4 ms·
Wanted to ask people. I've no idea about politics, and don't want to take thread off topic.... but: Is fear a major reason for violent police actions? If I wa
by tsegratis 6y ago
Wanted to ask people. I've no idea about politics, and don't want to take thread off topic.... but:
Is fear a major reason for violent police actions?
If I was repeatedly afraid someone might shoot, or I'd come to expect this, I'm sure I would begin to lash out irrationally
I'm not remotely defending anything, and as I say, I don't understand
In almost all the countries I've lived in people are simply not allowed to carry weapons, and so similarly police are equally 'unweaponized'
So again, apologies, but wanted to express the thought:
The root cause of the violence is maybe the fear
And _a_ root cause of that is maybe the prevalence of weapons creating a _potential_ for violence
If I were to guess (from my complete lack of experience and evidence based on the media!! So my guess is fairly invalid), but still, my guess is that this fear undercurrent would also destroy society, not just police relations; it would also lead to pockets with cycles of poverty and brokenness
Again apologies for making suggestions in a place where I don't have experience to comment. But let me still ask: is this suggestion reasonable, or even helpful?
- yummypaint 6y agoIf this were the main factor, then victims of police violence would be a representative sample of the population. Instead, they are disproportionately non-white. The current state of affairs has to be understood in the historical context of institutionalized racism in the US. It's built into policing in the same way it was built into the physical infrastructure of cities. https://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/ny-oped-racist-planning-shaped-our-city-20190411-pkobnblgejhbdjitqpdhflxj6u-story.html https://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/ny-oped-racist-planning-...
- tathougies 6y agoYes, the proportion of people killed by police broadly matches the rate at which people who look like them commit violent crimes in their area. This doesn't excuse police misbehavior and brutality, but is a simple observation. https://msutoday.msu.edu/news/2019/the-truth-behind-racial-disparities-in-fatal-police-shootings/ https://msutoday.msu.edu/news/2019/the-truth-behind-racial-d... https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2019/07/16/1903856116 https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2019/07/16/1903856116 > Our data show that the rate of crime by each racial group correlates with the likelihood of citizens from that racial group being shot. If you live in a county that has a lot of white people committing crimes, white people are more likely to be shot. If you live in a county that has a lot of black people committing crimes, black people are more likely to be shot. It is the best predictor we have of fatal police shootings.”