6 ms·

The police culture in the United States, enabled by these absolutely absurd legal protections, is consistently the most embarrassing thing about our country. We

The police culture in the United States, enabled by these absolutely absurd legal protections, is consistently the most embarrassing thing about our country. We're famous for our police corruption and brutality, to the point that the state departments of foreign countries have to warn their citizens of interactions with police while visiting the US. The portuguese-american community that I grew up in mostly consisted of people who fled the fascist authoritarianism of Antonio Salazar, with the promise of freedom and prosperity. They found the prosperity just fine, but lived here long enough to see America become even more authoritarian than the Portugal that they fled. It is interesting to me that many of them are leaving the prosperity behind to return to Portugal, as it is now more free than we are.

dwater 6y ago
Parts of the US government also know not to share certain information with law enforcement. "[FBI] policies have been crafted to take into account the active presence of domestic extremists in U.S. police departments." "White supremacists and other domestic extremists maintain an active presence in U.S. police departments and other law enforcement agencies." https://theintercept.com/2017/01/31/the-fbi-has-quietly-investigated-white-supremacist-infiltration-of-law-enforcement/ https://theintercept.com/2017/01/31/the-fbi-has-quietly-inve...
- LB232323 6y ago
  I admire the work of the FBI against hate groups and extremists. However, one only needs to look at their work against BLM or the Civil Rights Movement to see that they are part of the same structure. Workers unifying across social divisions is the greatest threat to oppressing the people. It is the most powerful method we have of gaining material freedom and our most basic human dignities, regardless of ethnic identity. Some of our most deeply exploited white citizens are convinced that they have it better than others while they experience collapsing infrastructure, life on government benefits, prescription epidemics, growing government overreach, and erosion of their working rights. They also make up the heart of white supremacists and domestic extremists, while more fortunate liberal territories are convinced to despise and separate themselves from their fellow workers. In short, our nation is divided by hatred and the result is a populace that is easier to control, oppress, and economically exploit. Overcoming this hatred and unifying is the key to securing our future and basic liberties from corporate and government authoritarianism.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
LB232323 6y ago
If we dig deeper past the shame, we find a power structure that is intentionally and fundamentally evil. In every economic crisis the facade becomes weaker, and more people wake up to the political and economic reality of our nation. This is when fascism shows itself, promising to take us to our former glory while people struggle to survive. Fascism is a disease that slowly infects its host. We should remember how America fought so bravely against German fascism. My mother's family came to America to escape the fascist authoritarianism of that nation, and I can't see myself moving to Germany.
- claudeganon 6y ago
  >We should remember how America fought so bravely against German fascism About that... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Paperclip https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Paperclip We should more accurately remember that it was the express policy of the United States to rehabilitate and support former fascists in postwar Europe, Southeast Asia, and in Latin America. The US opposed German nationalist imperialism (quite late into that campaign), but never meaningfully fascism as such. During the Red Scare, several people were even investigated and blacklisted for being "prematurely antifascist." https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:tAcKhlwS7rsJ:https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-jul-15-bk-22387-story.html+&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-b-d https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:tAcKhl...
  - LB232323 6y ago
    I am aware of this history. We can't forget the veterans that fought with our allies to successfully defeat the Nazis. German nationalist imperialism is Nationalsozialistiche Deutsche Abeiterpartei, the namesake of the Nazi Party. The immigration of my own family is a product of German fascism.
rixrax 6y ago
I consider every interaction and encounter with our law enforcement officers as a potentially life threatening situation. I can’t imagine how it is for people of color.
- twomoretime 6y ago
  That's plainly hysteria and you're only encouraging unnecessary distrust. The overwhelming majority of interactions with police for any race are benign. You've been manipulated by a race baiting media.
  - Miner49er 6y ago
    The overwhelming majority isn't great when you're talking risk of death. Someone survives playing Russian Roulette the overwhelming majority of the time too. 5 out of 6 times, nothing bad happens at all. 1 out of 6 times, you die. Is that also not something you would consider a "life threatening situation?" It's actually an interesting question. At what point does the risk of dying in a situation make it "life threatening"? I believe something like 1 in 291 police interactions end up with someone in the hospital or dead. https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-07/b-upk072116.php https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-07/b-upk072116....
    - twomoretime 6y ago
      1/6 is literally 2 orders of magnitude smaller than 1/291. Nonsensical comparison. More importantly, how many of those hospitalizations/deaths are justified? You realize that police are typically responding to crimes and dealing with criminals who tend to be a little more violent than the average person, right? Don't get me wrong, I'm not a bootlicker by any means, and I acknowledge there are serious policing problems in the US. But seriously questioning whether you're going to survive a traffic stop if you act reasonably is irrational paranoia.
      - praestigiare 6y ago
        I do formal risk assessments as a part of my job, in a context where people are often risking their lives. Both 1:6 and 1:291 as the chance of of severe injury or death are both firmly in the highest risk category under most calculations, meaning that for decision making, you should assume that it will result in death. Yes, they are two orders of magnitude different. But the comparison is not nonsensical.

dwater 6y ago

Parts of the US government also know not to share certain information with law enforcement. "[FBI] policies have been crafted to take into account the active presence of domestic extremists in U.S. police departments." "White supremacists and other domestic extremists maintain an active presence in U.S. police departments and other law enforcement agencies." https://theintercept.com/2017/01/31/the-fbi-has-quietly-investigated-white-supremacist-infiltration-of-law-enforcement/ https://theintercept.com/2017/01/31/the-fbi-has-quietly-inve...

LB232323 6y ago
I admire the work of the FBI against hate groups and extremists. However, one only needs to look at their work against BLM or the Civil Rights Movement to see that they are part of the same structure. Workers unifying across social divisions is the greatest threat to oppressing the people. It is the most powerful method we have of gaining material freedom and our most basic human dignities, regardless of ethnic identity. Some of our most deeply exploited white citizens are convinced that they have it better than others while they experience collapsing infrastructure, life on government benefits, prescription epidemics, growing government overreach, and erosion of their working rights. They also make up the heart of white supremacists and domestic extremists, while more fortunate liberal territories are convinced to despise and separate themselves from their fellow workers. In short, our nation is divided by hatred and the result is a populace that is easier to control, oppress, and economically exploit. Overcoming this hatred and unifying is the key to securing our future and basic liberties from corporate and government authoritarianism.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

LB232323 6y ago

If we dig deeper past the shame, we find a power structure that is intentionally and fundamentally evil. In every economic crisis the facade becomes weaker, and more people wake up to the political and economic reality of our nation. This is when fascism shows itself, promising to take us to our former glory while people struggle to survive. Fascism is a disease that slowly infects its host. We should remember how America fought so bravely against German fascism. My mother's family came to America to escape the fascist authoritarianism of that nation, and I can't see myself moving to Germany.

claudeganon 6y ago
>We should remember how America fought so bravely against German fascism About that... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Paperclip https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Paperclip We should more accurately remember that it was the express policy of the United States to rehabilitate and support former fascists in postwar Europe, Southeast Asia, and in Latin America. The US opposed German nationalist imperialism (quite late into that campaign), but never meaningfully fascism as such. During the Red Scare, several people were even investigated and blacklisted for being "prematurely antifascist." https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:tAcKhlwS7rsJ:https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-jul-15-bk-22387-story.html+&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-b-d https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:tAcKhl...
- LB232323 6y ago
  I am aware of this history. We can't forget the veterans that fought with our allies to successfully defeat the Nazis. German nationalist imperialism is Nationalsozialistiche Deutsche Abeiterpartei, the namesake of the Nazi Party. The immigration of my own family is a product of German fascism.

rixrax 6y ago

I consider every interaction and encounter with our law enforcement officers as a potentially life threatening situation. I can’t imagine how it is for people of color.

twomoretime 6y ago
That's plainly hysteria and you're only encouraging unnecessary distrust. The overwhelming majority of interactions with police for any race are benign. You've been manipulated by a race baiting media.
- Miner49er 6y ago
  The overwhelming majority isn't great when you're talking risk of death. Someone survives playing Russian Roulette the overwhelming majority of the time too. 5 out of 6 times, nothing bad happens at all. 1 out of 6 times, you die. Is that also not something you would consider a "life threatening situation?" It's actually an interesting question. At what point does the risk of dying in a situation make it "life threatening"? I believe something like 1 in 291 police interactions end up with someone in the hospital or dead. https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-07/b-upk072116.php https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-07/b-upk072116....
  - twomoretime 6y ago
    1/6 is literally 2 orders of magnitude smaller than 1/291. Nonsensical comparison. More importantly, how many of those hospitalizations/deaths are justified? You realize that police are typically responding to crimes and dealing with criminals who tend to be a little more violent than the average person, right? Don't get me wrong, I'm not a bootlicker by any means, and I acknowledge there are serious policing problems in the US. But seriously questioning whether you're going to survive a traffic stop if you act reasonably is irrational paranoia.
    - praestigiare 6y ago
      I do formal risk assessments as a part of my job, in a context where people are often risking their lives. Both 1:6 and 1:291 as the chance of of severe injury or death are both firmly in the highest risk category under most calculations, meaning that for decision making, you should assume that it will result in death. Yes, they are two orders of magnitude different. But the comparison is not nonsensical.