{Say, don't you think it's unfair that other
people get alerts delivered to their email boxes when there's a new
essay here, and you don't? Why should they
get the alerts, and not you? Are they better
than you? Says who? I'll bet your mother doesn't think they're
better than you!
We'll show them! We'll sign you up for
free alerts too! That'll fix them! Let's do it
together. Go over to the top of the page...that's right. Now see on
the right side where it says “Follow By Email”? Put in your
email address and click on “Submit.” That's it! Now you're every
bit as good as they are! That'll knock those snobs off
their high horses!
I'm proud of you!}
The actual main function of police,
their primary duty, is not “fighting crime” or “law
enforcement.” It is enforcement of the social order and the defense
of the power structure. At times, especially in despotic regimes, the
defense of the power structure extends to the defense of particular
individuals in power, or is even the primary function.
This general statement is true in most
countries, and certainly in the U.S. A few years or so of close
observation of reality and reading newspapers should make this basic
truth apparent. But since people are so heavily indoctrinated not to
see this, most people never come to understand this, at least not
consciously, although by their behavior one suspects that they
subconsciously intuit it. People who act as if it isn't so, and “talk
back to” or “argue” with police, frequently get “taught a
lesson,” which may be a violent “lesson,” by the police. Of
course, you are not supposed to say the lesson out loud. That
angers the police, who want you to “respect” them, that is, pay
homage to the mythology about them. Such “disrespect” is liable
to earn you an additional beating/ pepper spraying/ tasering/ night
in jail/ additional charges or whatever.
It is unfortunate that instead of being
able to learn this from other people's experiences (accounts of which
are readily available, and now with youtube we have voluminous,
graphic visual evidence of unjustified violent police brutality and
other misconduct) people have to experience it personally to see it.
And even then, many don't learn. They naively think they can “seek
justice through the system.” Yes, sometimes they can win some
money, if they're lucky. It's very difficult, and expensive in itself
to even try. Of course, if some is permanently injured or killed,
obtaining money (from taxpayers, not from the police, and certainly
not from the individual criminal policeman) is not properly called
“justice.” It is monetary compensation for physical injuries or
death. (The dead of course cannot be compensated at all, just their
survivors.)
Furthermore, we often hear that parents
or other relatives of police murder victims seek via lawsuits to
“make sure this never happens to anyone else again.” Funny how
they never heard of the innumerable previous survivors of
police murders who said the same thing, and yet “it” “happened
again.” (Most often the “it” is a brutal assault or murder of a
black or Hispanic person, but sometimes whites, especially poor ones,
are victims. This goes to the enduring racism embedded in the U.S.
repressive apparatus in particular. The entire “drug war” has
been a cover for racist repression, in point of fact. By enforcing
repressive drug laws selectively, even nominally non-racist cops are
engaging in objectively racist behavior.)
Another common trope of victims and
their families when the police get away with brutality and murder is
that “God” will render judgment. This is a throwing up of hands a
surrender, a refusal to struggle against an oppressive system,
instead falling back on a superstitious belief in an imaginary
omnipotent being who is just. (A few obvious questions for the
primitives who hold these magical beliefs: if your imaginary saviour
is just and omnipotent, and omniscent to boot, why does “He”
allow injustices in the first place? And when exactly does he
compensate you for your suffering and punish the wrongdoers? They
have an answer for the second questions, at least: the answer is
after everybody dies. They don't really die, they go to
imaginary rewards or punishments. Sooo childish. Grow up, stop being
apolitical. You cannot avoid politics. Politics is about power, and
you can no more ignore power than you can ignore the air or earth or
water.)
As for the “few bad apples” line,
that is the fallback position of police defenders when they can no
longer sweep a particular atrocity under the rug, hiding it, then
denying it, and minimizing it as much as possible; if that were so,
how come the same “bad apples” commit atrocity after atrocity
without punishment? Why aren't they weeded out? Why do
the police all close ranks behind their “bad apple”
sadists and murderers? Why do hundreds turn out in protest and
solidarity on the exceedingly rare occasions when one of their
homicidal number is actually brought to trial?
The indoctrination to perceive police
as authority figures to be deferred to and submitted to, who are
imbued with presumptive moral legitimacy and indeed superiority,
begins in childhood. Two factors make this brainwashing nearly
impervious to evidence (i.e. actual facts and experience, that is,
reality); the persistence of mental patterns ingrained in the brain
from indoctrination (which is constantly reinforced with booster
shots of propaganda courtesy of the media and entertainment arms of
the propaganda industry), and the preference people have for
comforting propaganda myths over harsh, awful realities. People
naturally gravitate towards the comforting illusion. Hewing to the
officially-promoted illusion is doubly safe. It's safe
psychologically, to avoid psychic pain (at great material, that is,
real existential, cost) and to avoid punishment for dissent, or
mere conformance, for marching out of step.
A dozen states made citizens' recording
of police in their public actions a felony. It has to go to the
Supreme Court to be “legalized.” That hasn't stopped police from
continuing to attack people recording their actions, beating them,
arresting them, confiscating their equipment and recordings- as
numerous videos on youtube document.
One particularly outrageous case of
attempted repression is illustrated by “75 Years in Prison ForVideotaping Police,” an establishment TV news report. (And a follow-up, “State Appeals Decision in Michael Allison Case, 75 years in prison for recording.”)
One note
on the case they mention near the end referring to a cop serving two
years for shooting a man. That was the infamous killing of Oscar
Grant by transit cop Johannes Mehserle in Oakland, California.
Merserle only did a year for that blatant execution of his victim,
who was sitting on the floor in a rapid transit station surrounded by
cops, doing nothing. If there weren't numerous cellphone videos taken
by bystanders, there would have been no punishment at all for the
murderer.
Mehserle is currently on trial in a
civil case (no criminal charges) since he is being sued by another of
his victims, who he brutally beat just two months prior to his
execution of Grant. Once again this shows the culpability of the
bosses of the police, who should have disciplined or fired him after
that incident. In case after case through the U.S., brutal and
sadistic cops face no repercussions at all until they actually murder
someone, and even then usually not. [See for example “Johannes Mehserle, BART Cop Convicted Of Shooting Oscar Grant, On Trial For Police Brutality In Separate Case,” Huffington Post San
Francisco, 11/21/11. BART stands for Bay Area Rapid Transit, a rail
system connecting San Francisco with localities across the San
Francisco Bay such as Oakland. Mehserle was employed by BART. A
fellow officer who was cashiered after the Grant murder went on to
join the U.S. Army- notice his firing didn't prevent the Army from
accepting him- and he is currently in Afghanistan, no doubt seeking
fresh victims. He's been charged with fraud for taking unemployment
checks when he was actually employed. This is the ethical caliber of
some of the people tasked with “law enforcement.” “Cop fired for role in Oscar Grant killing charged with fraud,” rt.com,
May 03, 2013.]
Here's a good one: a Florida cop picked up an 84 year old man and threw him head first onto the ground, breaking his neck. "Cop Breaks 84 Yr Old's Neck For Touching Him," a news clip from Fox News.
I could cite numerous cases from memory that are even worse.
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