Comments on: Violence: the course of true Summer of Love never did run smooth

By: Strange Daze : “Death to this massive maelstrom of lies” Edition

Strange Daze : “Death to this massive maelstrom of lies” Edition — Sun, 05 Jul 2020 16:27:19 +0000

[…] The idea to defund the police and insult, demoralize, and banish them seems incredibly stupid, particularly if it’s coupled with the idea that crime won’t soar as a result. But anarchists have long had an agenda that includes getting rid of police, who are considered instruments of state oppression, and that was even before the all-important racial angle was added to give the idea a special attraction for those suffused with racial guilt. […]

By: AesopFan

AesopFan — Sat, 04 Jul 2020 20:49:11 +0000

miklos – the point is that they won’t “handle” anything.
Anyone who can’t be talked out of the behavior that led someone around them to call 911 will be shrugged off as having the “dignity to make their own choices” (something the Left will never allow for law-abiding conservatives), and their victims can fend for themselves.
The “not cops” might issue some kind of citation and possibly do a follow-up afterwards, but doubtful, considering the real police are releasing perps of clearly illegal acts to walk without bail (does anyone seriously think they will all came back to their hearing dates?); and if they DO actually send someone around to “counsel” with the drunk when he/she sobers up, then we are well on our way to Big Nanny is Watching You.

By: miklos000rosza

miklos000rosza — Sat, 04 Jul 2020 11:49:03 +0000

How do social workers (or psychologists) handle belligerent drunks? There is very often going to be alcohol involved in such disputes.

By: ArtfldgrUselessNothing

ArtfldgrUselessNothing — Sat, 04 Jul 2020 03:51:27 +0000

If there’s no police, who’s the local government going to send to collect my taxes?

who ya going to call?
GhostBusters (the originals not the new women replace men remake)

By: Julian Tonning

Julian Tonning — Sat, 04 Jul 2020 02:29:01 +0000

If there’s no police, who’s the local government going to send to collect my taxes?

By: shadow

shadow — Fri, 03 Jul 2020 21:57:18 +0000

I wonder if the people who actually want to replace police with “social workers” have any idea what kind of danger that would put social workers in. And how ineffective they would be against people who are violent or refuse to cooperate with authorities in general. Unless social workers are going to be authorized to kick down doors and carry guns?

By: FOAF

FOAF — Fri, 03 Jul 2020 19:34:11 +0000

Rufus, there may be a need for “reform in policing”. But that is not what is going on now and I think you know this. An ugly incident was exploited by far leftists for the purposes of violence and societal disruption and that is what we are up against. None of them except possibly for a few naive demonstrators are actually interested in improving the way policing is done in America.

By: Jamie

Jamie — Fri, 03 Jul 2020 16:30:10 +0000

Rufus, in general I agree that police are asked to have too many and too disparate skills, and to deploy the exactly correct skill at the exact moment necessary. And I think there’s wide agreement that the mentally ill and addicted are not being ideally served But you speak of “our system” and that, I think, is the rub: it’s not *A* system we’d have to deal with, it’s a bunch of them that are at present not very interconnected.

Figuring out a reform plan that would integrate a bunch of systems so that the correct resource is available at the needed moment is not something for which political will exists, I think. It’s not reducible to a slogan; it doesn’t sufficiently indict “the system”; it smacks of too much interference for us on the right and not enough for those on the left (even if, in the end, it might be possible to thread that needle, it can too easily be “explained” by opposite sides in the worst possible light). So I dunno.

By: GWB

GWB — Fri, 03 Jul 2020 16:20:05 +0000

If you turn “defund police” on its head, it might very well work.

Part of the problem with our current electorate is that so many people have simply outsourced all their responsibilities as citizens to various technocrats – including the police. For a republic to work, everyone has to understand they, themselves, are responsible for law-making, law-enforcement. And, of course, not just police work, but all the aspects of governing.

But, if the people take that back – taking responsibility for their own safety, the orderly running of their own small communities, even taking on the jobs (e.g., running for office) in those communities – then the police will be much less necessary.

When Aunt Rosa down the block goes out and confronts the jack-a-knapes idling their cars and playing their music incredibly loudly, then no cops need to get involved. Especially when she knows she or her neighbors will take any necessary steps if they decide to push back. A community that governs itself.

But, when there is no cultural confidence to take care of things yourselves, then the citizens cower in their homes and call for the police. And when the police are “the only thing that stands between us and chaos” you’ve already lost. At least as a republic. You can still get on fine as a feudal kingdom, or a technocracy, or some other form of class structure with ruled and rulers, but you can’t ever be a republic again unless the concept of “civic virtue” and civic empowerment is once again regained.

By: Wally

Wally — Fri, 03 Jul 2020 11:01:14 +0000

Just wait until a social worker successfully mediates a domestic dispute, calms everyone down, writes up a report, only to wake up the next morning a news story about a beating … or worse. Then the mantra will be “where were the police?”