To the Cops

[TackleTheWorld]

... basque in rebellion...

That's a witty double entender, by golly. 

[TackleTheWorld]

If you are a "good" cog in a bad machine, aren't you prolonging the problem?  If all cops were blatant thugs people would not be defending them or helping them or revering them anymore. Their cloak of legitimacy wouldn't shield them anymore.  The good cops are cloaking a bad system with their virtue.  Get out of there while you still have a soul.

[Coconut]

If you are a "good" cog in a bad machine, aren't you prolonging the problem?  If all cops were blatant thugs people would not be defending them or helping them or revering them anymore. Their cloak of legitimacy wouldn't shield them anymore.  The good cops are cloaking a bad system with their virtue.  Get out of there while you still have a soul.

That is a good point. This system will not be reformed; it will only end when it drives itself into the ground, hopefully taking as few of us with it as possible.

[kola]

Good points guys and gals.

I think that could be some of the dragons that Brad may be fighting. As he attempts to prove to himself (and others) that he is a "good cop" he will eventually find out that it is an impossibility.

It is not so much about satisfying me (or anyone else) by "reforming' him or "saving' him because another goon will replace him in a heartbeat. IMO, the commonfolk have little to gain (in relation to more freedoms) when a cop quits his job but its not really about us at all:

It is all about him saving himself.

Ok, on that note, I have decided to hold back on some of my rantings and namecallings of the 2 cops here. I have made this decision on my own. Russell and Kat have been very understanding and I do thank them for letting me speak my heart. In no way is this any type of apology to the 2 cops because I have no respect for them at all thus I refuse to treat them as such. This is an apology to others here on the forum and I do recognize I have caused quite a fuss here. So to those folks, I am sorry. I ain't no mushy type guy so thats all I will say. Now, this doesn't mean I will no longer make comments to them and/or about them but just that I will tone it down.

Unless they really piss me off.

Kola

[Giggan]

... basque in rebellion...

That's a witty double entender, by golly. 

Oh yeah...after looking up the alternate spelling I guess I meant 'bask', homonym, my b.

I can't argue with the fact that the good does cloak the evil's true face, though I can't really blame officers for having souls either.

[J’raxis 270145]

If you want to make Nazi comparisons... how about Oskar Schindler? It would've been better if he'd just sold off his factories with all those Jewish workers in them, and fled Nazi Germany, in order to keep his conscience clear, right?

It's so much easier to just say "I'll have no part of this!" and wash your hands of it, than to actually do something difficult to fight evil, isn't it?

[Dylboz]

... basque in rebellion...

That's a witty double entender, by golly. 

Oh yeah...after looking up the alternate spelling I guess I meant 'bask', homonym, my b.

I can't argue with the fact that the good does cloak the evil's true face, though I can't really blame officers for having souls either.

But, it's funny because of the Basque separatist movement known as ETA (pronounced eh-ta, like the Greek letter, and blamed for every bomb that went off in Spain until Al-Queda came along). They are a rebellious lot...

[Dylboz]

If you want to make Nazi comparisons... how about Oskar Schindler? It would've been better if he'd just sold off his factories with all those Jewish workers in them, and fled Nazi Germany, in order to keep his conscience clear, right?

It's so much easier to just say "I'll have no part of this!" and wash your hands of it, than to actually do something difficult to fight evil, isn't it?

While I appreciate and understand the argument you're making, highline says he will do nothing of the sort. If we are to use your analogy, highline, in Schindler's place, would have used the Jews in his employ as slaves, just as the Nazi's intended, since "that's current policy." He says he wont do anything differently, and will enforce stupid drug laws he disagrees with because, again, "that's current policy." So, he's not really standing up to "do something difficult to fight evil," is he?

[J’raxis 270145]

If you want to make Nazi comparisons... how about Oskar Schindler? It would've been better if he'd just sold off his factories with all those Jewish workers in them, and fled Nazi Germany, in order to keep his conscience clear, right?

It's so much easier to just say "I'll have no part of this!" and wash your hands of it, than to actually do something difficult to fight evil, isn't it?

While I appreciate and understand the argument you're making, highline says he will do nothing of the sort. If we are to use your analogy, highline, in Schindler's place, would have used the Jews in his employ as slaves, just as the Nazi's intended, since "that's current policy." He says he wont do anything differently, and will enforce stupid drug laws he disagrees with because, again, "that's current policy." So, he's not really standing up to "do something difficult to fight evil," is he?

Actually Schindler did use the Jews as slaves. What he didn't do was let them be sent to the gas chambers at various points when the Nazis tried to do so.

Schindler accomplished some good that he wouldn't've if he'd cared more about keeping his conscience totally clean than he did about what he was doing. People like highline are accomplishing something by being actively serving cops while opposing the drug laws, which lends an enormous amount of credibility to them when they speak out—opponents can't discredit them by saying "but you don't know what it's really like out there" and so on. Secondly, they're spreading this message among other serving police officers, something that wouldn't happen if all the cops around them were either silent about—or supportive of—the current drug laws.

[Russell Kanning]

each step is good

when a guy says he knows what is the right thing to do ..... but then does something differently ... he is not doing what he can

[firecracker joe]

If you are a "good" cog in a bad machine, aren't you prolonging the problem?  If all cops were blatant thugs people would not be defending them or helping them or revering them anymore. Their cloak of legitimacy wouldn't shield them anymore.  The good cops are cloaking a bad system with their virtue.  Get out of there while you still have a soul.

this is why lauren is one of my heros. she knows how to make a good point without being mean, unlike myself.
thanx lauren.
once a cop , that mentality cannot change short of a labotomy which i think is the only solution for all law enforcement...........

[Dylboz]

when [a] guy says he knows what is the right thing to do ..... but then does something differently ... he is not doing what he can

+1 to that!

[Kat Kanning]

I wonder how it feels going to work every day and knowing that people don't pay for your services willingly - that your wages have to be taken by threat, at the point of a gun.  And guess what, you get to carry that gun, too!

[Jacobus]

I wonder how it feels going to work every day and knowing that people don't pay for your services willingly - that your wages have to be taken by threat, at the point of a gun.  And guess what, you get to carry that gun, too!

Sometimes I become frustrated at cops, but then I'll pass one who is directing traffic, and I'll think to myself ... at least I could not be replaced at my job by three blinking lights.

But of course that's not right.  Blinking rights don't threaten, harm, or imprison anyone.

[Kat Kanning]

Blinking rights don't threaten, harm, or imprison anyone.

Interesting slip...now we have rights, now they blink off...