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I mean - let's be honest - there is a reason why somebody chooses to become a cop. And more often than not - this very reason isn't about "helping people". It's

I mean - let's be honest - there is a reason why somebody chooses to become a cop. And more often than not - this very reason isn't about "helping people". It's more likely about enjoying the exertion of power over people. There is a stronger psychological similarity between ordinary hooligans and police men than what is good. It's also always the police who will eagerly suppress people in case a state turns increasingly totalitarian - policemen don't like thinking for themselves - which is why they choose those hierarchical jobs in the first place. They like to have action and the feeling of adrenalin. Also it's worth thinking about this - the SS in Nazi Germany was made up of about 2% of the population. Now this personality type who would do SS jobs didn't just go away - the root is of psychological nature which is most likely more or less uniformly distributed within any population. Now those guys - in that psychological, statistical sense still exist - what do you think what kind of job they will choose? Elder care? Most likely either military or police.

fenomas 12y ago
> there is a reason why somebody chooses to become a cop.. Raymond Chandler: "Police business is a hell of a problem. It’s a good deal like politics. It asks for the highest type of men, and there’s nothing in it to attract the highest type of men."
Udo 12y ago
> It's more likely about enjoying the exertion of power over people. It depends on the political climate. I grant you - and as a German by birth I used to think about it a lot - that Germans are especially vulnerable to this. Honestly I witnessed abuse of power far more often from public servants (if you need to interact directly with a low-rung city official here you're pretty much hosed), and I won't deny that everyday citizen-on-citizen malice has a special quality in this country to this day. But it's been my experience that police officers are indeed mostly in it to help people. Sure, they're extra suspicious about everything, but I think that's par for the job. If this is indeed changing, it's a result of international osmosis.

fenomas 12y ago

> there is a reason why somebody chooses to become a cop.. Raymond Chandler: "Police business is a hell of a problem. It’s a good deal like politics. It asks for the highest type of men, and there’s nothing in it to attract the highest type of men."

Udo 12y ago

> It's more likely about enjoying the exertion of power over people. It depends on the political climate. I grant you - and as a German by birth I used to think about it a lot - that Germans are especially vulnerable to this. Honestly I witnessed abuse of power far more often from public servants (if you need to interact directly with a low-rung city official here you're pretty much hosed), and I won't deny that everyday citizen-on-citizen malice has a special quality in this country to this day. But it's been my experience that police officers are indeed mostly in it to help people. Sure, they're extra suspicious about everything, but I think that's par for the job. If this is indeed changing, it's a result of international osmosis.