Replace the Police with Thought-Police

Well, actually, that might not be that far from what these "protesters" actually want. Believe it or not, it almost seems like someone has packaged some creepy orwellian # inside an anti-authoritarian disguise. I mean, who could be against a message that says "We want the cops to stop killing people and being unfair"?

You follow me? That's what this forum is all about! That's why most of us are here! I would wager that most of the people on this forum ARE anti-authoritarian. If you could erase certain events from history (Let's say the Rodney King thing was never on the news, for example), most people would still have some personal experience with cops who went too far. I know this as a matter of personal experience. I am white and I don't have a criminal record and I never have had a criminal record and even I have been pulled over by the police FOR NO REASON and kept on the side of the road for TWO HOURS with them trying to find a reason to arrest me. This was 15 years ago and I was about 30 so I was hardly some cocky young punk at the time.

I think if you grew up in the United States you probably have been hassled by the police in one way or another. And many people probably have been hassled by them for no reason whatsoever. Just because the cops were there and you were there and they were looking for a reason to do something. This happens. This has happened. To many people. Almost everyone knows it. I mean, if you are wealthy, maybe it never happened to you because they probably don't pick on people who look like they could afford a good lawyer. But I have known plenty of white people who had the same experiences I had. It's not really as much of a racial thing the way they try to make you think it is.

Now does that mean the cops don't racially profile black people or Hispanics or whatever? Does that mean that they don't abuse them even more than they do white people? Of course not. I'm sure that black people and other minorities have every reason to feel like they are singled out unjustly. And in many cases, they're probably right.

But here's the thing. Crime DOES happen. It's real. Set all the other BS aside and you do still have real world statistics that say "Certain people are more likely to be involved in criminal activity". It's not a pretty thing to acknowledge but there's more than a kernal of truth to it, right?

So. Are the BLM people completely wrong? No. They're not. The basic beef they have with the system is factually accurate. But here's the thing. A good analogy to this thing is to think of the message they are putting forward is to think of it as a key that opens many doors that would normally be locked and require seperate keys for each and every lock. If you wanted to open every single one of those doors at the same time, you would normally need a whole bunch of keys. And the reason locks exist in the first place is because each lock requires a different key and not just anyone can open every lock.

So, you have a special key that opens most of those locks. An issue like racism IS that key. Which is not necessarily a bad thing. UNLESS that key falls into the wrong hands. And especially if it falls into the wrong hands and the vast majority of people fail to recognize that. Or even fail to ask the question. Maybe it's better to think of it as a master password without a security question than a key but I'm old fashioned so I'm still thinking about keys. The security question would be something only good people would know. If you asked someone with a nefarious agenda what the security question is, they'd have no idea.

So we'd have "racism" as a master password and "Civil liberties still matter more" as the security question.

Anyway, the topic of this thread is "the thought police". I think it's a very reasonable concern that if someone wants to dismantle the currents system of law and order, what would they replace it with? And why would they want to do that in the first place? What are you (realistically) going to replace the current police system with that is not going to end up being abused? I don't think it's possible. Anyone who was intelligent enough to come up with an alternative would know that everything has it's own flaws and a new system would not be inherently better or more just simply because it was new and the road it drives on was paved with (supposedly) good intentions. The system we already have is fundamentally based on good intentions. And we see how many ways that can go (and has gone) wrong. No. Making big changes is not a magic solution.

Anyway, I don't like the sound of any of this and I especially do not believe that the people behind this movement are really in it for the right reasons. Even if they think they are. I do not have a problem with the basic message here. Black lives DO matter. Every life matters. But that's what worries me. We shouldn't have a problem with the basic message and most decent people don't. Which makes them ripe for manipulation.

a reply to: BrianFlanders
Nicely done 'true statesman' BrianFlanders; if only our (elected?!!) clownish politicians were as reasonable and well spoken this country would not be experiencing a revisiting of the French Revolution.

a reply to: cooperton

You know thought police is already a thing right? Just ask Facebook, Youtube, Twitter all the social justice warriors, the "woke" CNN, MSNBC and the like. It just isn't called Thought police it's called "Agree with our opinion or we'll beat the living snot out of you and cancel your entire life" but that's less catchy of a name.

originally posted by: vethumanbeing
a reply to: BrianFlanders
Nicely done 'true statesman' BrianFlanders; if only our (elected?!!) clownish politicians were as reasonable and well spoken this country would not be experiencing a revisiting of the French Revolution.
Absolutely! Well written perspective.

a reply to: Dwoodward85

Well now that we know they are here, they either are not doing there jobs or doing there jobs too well.
Be nice to know if the world could contact me so I can know what the verdict is before I die.