayPal to "[email protected]" or by Bitcoin to 13xVLRidonzTHeJCUPZDaFH6dar3UTx5js.)
Well said, when you try to forget everything that you learned for a while and just look to the situation with common sense the authority of government people doesn't make sense at all. I love your talent to explain this!
"Learned"
Correct
You're forgetting their racism. If someone commits the cardinal skin of walking whilst being black they are pestered and violated.
It could be sexism, racism, money, a broken taillight. None of the actual "reasons" matter. It's all just an excuse to bully you in the name of the "law".
That works both ways- Im Spanish Caucasian- and Black state troopers and Black police officers are profiling whites also. Have you ever been to a black neighborhood to drop off a freind- then be pulled over by a black policeman, who asks- Whats a cracker like you doing here after dark? Buying drugs? No, I replied, I was taking my freind home, we went fishing today in my boat. He let me go- but racial profiling is not exclusive to black people. Female Black officers are the worst, btw- if they pull you over- you will get a ticket for "being white".
I once had a conversation with an ex-cop. I argued that every time a police officer gives someone a speeding ticket, that the cop is being an immoral asshole because nothing bad actually happened. The rules got broken, and nothing more. I argued that if I was speeding and caused an accident, then I'd deserve a ticket. The police are obviously cherry picking when and where to uphold the law. If a major company did something illegal that stole from thousands of people, the cops wouldn't do anything until after the trial.
His counter-argument was this. "But if I stop them speeding, and just let them off with a warning, and then they go on to get into an accident, I am now liable."
I told him, but the person still didn't actually do anything wrong. Breaking rules is not wrong. Doing something wrong is wrong. If the cop gets in trouble, that's on him and the shitty system.
He had no response. Looked at me for a while, and then nodded in agreement.
Police officer, btw, is very very high on Dr. Robert Hare's list of the most common professions adopted by psychopaths.
There are decent people that are cops. I am friends with some. But I also believe that it's a profession that brings out the bad in people more than the good.
Keep in mind that all cops are no more than welfare, pirates with guns.
Can someone explain why a policeman who has an annual salary of $40,000 a year- Has a two story house, a bassboat, an offshore fishing boat, a new class C RV, a corvette, and a new Mustang or Camaro- and lets not forget about the swimming pool and all his kids attend private school. Where does that extra "funding" come from? Im all ears, spare me no detail.
details and side work.
Using taxpayer funded police car, and gasoline on the taxpayers dime. Must be nice.
I'm not against law enforcement it is needed but what I want is to down play what they are currently doing. They shouldn't be wasting their time on non-violent crimes that don't hurt anyone unless it's theft because people have a right to their property. Things like speeding tickets (okay, I don't want to see someone doing 80 on a side street) noise ordinances, loitering, littering, the game warden measuring your kill, whether or not you caught a fish in Canada or US and its the same damn lake (we share Rainy Lake on the border, there are buoys that line the border on the lake most of it is in Canada).That kind of shit we don't need cops for,. What we need them to focus on is the major crimes being committed like murder, kidnapping, rape, major thefts, and those kind of things. It would dramatically lower their workload and bring back respect to the job.
What if thet focused on corporate criminals and pharmaceutical companies gouging everyone- especially senior citizens on fixed incomes.
That's politicians they are the evil ones they write the laws....cops just read them and if they think one was broken they bring you in and let a judge sort it. My beef is more with politicians who write the dumb laws. I also dont like how one crime has you branded as a criminal for life and literally it can stop you from living a proper life and turn ya into a career criminal. What's a man to do if no one will hire him? Whatever he has to is what hes gonna tell you.
Contrary to popular opinion you can't have unbridled freedom no one can. The human psyche can not handle it. Law provides order and in order for there to be order there must be enforcement. Most laws I will agree is stupid and shouldn't be on the books but that is not the cop's fault that bullshit is on the political class. Do you have any idea what kind of person you have to be in order to be willing to get into a gunfight with someone to protect people you dont even know? You can't have your everyday average pussy doing that job not in America he'd get shot his first day in a city like Chicago. Dumb shit like minor speeding tickets, jay walking, being too damn loud, getting arrested for drug use, getting into a non physical argument, not being able to pay fines, soliciting, you know dumb shit laws like parking violations. Those need to be stricken off the books. But who are you going to call if I spray your house with an UZI or AR-15 just because I can? It'd be a cop so they serve a purpose.
NO, because for NO reason you wouldn't be bullet spraying someones house. People just don't do those things without any reason. with the exception of children old enought to know better but are to agressively angry at the system, thou ANYTHING a child does IS the responsibility of the parent.
Before we had ultra-realistic video games- like miami vice city or something, which lets you slap prostitutes and murder innocent peolple for extra points in the game- We didnt have those issues. The Video game industry has desensitized the younger generation, and they immerse themselves in this alternate reality- then wonder why they cant find jobs- with hate filled hearts and no respect for anyone, including themseleves. I remember pac-man, space invaders, pong, atari- got to play those for about 30 minutes, then I had to weed the garden, take out the trash, wash the cars, wash the dogs, mow the yard, etc. Idle time is the devils workshop, basically.
There is always a reason you are right my bad.....Let's say I was selling drugs and I thought your house was the house some dipshit that owes me money lives in. Does that sound more realistic to you? Someone tried killing my cousin for a $800 tab you still dont think police are needed at all? What they need is their job redefined.
99.9% of laws violate rights the authorities swore to uphold. Still for law enforcement?
By what standard do you "downplay" that? Without rights there is no standard. There is a goal. It is first power, then wealth expropriation. With you and the majority support for the system of institutionalized violence that goal is easily achieved. Don't complain if you won't give up your focus on force as a means to an end it has never achieved. The few times justice is seen do not make up for the cost in lives and rights.
They are necessary for civilization, if there was no one enforcing laws I'd be a savage beast so I know others would be to. Let's be real if there was zero consequence to robbing you blind you dont think your neighbors would do it? This isn't a nice world at all, humans left to their on volition without law and order will be back in the days of Ghengis Khan or earlier even I believe he enforced his law as well.
I do not hold anything against the cops here in Baltimore, it is the entire government that is ineffective. The police are just a symptom of a larger disease.
When a human being CHOOSES to initiate violence against others for a paycheck, he is personally responsible, and is personally being immoral. The fact that someone else gave him immoral "orders" doesn't make it okay for him to obey.
Violence is a normal result in human interactions. Electing to weild violence for a vocation is a choice, cop or criminal. The two are similar but not the same.
The two are the same, morally, and that's the most important thing.
No they are not. The mentality might be the same, but the moral choices are exactly the opposite. That is why the cops and criminals are slightly different. If somebody breaks into your home, who do you call?
Who do you call when it's the cops breking into your home?
A warrant....
Exactly! The excuse of "I'm just doing my job" doesn't hold water. No one is holding a gun to the cops heads and making them do that job.
How immoral is the Mayor who appoints the top cop? It is the choice of the people. Most people would actually prefer government of some kind, if not, we would not have it.
It was "the choice of the people" in Nazi Germany (30 million people) to support the murder of their patriotic, Nazi Jewish neighbors. If not, it would not have been done. It was the choice of the Russian people to support the destruction and expropriation of the property of their middle/ upper-class neighbors along with the murder of about 20 million farmers who resisted agricultural collectivism. It was the choice of the Chinese people to murder or imprison all their intellectual or educated neighbors. Were their leaders immoral for carrying out their choice? Was their choice moral? Is anything the people choose moral? Can't a people make an immoral choice? Or do you define mob rule as moral rule?
Do you hide behind the mob to avoid taking responsibility? You can't escape judgment by claiming you were just following the mob or following God's law.
What you mentioned above- is destined to occur in the US- thats why the IRS has bought billions of rounds of ammo, and the police are armed better than ISIS.
I agree 100%-- those officers were LYNCHED by mob rule and the mayor. The media is guilty of LYNCHING people without trial or due course in todays society.
I agree with @larkenrose on this point. It takes a considered choice to become an employee of the police. Some do it, because they genuinely believe they can do good and protect the public. Once there and realising the truth, they can make a choice to continue or not. Suicide rates are high in the police force here in Australia, which says something about the job they're doing.
When Hitler did what he did, he couldn't have done it on his own. He needed a lot of people to support him in what he was doing and follow those orders. In the trials they reached a point where the excuse 'just following orders' was not good enough any more. Yes, there were some who were coerced and threatened into doing harm, but most weren't.
It is much worse than you imagine. Take Baltimore again, for an example: less than 50% graduate high school here. It is a huge institutional issue. A high school diploma is required to collect garbage in this city, for 15 bucks an hour, You can become a cop for 52K$ a year, leave the city, or flip burgers. It is a "choice" but if your options are limited it seems like a noble choice. Suicide is high here amongst our cops, they see a lot of people shot in the head, and they scrape a lot of children off of the streets and pout them in little baggies. The problem is not the low men on the totem pole: the cops; it is a societal illness and the cops take the brunt of the pain and worst of the sickness. This is why suicide is high in this profession, it is painful. While I appreciate @larkenrose for starting the conversation I see the violence first hand. The citizens who call 911 here and say "There's a black guy, I am scared" are more to blame than the cop who gets this call. The Mayor who appoints a Commissionaire because "we need a black man" is a racist. The cop who wants to make 52K a year on a high school diploma is the LEAST guilty in the violence. The tunnel rats, who pull me over for a bad blinker are not the worst problem. They are wrong, but not as bad as the gang who kicked my pregnant wife because they "wanted to kill a white" are far worse than the worse cop in Baltimore. I do not know where you are located, maybe the cops are worse than the criminals there. From where I sit, when an elderly lady is robbed, raped, and dismembered; I do not suspect the cops. I agree violence is implied, and without that constant things probably look different, but I will take the few dirty cops so long as I must chose a side, so long as there is a war on my streets.
The blacks call it "Polar Bear Hunting". its where a group of blacks gather and select a caucasian victim- isolate tem and beat them to death. However- they sometimes underestimate who they attack- and end up getting massacred by their victim- who has a conceal carry permit, and several full magazines as back up. Caucasians are infinately better with firearms than negros are. They often miss the intended target(s) and kill innocent bystanders- which only perpetuated the cycle of violence.
The life of a cop here seems mostly to be to issue fines and unfortunately corruption is rife. Because they have to meet targets on tickets issued, when they start falling short they get desperate and will issue them whether you were speeding or not. If you question it they'll threaten you with defaulting your car. The only polite policeman I've met was actually Scottish, not Australian.
Having said that, it's probably preferable to your situation. I wouldn't want to be a cop in any situation.
I have barely issued a single fine. I always warn that same person twice, then issue the fine for the third time around. I have mitigated thousands of drug arrests. I see the problems from a different perspective. The rookie cops who really want to run-and-gun are the problem on the streets in the US. The problem in my city is the corrupt politicians. There is no tax base and the better police should be building communities in the worst neighborhoods. The exact opposite happens though, the really bad cops are put in the really bad neighborhoods. If you are good, you can go work for a private agency, like I do. In between are community relations officers and prevention experts. The community relations officers get murdered and attacked in the bad neighborhoods, we saw one executed last month in Baltimore. If the area is so beat-up that there is actually zero community, it is the citizens and the government, who share in the guilt. America needs a new model for sure, one with a lot less idiotic cops, and one with a service oriented mentality. Once a cop becomes service-oriented he leaves the crappy city job, almost every time. The concept of policing is not what is broken here, it is the mentality of the police and the criminals. Also, we incarcerate an actual percent of our population in the US. The "correctional" system is really broken here! 5% of the world's population, and over 50% of the worlds incarcerated; that is much more "way off" than the various police departments. A corporation that runs the jails, charges more for empty beds, and gives kick-backs to the states.....that's the gaping chest wound of the American Justice system, not the cops.
NAILED IT!
The police get warnings from their bosses here if they give a caution instead of a fine. They aren't even allowed to use their own judgement.
It feels like everyone's hands are tied in some way. You're afraid to protect yourself for fear of reprisal from the justice system. Interference from bureaucracy only tends to make more problems because they aren't at ground zero to know how things work and you behin to think they don't really care anyway as long as it doesn't touch them.
It's beyond me why anyone thought privatising the prison system in the US would be a good thing.
Every dirt cop has a "throw down" pistol in his trunk. Sometimes he just gets tired of doing all the paperwork on the same dipshits he has arrested numerous times before.
They get tired of seeing the same criminal on the same street, punching women in the face and stealing their purses. They get out and do the same thing, all the time, every time. You cannot even legally argue that this same person has been invading homes in this area for decades he got out of jail 2 days ago, so I think it is him. In the US an officer must build a valid case, based on actual evidence. The "correctional" system was expected to "correct" once upon a time. I am about to make a career change. I got in trouble for not going to court after arresting a 70-year-old drug addict who was breaking into a house. There is just no hope for this particular case, he was pathetic and institutionalized so much that he only knew institutional life. I do not think cops carry a lot of "drop pieces" as they mostly have cameras now and the shootings are about the same here. Pretty sure the dropping of an old piece happens more in the movies, also pretty sure it must have happened in real life at some point. Planting of other evidence is just really really bad work, like go flip burgers if you are able to do that....do not plant evidence.
The US is being socially engineered to decline. the police in baltimore were LYNCHED by the mayor- without trial, same thing in St louis and other areas.
The intro had me completely fooled. Thought it was a legit polite pirate. lol.
People mistake "nice" for "good". The two are NOT the same. There are no "good" cops, but there are "nice" ones.
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Btw. I want no votes, I didn't know I could cancel votes on a question until I just figured out decline pay out. to those reading this, save your vote.. But seriously, you do good things and just want to pull on your insight. As your active on Steemit I figured I'd try and grab at your opinion. Btw. Here's a picture of my lab that your Pivx recommendation helped me cover the vet cost of when she was diagnosed with cancer. I've clicked decline payout on this, just wanted you to know your doing good things.
You're doing good stuff DV. Proof is in the effect so keep it up.
Postingan yang sangat bagus, saya sangat menyukai posting anda.
When the law of country was strickt the terrorist was mot attack on people.the post is very informative post
It is up to government to give protection to it's people. You are good Annalist
intro was something else , didn't see it coming. i love how you write and am a fan already but i got a question for you, you trying to say they should get the job done without threats of violence?
Their job shouldn't exist. The job of a "law enforcer" is to violently impose the will of the politicians on everyone else. That is inherently immoral. The legitimate "job" of actually protecting people from actual aggressors can and should be done, privately, but "law enforcers" ARE aggressors, even if they something go after other aggressors.
If a stranger threatens me on the street with a knife, and I pull a gun, I have to be very careful and have a clear plan. If I shoot and miss and hit a car behind the guy, I'm liable for the damages. If I shoot and kill the guy and the knife falls away somewhere and can't be found, self-defense isn't going to hold up. I have a lot to worry about other than the fact that someone is suddenly threatening my life.
If I see someone breaking into me car, I can't go tackle the guy. I have to hide in the shadows, call the police, and hope they get to the scene before he gets away. A police officer literally told me exactly this before.
It makes one question how much thier "protection" really protects us.
I was once shot at by someone sellling drugs in a neighborhood park. I ran and hid but not before I got the plates on his car. I immediately called the cops with the plates, year, make and model of the car. The cop informed me that none of that information would help. As far as I know, he did nothing.
We're not allowed by the law to take matters into our own hands. Law abiding citizens are suppose to tell their babysitters that something bad happened, and anyone who has dealt with the police know how incredibly rare it is for them to actually help out.
One more story. I was a victim of a hit and run on the freeway at 70 miles/hour. I chased the person while my wife in the passenger seat took pictures and recorded everything. I caught the person. It was someone with no license, no insurance, and didn't speak English. When the police arrived he informed me over and over that this was classified as an "accident". The person got a citation. They didn't inform us of the court date until after it happened.
Damned if you do, and damned if you don't in terms of taking matters into your own hands.
I understand you now but refuse to agree, if its private there will be little to no aithority, and safety might end up being for those who can afford it, as it already is but more expensive
You talk as if "authority" is a good thing, or something that protects good people from evil people. It has done the exact and precise opposite for literally thousands of years. "Private" just means you're not FORCED by a ruling class to pay for things you don't want. So you're essentially arguing that you should be FORCED to pay the salaries of abusive, power-happy thugs with badges, instead of being allowed to choose for yourself.
Private sector law enforcement is totally different. I have been doing it for a decade. I made nine arrests, all for violent crimes. I have zero use of force in this time. If you cannot afford it, you have to simply fight better. Without the state to make "laws", you are subject to "rules." This is actually how things work: You cannot break a Law. You can only break rules. Try breaking the law of gravity....
Yes, basic psychology is better than blinding physical violence. So is rational thinking, listening, being patient, and just plain common sense approaches to nonviolent situations that become escalated when the police draw their firearms on un armed civilians. The police have become militarized, and profiling is not exclusive to blacks- they prefer to profile whites and asians also- because they are easy prey and they know that they can pay for extra (corvette payments, cough, cough) I mean tickets- to meet their monthly ticket quota.
Thats Government Responsibility , nice post ....
Do you watch highimpactflix on youtube?
Well said you explained it better than I could have I've been thinking this for years. Followed, upvoted and resteemed
Learn more by Googling, Robert Arthur Menard.
The USSA... where the psychopaths roam free.
Dear Mr. J Berwick... A direct question? You are a phenomenal mind in the world of peaceful resistance. But this article has brought some things to mind from a lowly person such as myself... When you have made various recommendations I have never followed, but done my own homework from my limited perspective and found good sense . Your Pivx recommendation allowed me to cover vet cost I couldn't have covered otherwise. Your recommendation to use a precious metals debit card and wireX has opened up a new world of finance for me and I thank you for it. But as you aptly point out we are facing a massive fallacy in popular mind, the old tried and failed state. It can never work as we are all one. (my opinion, granted slightly esoteric) A lot of average day to day working people in america feel the same. Recently I have gotten a lot of people onto EOS, but some of them are in the US. How can a an American citizen participate in this ICO?..... Despite the rules? Dan Larimer is a deep philosopher on many levels,(his essays show this. He is a mind, not a creator of tokens and Socrates would probably want to bitch smack him from jealously ), so I'm sure the wording in the ICO fine print is for the protection of block one? But if not, do you have any follow on advice for day to day people like myself how we can help Americana citizens participate in the "Buy of the century" which is EOS. I thank you kindly for reading my comment and apoligise if I seem ignorant here. I apoligise again for my direct manner. I hope to have a premium membership to your channel after Christmas as I have dropped every hint to family.
https://steemit.com/personal/@honkytime/forgetting-where-you-put-your-keys thanks Jeff! Due to your persistence on crypto...I dug back and found my steemit key!! whoo hoo! 1yr no action, worth $45!!
Fantastic as usual! Larken do you have other deposit addresses for crypto , like Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Dash, etc? Bitcoin's fees are so high it costs $25 USD to send you $1