5 ms·
It's not a "a job". As an institution police spend a lot of effort and resources to make sure that the stuff they do is perceived as a kind of calling and very
by cess11 9mo ago
It's not a "a job". As an institution police spend a lot of effort and resources to make sure that the stuff they do is perceived as a kind of calling and very special, which is important to foster loyalty between cops and helps them psychologically endure exposing vulnerable people to violence and incapacitation.
Legally they're in a protected category and 'above the law' in many ways. They get to break into other people's homes, dig through their stuff, spy on and hurt them. Commonly they're told that these actions are what keeps society from hurtling into barbarism.
Being told you are superior to others is not psychologically innocent.
- crimsoneer 9mo agoMost cops do not see their job like this, and mostly just want to get home at the end of the day. Yes, they probably have more than their fair share of weirdoes (in the same way most uniformed institutions disproportionately filled with young men tend to), but you know, mostly it's a job (though the US is weird).
- cess11 9mo agoIt's not a job. Every cop is a weirdo, they looked for opportunities to exert dominance over other people and decided against becoming social workers, medical practitioners or somesuch. Instead they joined a paramilitary force in peace time.
- crimsoneer 9mo agoGod, why do americans assume everywhere is like their weird place. Most countries designed their police to very specifically be civilian.
- cess11 9mo agoI live in northern Europe. It's not uncommon that our cops carry submachine guns and their cars are massive. Your generic middle eastern or african paramilitary would be rather jealous of their equipment.
- JasonADrury 9mo agoI don't think the European cops are all that much better people, even if not as murderous. Living in Paris a couple of years ago I used to regularly see cops street racing to a local restaurant for lunch with their sirens on. Their driving style was basically exactly what you'd expect street-racer kids in Eastern Europe. That kind of casual abuse of power is very telling.
- palmotea 9mo ago> It's not a job. Every cop is a weirdo, they looked for opportunities to exert dominance over other people... Stereotype much? Crime is actually a thing that happens. There are definitely cops that have the wrong attitude, but the function is necessary and warrant that kind of stereotyping especially if you want it to be better. Like, here's a recipe for making policing worse: heap on so much steotyping and abuse onto the profession that you scare away all the people who aren't "look[ing] for opportunities to exert dominance over other people." Don't create a filter that only selects "bad apples."
- cess11 9mo agoI have trouble figuring out what argument you're making. My position is that every person who wants to be a cop has "the wrong attitude". It is a mid- to late modern phenomenon so the claim that it is necessary seems rather weak. Who would avoid becoming a cop if I changed my rhetoric to yours? Do you believe that your "bad apples" would stop becoming cops if more people said that they "really like the cops"? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sX_EHeCbMqc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sX_EHeCbMqc
- palmotea 9mo agoMy point is you don't want cops with "the wrong attitude," so don't do things that exacerbate that, like wanton stereotyping. > Who would avoid becoming a cop if I changed my rhetoric to yours? Do you believe that your "bad apples" would stop becoming cops if more people said that they "really like the cops"? No, I believe: 1) Your "position ... that every person who wants to be a cop has 'the wrong attitude'" is wrong (it's got a strong smell of overgeneralization and black-and-white thinking). 2) The actions you're taking are (in a small way) encouraging and perpetuating the situation that neither of us want. You and I want cops who are not "look[ing] for opportunities to exert dominance over other people," but that's exactly what you'll get if you create and spread the impression that policing is only a job for people who are "look[ing] for opportunities to exert dominance over other people." To actually fix the problem, you need to encourage other types of people to become cops. Like protests against police brutality should have a booth for protesters to sign up for the police academy. There's too much counterproductive cathartic anger going on in this society, where people get mad and say and do things to just express that anger and actually make the problems they're angry about worse.
- IAmBroom 9mo agoI've rarely met a cop who didn't believe they were in a special profession, above most of the rest of us. I know from prostitutes that cops routinely abuse them in many different ways. They use intimidation to coerce "freebies" (which is rape, plain and simple). They "befriend" them and become their "boyfriends", which is of course just a lie to get a side piece. When they arrest them, they sneer and insult them as "whores".
- nikanj 9mo agoThey might be above the law, but nobody is above middle management. Even cops are subject to "you spent HOW much hours trying to burn one internet prostitute?"
- cess11 9mo agoThey do that kind of thing all the time. The institution as such does not get money based on some performance metric or other, it's usually politicians wanting to look one way or another in the press that determine their budgets.
- fmajid 9mo agoHe explains she was in the Chief of Police's neighborhood with irate neighbors, so he clearly had leeway to expend all resources needed to get it done.
- nikanj 9mo agoHow very convenient for the story