1 upvotes, 1 direct replies (showing 1)
So you're saying that while not all cops are necessarily bad people, it's, practically speaking, in our best interests to proceed under the assumption that cops *are* bad people in real life scenarios, given that most cops are predisposed towards wrongdoing and so on.
Comment by justanediblefriend at 09/09/2020 at 21:07 UTC
1 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Well no, not just cops you meet. Like, when you consider policies that will affect most or all cops, people who talk about the mythical One Good Cop are inclined to act too conservatively in what policies they support. There's some mix of bad acceptances and bad beliefs here, since these people are often disconnected from the reality of what happens to a good person who joins the police force[1]. When people accept that there's One Good Cop, they also entertain the notion that this One Good Cop will Improve the System from Within, and so we should try not to enact policies that are too punitive or restrictive for cops, just in case.
1: https://medium.com/@OfcrACab/confessions-of-a-former-bastard-cop-bb14d17bc759
The dispositions that are ultimately going to help people overall the most are dispositions which allow you to indiscriminately reduce and replace the police force altogether with a body that doesn't enforce modern-day slavery and the laws we have that we know aim to protect the upper class[2].
But if you don't think it'll stop you from doing what's right, if you're really, really sure about that, then of course, you're free to accept something more nuanced, like "cops are almost all bad people supporting a bad institution, but there is of course the occasional cop who's new to the force and is unaware of the institution they're in because they haven't yet been exposed to the horrible things their peers will do and the ends of those things." It's worth asking--what value is there in accepting this? What better policies will you support with this sort of attitude, among the policies that are up for consideration? Is there a difference between this and ACAB?