4 ms·

First a disclaimer: I’m probably misinterpreting you, so I apologize in advance. I sincerely assume you have only the best intentions. By my interpretation, yo

First a disclaimer: I’m probably misinterpreting you, so I apologize in advance. I sincerely assume you have only the best intentions. By my interpretation, your last paragraph seems to accuse police of very specific misbehavior, but without any evidence, and even with an explicit desire to avoid resolving your accusation one way or another. I hope you agree that we should take every single accusation of wrongdoing extremely seriously: only then can we truly achieve accountability for bad behavior, while celebrating and rewarding good behavior. Unfortunately, purely speculative accusations of specific wrongdoing like this compromises our ability in general to take accusations seriously! It also subtly harms the reputations of good people within the accused group, if the accusation is unfounded. For example, imagine if I said out of the blue: “I worked with <anilakar> through all April 2019. (Don’t ask me if <anilakar> ever stole a MacBook Pro from the Apple Store on April 5th 2019 at 3:45pm. I don’t want to know anything about whether that did or did not happen.)” Hopefully this illustrates the potential harm of such comments.

soulofmischief 7y ago
If anilakar had a reputation for abusing their authority, then such a comment would not necessarily be out of place. Possibly rude and unneeded, but not out of place. Police as an organization routinely abuse their authority. I've personally suffered such behavior in jail. anilakar worded their comment such a specific fashion as to avoid making any accusations. They are allowed to muse openly. Your comment is unnecessary.
gmafb 7y ago
What a surprise that you, a person who has previously gone on unprovoked rants about the stupidity of pacifism, are quite concerned that somebody mused about the notion of police violence. You're so concerned, in fact, that you're suggesting it's somehow _dangerous_ to even muse about the possibility of a group who routinely engages in illegal and violent behavior engaging in a different bit illegal and violent behavior. I look forward to you down voting and flagging me, because that would be perfectly aligned with the rest of your authoritarian leanings.

soulofmischief 7y ago

If anilakar had a reputation for abusing their authority, then such a comment would not necessarily be out of place. Possibly rude and unneeded, but not out of place. Police as an organization routinely abuse their authority. I've personally suffered such behavior in jail. anilakar worded their comment such a specific fashion as to avoid making any accusations. They are allowed to muse openly. Your comment is unnecessary.

gmafb 7y ago

What a surprise that you, a person who has previously gone on unprovoked rants about the stupidity of pacifism, are quite concerned that somebody mused about the notion of police violence. You're so concerned, in fact, that you're suggesting it's somehow _dangerous_ to even muse about the possibility of a group who routinely engages in illegal and violent behavior engaging in a different bit illegal and violent behavior. I look forward to you down voting and flagging me, because that would be perfectly aligned with the rest of your authoritarian leanings.