6 ms·

> They want the police to have all the power they can get because, as far as they're concerned, they're the good guys, and giving the good guys more power helps

> They want the police to have all the power they can get because, as far as they're concerned, they're the good guys, and giving the good guys more power helps them win against the bad guys. But we all know that giving excessive power to good guys turns them rather reliably into bad guys.

__MatrixMan__ 5y ago
Yeah but it always looks different if that power is going to be in your hands. Or maybe it doesn't and they just don't care, but I'd like to think it's the former.
netizen-936824 5y ago
Nobody ever said politicians were smart
kragen 5y ago
Everybody thinks they're incorruptible, and they often extend that to institutions they identify with. Very, very few people have ever honestly grappled with their shadow side. Even if you do, you may still prefer your own shadow side to that of whoever your opponents are.
- wutbrodo 5y ago
  > Everybody thinks they're incorruptible It chafes me a little to see this so often phrased as something "everybody" thinks. There are enough people who feel otherwise in my social circles that it's pretty easy for me to consider this as a shockingly dumb assumption for a person to hold. Though I do acknowledge that you're probably close to right from a purely numerical perspective.
  - joelbondurant0 5y ago
  - kragen 5y ago
    I agree.
    - wutbrodo 5y ago
      Just to be clear, "shockingly dumb" is in reference to the incorruptibility belief, not to your claim that it's "everyone". Though from your response, I think you probably understood what I meant despite the ambiguous phrasing.
      - kragen 5y ago
        Oh, I didn't know! I thought you meant that the claim that there were literally zero people who thought they were corruptible was shockingly dumb, and I agreed, even though (construed literally) it's what I had said. Thanks for clarifying!
- bostik 5y ago
  There is a simple rule of thumb: if you would not grant a power to your worst enemy, you do not grant it to your friends either.
grapescheesee 5y ago
Its not like history tends to repeat in cycle regardless of the age and technology.
zdragnar 5y ago
> But we all know Excepting the approval of end to end encryption and residential zoning, pretty much every problem thread on HN is littered with comments about how we need more regulation and laws to solve X or Y or Z. Wanting the "good guys" to have more power is pretty much the default response on here nowadays. I remember earlier- including before I had signed up for an account- when HN was much more libertarian, compared to the relative minority it seems to be now.
- j16sdiz 5y ago
  disclaimer: I am not American, and know nothing about American politics. I think all these start around Trump's administration. Trump start calling some media/social media as fake news, and some media/social media start censoring his supporter. After seeing the worse effects of misleading information, many free-speech-supporter back off alot.
  - nyokodo 5y ago
    > Trump...misleading information...free-speech-supporter back off alot. Trump is a correlation to (not cause of) both the left and right in America turning sharply populist and inward looking in recent years. Populists tend not to be concerned with principles like freedom of speech, or the concerns of the global community.
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
  - mantas 5y ago
    > After seeing the worse effects of misleading information, many free-speech-supporter back off alot. Rather democracy supporters back off…
  - zdragnar 5y ago
    Nah, there was a noticable shift already in the later Obama years, if not earlier. It is ironic that we should trust government to be an arbiter of truth, given that our government has been a source of "misinformation" for years (a.k.a. blatantly lying to support an agenda).
baremetal 5y ago
the one thing you can be certain of about giving someone authority over others is that they will abuse it. some more, some less. but everyone will abuse it to a degree.

__MatrixMan__ 5y ago

Yeah but it always looks different if that power is going to be in your hands. Or maybe it doesn't and they just don't care, but I'd like to think it's the former.

netizen-936824 5y ago

Nobody ever said politicians were smart

kragen 5y ago

Everybody thinks they're incorruptible, and they often extend that to institutions they identify with. Very, very few people have ever honestly grappled with their shadow side. Even if you do, you may still prefer your own shadow side to that of whoever your opponents are.

wutbrodo 5y ago
> Everybody thinks they're incorruptible It chafes me a little to see this so often phrased as something "everybody" thinks. There are enough people who feel otherwise in my social circles that it's pretty easy for me to consider this as a shockingly dumb assumption for a person to hold. Though I do acknowledge that you're probably close to right from a purely numerical perspective.
- joelbondurant0 5y ago
- kragen 5y ago
  I agree.
  - wutbrodo 5y ago
    Just to be clear, "shockingly dumb" is in reference to the incorruptibility belief, not to your claim that it's "everyone". Though from your response, I think you probably understood what I meant despite the ambiguous phrasing.
    - kragen 5y ago
      Oh, I didn't know! I thought you meant that the claim that there were literally zero people who thought they were corruptible was shockingly dumb, and I agreed, even though (construed literally) it's what I had said. Thanks for clarifying!
bostik 5y ago
There is a simple rule of thumb: if you would not grant a power to your worst enemy, you do not grant it to your friends either.

grapescheesee 5y ago

Its not like history tends to repeat in cycle regardless of the age and technology.

zdragnar 5y ago

> But we all know Excepting the approval of end to end encryption and residential zoning, pretty much every problem thread on HN is littered with comments about how we need more regulation and laws to solve X or Y or Z. Wanting the "good guys" to have more power is pretty much the default response on here nowadays. I remember earlier- including before I had signed up for an account- when HN was much more libertarian, compared to the relative minority it seems to be now.

j16sdiz 5y ago
disclaimer: I am not American, and know nothing about American politics. I think all these start around Trump's administration. Trump start calling some media/social media as fake news, and some media/social media start censoring his supporter. After seeing the worse effects of misleading information, many free-speech-supporter back off alot.
- nyokodo 5y ago
  > Trump...misleading information...free-speech-supporter back off alot. Trump is a correlation to (not cause of) both the left and right in America turning sharply populist and inward looking in recent years. Populists tend not to be concerned with principles like freedom of speech, or the concerns of the global community.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
- mantas 5y ago
  > After seeing the worse effects of misleading information, many free-speech-supporter back off alot. Rather democracy supporters back off…
- zdragnar 5y ago
  Nah, there was a noticable shift already in the later Obama years, if not earlier. It is ironic that we should trust government to be an arbiter of truth, given that our government has been a source of "misinformation" for years (a.k.a. blatantly lying to support an agenda).

baremetal 5y ago

the one thing you can be certain of about giving someone authority over others is that they will abuse it. some more, some less. but everyone will abuse it to a degree.