4 ms·

Of course violence is legal. Laws themselves carry no weight if they aren't backed by a credible threat of violence.

• krapp 6mo ago
  Violence by the state is legal. Violence otherwise tends not to be.
  • yfw 6mo ago
    See ICE murders.
    • krapp 6mo ago
      Or American police in general.
    • culi 6mo ago
      that's violence by the state though. That's exactly the kind of violence GP said are legal (in my reading, no moral stance was taken about this state of matters)
  • deleted 6mo ago
    [deleted]
  • apothegm 6mo ago
    Not all violence by the state is legal. In a properly functioning democracy, the state cannot carry out arbitrary violence with impunity, only that which is consistent with the powers granted to it by the constitution and laws written and passed in accordance with that constitution. That was the case in the US for long stretches of its existence. But under an authoritarian regime, it doesn’t matter whether what the state does runs contrary to statute or constitution because there is no one who has both the will and the ability to enforce any restrictions against the state.
  • UncleMeat 6mo ago
    Corporations that pollute our air and water without penalty do violence against us.
    • bdangubic 6mo ago
      so basically every manufacturing corporation in existence?
      • UncleMeat 6mo ago
        Yes. Violence by capital is severe and constant but because it is diffuse it is not seen as such by many.