5 ms·

it really is funny how much abuse by the government people in the US will tolerate if it's by cops and not the tax office or trying to make the health insurance

it really is funny how much abuse by the government people in the US will tolerate if it's by cops and not the tax office or trying to make the health insurance market slightly less insane. why is that? is it like australia, where everyone is just deep down a narc?

chasd00 3y ago
for most people the day to day interaction with police is positive. For example, i know the names of the police that patrol my neighborhood and we wave/chit chat whenever i'm out walking my dogs and they drive by. The only interaction i have with the tax office is a form I have to fill out and a check I have to write. Further, it seems no matter how much money i hand over the quality of social service remains the same. My local public schools are funded in a large part by my property tax, it has skyrocketed but the schools are the same disaster they've always been.
BobaFloutist 3y ago
Lobbying and marketing. Police make money and provide services for profitable corporations. Taxes cost profitable corporations money, except when they're really annoying to deal with, in which case they give money to a small group of corporations. So taxes are designed to be as irritating and painful as possible, and are continually attacked, whereas police are defended.
vkou 3y ago
> why is that? Because the same group of people that hate the tax office and a working healthcare system also have a deep pathological fear of the underclasses rising up. And the only thing that will protect them from this is a gang of uniformed thugs. That group also holds ~half the political power in the country.
- JumpCrisscross 3y ago
  > a deep pathological fear of the underclasses rising up At least in New York, support for the police diminishes with income. Manhattan is the anti-police borough. The richest neighbourhoods within it elect the most anti-police politicians (with few exceptions).
  - freejazz 3y ago
    Yes, famous examples like Bloomberg
    - JumpCrisscross 3y ago
      I’m talking in the last decade. I was closely involved with Manhattan electoral politics 2014 to 2021. It’s not a coïncidence that the outer boroughs elected an ex cop.
      - freejazz 3y ago
        No, it's not a coincidence but that doesn't mean its because of what you said. Go to the wealthiest parts of Manhattan and see if they don't want the cops.
        JumpCrisscross 3y ago
        > Go to the wealthiest parts of Manhattan and see if they don't want the cops They want cops. But they vote for restrictions. It’s a bit paradoxical, but one would repeatedly see e.g. the Upper East Side request more officers and overwhelmingly support legal restrictions, independent oversight and transferring cops’ workloads to social workers.
        rangestransform 3y ago
        I don’t think it’s paradoxical at all, it’s perfectly reasonable to believe that we should have more police AND they should do their jobs according to the law
        freejazz 3y ago
        Not in the wealthiest parts they don't. Go to the UES, they are not for "defunding the police" or whatever else you seem to think. The things you describe aren't "anti-police" and you are disingenuously associating reasonable restrictions, like independent oversight and the inclusion of social workers in responses when they would be appropriate, with something like district attorneys that do not wish to prosecute various categories of crimes. To be honest I didn't take you to be this disingenuous based on your earlier post, but this is just ridiculous.

chasd00 3y ago

for most people the day to day interaction with police is positive. For example, i know the names of the police that patrol my neighborhood and we wave/chit chat whenever i'm out walking my dogs and they drive by. The only interaction i have with the tax office is a form I have to fill out and a check I have to write. Further, it seems no matter how much money i hand over the quality of social service remains the same. My local public schools are funded in a large part by my property tax, it has skyrocketed but the schools are the same disaster they've always been.

BobaFloutist 3y ago

Lobbying and marketing. Police make money and provide services for profitable corporations. Taxes cost profitable corporations money, except when they're really annoying to deal with, in which case they give money to a small group of corporations. So taxes are designed to be as irritating and painful as possible, and are continually attacked, whereas police are defended.

vkou 3y ago

> why is that? Because the same group of people that hate the tax office and a working healthcare system also have a deep pathological fear of the underclasses rising up. And the only thing that will protect them from this is a gang of uniformed thugs. That group also holds ~half the political power in the country.

JumpCrisscross 3y ago
> a deep pathological fear of the underclasses rising up At least in New York, support for the police diminishes with income. Manhattan is the anti-police borough. The richest neighbourhoods within it elect the most anti-police politicians (with few exceptions).
- freejazz 3y ago
  Yes, famous examples like Bloomberg
  - JumpCrisscross 3y ago
    I’m talking in the last decade. I was closely involved with Manhattan electoral politics 2014 to 2021. It’s not a coïncidence that the outer boroughs elected an ex cop.
    - freejazz 3y ago
      No, it's not a coincidence but that doesn't mean its because of what you said. Go to the wealthiest parts of Manhattan and see if they don't want the cops.
      - JumpCrisscross 3y ago
        > Go to the wealthiest parts of Manhattan and see if they don't want the cops They want cops. But they vote for restrictions. It’s a bit paradoxical, but one would repeatedly see e.g. the Upper East Side request more officers and overwhelmingly support legal restrictions, independent oversight and transferring cops’ workloads to social workers.
        rangestransform 3y ago
        I don’t think it’s paradoxical at all, it’s perfectly reasonable to believe that we should have more police AND they should do their jobs according to the law
        freejazz 3y ago
        Not in the wealthiest parts they don't. Go to the UES, they are not for "defunding the police" or whatever else you seem to think. The things you describe aren't "anti-police" and you are disingenuously associating reasonable restrictions, like independent oversight and the inclusion of social workers in responses when they would be appropriate, with something like district attorneys that do not wish to prosecute various categories of crimes. To be honest I didn't take you to be this disingenuous based on your earlier post, but this is just ridiculous.