4 ms·

What, like Mad Max?

garmaine 9y ago
Yes. Or just a few hundred years ago when courts were for nobility and the king’s men acted with impunity against commoners like you and me. The point is that the courts and police, although vilified in this day and age, actually by their very nature do help the poor and destitute. Just maybe not as well as they could, ideally.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- mikeash 9y ago
  I think you’ve only shown that they hurt the poor less than the other systems you mention.
- craftyguy 9y ago
  Just because it's better than Ye Ol' Court System does not mean that it is not a discriminatory clusterfuck in 2018. We still have a long way to go.
  - meri_dian 9y ago
    But that's the point. It's not a discriminatory clusterfuck. You're not accurately representing the system.
    - crankylinuxuser 9y ago
      But it is, but not by race, sex, or age. It's discriminatory purely as a function of money. The more money you have, the "more equal" you are and the more rights you can exert. It also means the less subject you are to criminal laws, as you can mount a powerful defense as opposed to someone who makes 20k/yr in the slums who is statistically likely to be black or hispanic. But our society has spoken, that it's ok for poor people to get sent away and their lives destroyed as a primary function of money.
  - dogles 9y ago
    I’d go as far as say that for the lower class, the difference the modern court system makes is negligible. Whether you want justice or mercy, you better bring cash.
    - garmaine 9y ago
      There was no old court system. The old system was life was harsh and brutal and there were entire classes above you that could treat you as literal property to be disposed of as they pleased without repercussion.
- benchaney 9y ago
  Just because the hurt the poor and destitute less than they used to does not mean they are helping the poor and destitute.
- meri_dian 9y ago
  Very telling that you're being downvoted. So many people seem to have a very biased attitude against our foundational institutions, which is unfortunate because our institutions do a good job of protecting us and and safeguarding justice and order. By "good" I mean that most of the time these institutions do protect the common people. I think much of this bias emerges for two reasons. First, the news we hear is usually bad news. One can only hear so much bad news before developing negative bias. In a large nation like the USA with so many people, abuses of power are almost guaranteed to happen once in a while. It's critical that a free press report on these incidents to keep institutions honest, but an unfortunate side effect of this is negative bias against those same institutions that so often work well and protect us. The second reason is that institutions do have power over us, and look large in our lives. In comparison to them, we are very small. This can be disconcerting and uncomfortable for some.
  - kharms 9y ago
    I didn’t downvote them, but if I had it wouldn’t be for the reason you’re describing, it would be because their attitude is defeatist. It’s like saying “at least there is a minimum wage” in response to “the minimum wage is too low.”
  - dogles 9y ago
    I find it odd that you’re responding (multiple times, copied and pasted) about an article documenting a _pattern_ of injustice and corruption, bemoaning anti-government bias. How is this relevant at all? If you’re arguing the pattern doesn’t actually exist, citations are needed. Otherwise I think this is pretty clear reporting that the courts are not “working well”.

What, like Mad Max?

Yes. Or just a few hundred years ago when courts were for nobility and the king’s men acted with impunity against commoners like you and me. The point is that the courts and police, although vilified in this day and age, actually by their very nature do help the poor and destitute. Just maybe not as well as they could, ideally.

deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
mikeash 9y ago
I think you’ve only shown that they hurt the poor less than the other systems you mention.
craftyguy 9y ago
Just because it's better than Ye Ol' Court System does not mean that it is not a discriminatory clusterfuck in 2018. We still have a long way to go.
- meri_dian 9y ago
  But that's the point. It's not a discriminatory clusterfuck. You're not accurately representing the system.
  - crankylinuxuser 9y ago
    But it is, but not by race, sex, or age. It's discriminatory purely as a function of money. The more money you have, the "more equal" you are and the more rights you can exert. It also means the less subject you are to criminal laws, as you can mount a powerful defense as opposed to someone who makes 20k/yr in the slums who is statistically likely to be black or hispanic. But our society has spoken, that it's ok for poor people to get sent away and their lives destroyed as a primary function of money.
- dogles 9y ago
  I’d go as far as say that for the lower class, the difference the modern court system makes is negligible. Whether you want justice or mercy, you better bring cash.
  - garmaine 9y ago
    There was no old court system. The old system was life was harsh and brutal and there were entire classes above you that could treat you as literal property to be disposed of as they pleased without repercussion.
benchaney 9y ago
Just because the hurt the poor and destitute less than they used to does not mean they are helping the poor and destitute.
meri_dian 9y ago
Very telling that you're being downvoted. So many people seem to have a very biased attitude against our foundational institutions, which is unfortunate because our institutions do a good job of protecting us and and safeguarding justice and order. By "good" I mean that most of the time these institutions do protect the common people. I think much of this bias emerges for two reasons. First, the news we hear is usually bad news. One can only hear so much bad news before developing negative bias. In a large nation like the USA with so many people, abuses of power are almost guaranteed to happen once in a while. It's critical that a free press report on these incidents to keep institutions honest, but an unfortunate side effect of this is negative bias against those same institutions that so often work well and protect us. The second reason is that institutions do have power over us, and look large in our lives. In comparison to them, we are very small. This can be disconcerting and uncomfortable for some.
- kharms 9y ago
  I didn’t downvote them, but if I had it wouldn’t be for the reason you’re describing, it would be because their attitude is defeatist. It’s like saying “at least there is a minimum wage” in response to “the minimum wage is too low.”
- dogles 9y ago
  I find it odd that you’re responding (multiple times, copied and pasted) about an article documenting a _pattern_ of injustice and corruption, bemoaning anti-government bias. How is this relevant at all? If you’re arguing the pattern doesn’t actually exist, citations are needed. Otherwise I think this is pretty clear reporting that the courts are not “working well”.