Why such animosity towards police officers?

[KthxBye]

Originally posted by: isaacmacdonald

Originally posted by: MercenaryForHire

For those too dumb to understand, I'm not trying to say that law X is right or wrong. The point I want to get across here is that if you break a law, be prepared to deal with the consequences. Don't whine and bitch at the police for enforcing the law. That's their job.

- M4H

yeaaaah. what amazes me is that people don't seem to understand that selective enforcement is not the same as blanket enforcement.

"but you're breaking the law!!!" Selectively enforced laws (especially laws that are enforced in a minority of circumstances, like speeding on a highway/expressway) in effect keep the majority of constituents from pressuring representatives to make laws just and utilitarian, and at the same time they become the basis for unequal (at best arbitrary) treatment of a frequently criminalized majority. This directly opposes the democratic rule of law.

Taken to an extreme, imagine drinking water was criminalized, but enforcement was extremely small (like .005%). The state becomes totalitarian, all bend to the will of those who weild power. Joe Sfitzer wants to run against the present representative... late at night he's arrested because of his criminal activity (drinkling water! that bastard was breaking the law!!!). What's the effect?

Obviously this is hyperbole. Nonetheless, the principle remains. Inequality fuels a lot of the animosity towards law enforcement.

Well put. That's what I was trying to say in my previous post but I'm not sure I phrased it right.

 

[isaacmacdonald]

Well put. That's what I was trying to say in my previous post but I'm not sure I phrased it right.

actually I didn't see that post before, but yes that's exactly what I mean. Good to see some people can percieve the arbitrary nature of the system-