3 ms·

> Is America really such a police state now that you are just supposed to submit to anyone in a uniform? Yes. It has been since Sept 11th 2001. (And every sin

> Is America really such a police state now that you are just supposed to submit to anyone in a uniform? Yes. It has been since Sept 11th 2001. (And every single day since, that we stand idly as a nation and refuse to look further into that day) To make it worse, your only tool for fighting it is the court system, which for every day infractions committed by the system, is usually not financially (yes i am using this word) viable.

digikazi 6y ago
> Is America really such a police state now that you are just supposed to submit to anyone in a uniform? I guess what really surprises me every time I see it is... how can I put it? The level of militarisation of said police; I mean these federal agents look like they're on their way to storm Faluja, in full battle dress, and that makes me really, really, really uncomfortable. Its not quite the same here in the UK, although I believe we're getting there, albeit slower. But yeah, seeing those dudes dressed in battle rig with no visible badges of rank/name etc gives me the creeps.
- formerly_proven 6y ago
  > Its not quite the same here in the UK, although I believe we're getting there, albeit slower. But yeah, seeing those dudes dressed in battle rig with no visible badges of rank/name etc gives me the creeps. Soldiers carry visible identification (mostly) because they are subject to the Geneva convention, but police isn't and thus doesn't, since there is no legal obligation by the state in many countries. Even in Germany, a somewhat civil country, police generally wear their rank and name openly, except when they are deployed in Hundertschaften, where they carry no identification apart from the unit number. Obviously this makes it very difficult for people to report officers, since "that guy in dark blue riot gear with a BY 84-V on his back hit me for no reason" applies to literally a hundred people who were in roughly the same area doing roughly the same thing.
- buran77 6y ago
  People put up with it for the same reason they always put up with this kind of stuff: they're given a bigger enemy to focus on, one that is or much worse and people are never let to forget that. Of course by comparison it looks like you actually have it good. And you slowly forget, or ignore, that you have it "good by comparison" but you also have it worse year after year. The other thing is that not everyone gets to suffer. Under any form of government the ones that are on the leadership's "good side" will benefit or simply not suffer obviously. The others get to suffer. In democracy this might be the "dictatorship of the majority", and if that majority doesn't care enough to vote for fixing the country's problems instead of their individual problems, or is complacent with the current situation based on the above "doesn't suffer obviously" then by the time they do somebody already consolidated power or subverted that democratic process. Or perhaps some of the people just shifted to the minority and get to see that side. It's hard for people to see the real problems as long as their interests temporarily align with their leadership's. Just like the famous "First they came ..." quote. The person who uttered it got to live through this transition from being on the good side of the leadership, seeing his own interest, to the less pleasant side seeing too late what it was for the others.
- danielschonfeld 6y ago
  > The level of militarisation of said police; A government has to have a place to throw all that expensive high tech combat gear that $686.1 Billion buys you. What better place than their local communities' police units? Making grown men (and women) who haven't served in a real military feel empowered by carrying and opearting such munition. Google some of the vehicles they've deployed in local communities, your gut will sink even lower.

digikazi 6y ago

> Is America really such a police state now that you are just supposed to submit to anyone in a uniform? I guess what really surprises me every time I see it is... how can I put it? The level of militarisation of said police; I mean these federal agents look like they're on their way to storm Faluja, in full battle dress, and that makes me really, really, really uncomfortable. Its not quite the same here in the UK, although I believe we're getting there, albeit slower. But yeah, seeing those dudes dressed in battle rig with no visible badges of rank/name etc gives me the creeps.

formerly_proven 6y ago
> Its not quite the same here in the UK, although I believe we're getting there, albeit slower. But yeah, seeing those dudes dressed in battle rig with no visible badges of rank/name etc gives me the creeps. Soldiers carry visible identification (mostly) because they are subject to the Geneva convention, but police isn't and thus doesn't, since there is no legal obligation by the state in many countries. Even in Germany, a somewhat civil country, police generally wear their rank and name openly, except when they are deployed in Hundertschaften, where they carry no identification apart from the unit number. Obviously this makes it very difficult for people to report officers, since "that guy in dark blue riot gear with a BY 84-V on his back hit me for no reason" applies to literally a hundred people who were in roughly the same area doing roughly the same thing.
buran77 6y ago
People put up with it for the same reason they always put up with this kind of stuff: they're given a bigger enemy to focus on, one that is or much worse and people are never let to forget that. Of course by comparison it looks like you actually have it good. And you slowly forget, or ignore, that you have it "good by comparison" but you also have it worse year after year. The other thing is that not everyone gets to suffer. Under any form of government the ones that are on the leadership's "good side" will benefit or simply not suffer obviously. The others get to suffer. In democracy this might be the "dictatorship of the majority", and if that majority doesn't care enough to vote for fixing the country's problems instead of their individual problems, or is complacent with the current situation based on the above "doesn't suffer obviously" then by the time they do somebody already consolidated power or subverted that democratic process. Or perhaps some of the people just shifted to the minority and get to see that side. It's hard for people to see the real problems as long as their interests temporarily align with their leadership's. Just like the famous "First they came ..." quote. The person who uttered it got to live through this transition from being on the good side of the leadership, seeing his own interest, to the less pleasant side seeing too late what it was for the others.
danielschonfeld 6y ago
> The level of militarisation of said police; A government has to have a place to throw all that expensive high tech combat gear that $686.1 Billion buys you. What better place than their local communities' police units? Making grown men (and women) who haven't served in a real military feel empowered by carrying and opearting such munition. Google some of the vehicles they've deployed in local communities, your gut will sink even lower.