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The Criminalization of Everyday Life

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Re: The Criminalization of Everyday Life

#81

Post by civilian »

iambateman wrote: post #32

If every police station in the country is equipped with military-grade weapons and vehicles, what happens in the event of despotic leadership? Suppose someone rises to power with little regard for legislative oversight and activates the sleeping military at home. It might start with a real (or faked) terror event coordinated across several major cities. It wouldn't take much at all, 5-10 cities, and suddenly: 1. Inte…

Nope, this country has way too many guns. They couldn't take us with only police.

Re: The Criminalization of Everyday Life

#82

Post by seehafer »

gknoy wrote: post #62
DanielBMarkham wrote: post #37

One of the underpinnings of the U.S. Constitution is the Bill Of Rights, one of which states "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." People go bouncing off the wall around this issue as if it were one having solely to do with owning guns, but the real purpose is arranging the real power in the government. The p…

> I would suggest that what we need is some sort of ready reserve system where everybody is trained at reaching 18 on how to safely use most all common forms of police and military gear. I'd further suggest that local police departments be required to have a certain percentage of their patrols as civilian ride-alongs. The military reserves are certainly an option, but having a mandatory training+service aspect certai…

> Frightening, in a way, but it seems to work for Switzerland.

Yes, because when the entire male populace is effectively your military it's a lot harder for the military to do shady things. Also, as the original commenter points out there's a lot less division between your average joe and someone who is a professional police officer/soldier.

Re: The Criminalization of Everyday Life

#83

Post by logfromblammo »

DanBC wrote: post #29
JoeAltmaier wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Didn't see stats in the article; just lots of strawmen and irresponsible summaries of crimes.

Crime, especially violent crime, is dropping in most of US.

Though it should be noted that the publicly-available statistic with the highest correlation with the drop in violent crimes is... drumroll, please... the drop in lead contamination.

Yes, America is safer primarily (presumptively) because it banned lead-containing antiknock molecules in gasoline and banned lead-containing pigments in paint. The dispersion of remaining lead contamination out of the urban environment over the years so closely tracks the drop in violence that it almost makes one believe the correlation is due to causation. Almost. Unfortunately, experimental confirmation would be grossly unethical.

Re: The Criminalization of Everyday Life

#84

Post by thisiswrong »

dmix wrote: post #61

I wish people would move beyond 1984 and quote more Foucault's Discipline & Punishment [1]. There is a much deeper-rooted problem in society than mass surveillance or militarization of police. It's the question of why we all let this happen without any resistance. We accept and welcome our controllers. Foucault wrote about the effects of prisoner mindset in society in the 1960-70s. Our subjugation and tolerance to au…

> It's the question of why we all let this happen without any resistance.

Why, and how did we let this happen? Look no further : http://www.digitaltrends.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Holl...

'War-nography', islamophobia, narco-phobia... and the script goes on. When the masses believe that they are in danger, they will stand behind those in power for protection.

There's surprisingly little difference between Joseph Goebbels and Hollywood.

Re: The Criminalization of Everyday Life

#85

Post by thwest »

JoeAltmaier wrote: post #13

The 'good old days' had drug dealers and violence, don't kid yourself. It got covered up and ignored. What is a police dept to do, when the crimes are escalating? Its simple to chide Warren County (or whoever); but who are you to say the next bombing or public rage will not occur there? The others were in similar places; no place is safe.

But how does an armored vehicle counter or deter bombs or a lone gunman? Their purpose is generally to get a handful of soldiers into an adversarial environment. Lone gunman are taken down easily enough with standard squad car kit.

I mean, there was that one bank robbery in LA where the perps had serious body armor and heavy rifles in the 90s. Other than that I'm really drawing a blank for how often this would be appropriate tactically.

Re: The Criminalization of Everyday Life

#86

Post by tokenadult »

afterburner wrote: post #49
anon4 wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, but in Ukraine, they're digging themselves out of a much deeper hole. If they manage to get accepted in the EU, a lot of them would emigrate west. USA citizens don't have that option. There isn't a "west" for someone from the USA to emigrate to. USA is the west. You shouldn't compare your corruption with Ukraine's or other Soviet Bloc countries'. Those people have a place to run to, as hard as getting there is.…

There's plenty of Western countries that are less screwed up than the US.

For example? What's involved for a citizen of the United States who would like to settle in one of those countries permanently?

Re: The Criminalization of Everyday Life

#87

Post by acuozzo »

This is AMAZING! We're getting closer and closer to a cyberpunk society (unfortunately, authoritarianism is necessary, but not sufficient for this). Soon it'll be like Escape From L.A. or Snow Crash or Neuromancer!

I can't wait to stroll down the streets of Chiba like Case.

I can't wait to hack around in the Metaverse like Hiro.

I can't wait to explore the underbelly of prison-islands like Snake.

We just need a bit more authoritarianism, some advanced cybernetic implants, and just enough unrest for a Modern Wild West to be born.

Does anyone else plan on coming along for the ride?

HACK THE GIBSON! HACK THE PLANET!

Re: The Criminalization of Everyday Life

#88

Post by eseehausen »

dmix wrote: post #61

I wish people would move beyond 1984 and quote more Foucault's Discipline & Punishment [1]. There is a much deeper-rooted problem in society than mass surveillance or militarization of police. It's the question of why we all let this happen without any resistance. We accept and welcome our controllers. Foucault wrote about the effects of prisoner mindset in society in the 1960-70s. Our subjugation and tolerance to au…

Arguably, we've moved beyond purely disciplinary societies and into what Deleuze and others called "Societies of Control". One of the arguments there is that while disciplinary societies tend to have centralized enforcement mechanisms and ways of normalizing subjects into one single type of ideal subject (the ideal student, prisoner, patient, etc.), in control societies, things like shifting levels of access and networks of enforcement in which we police each other and ourselves become more important. There's a great, very short article by Deleuze talking about it [1]. Nonetheless, getting folks started on things like Discipline and Punish would be nice.

https://files.nyu.edu/dnm232/public/deleuze_postcript.pdf

Re: The Criminalization of Everyday Life

#89

Post by rprospero »

iambateman wrote: post #32

If every police station in the country is equipped with military-grade weapons and vehicles, what happens in the event of despotic leadership? Suppose someone rises to power with little regard for legislative oversight and activates the sleeping military at home. It might start with a real (or faked) terror event coordinated across several major cities. It wouldn't take much at all, 5-10 cities, and suddenly: 1. Inte…

Perhaps I'm naive, but I never understood why a despotic US President would need all of these weapons and vehicles. I mean, they're a nice convenience, but they're complete unnecessary for a takeover.

My thought would be that you just need the presidency and maybe six high ranking military officers. You then declare a presidential address where you announce that you're declaring yourself dictator for life. If anyone objects, you'll nuke Moscow. Of course, Russia will respond by annihilating the entire US, so objecting to the take over is essentially a death sentence.

Let the citizens have their guns. They can't shoot an ICBM.

Re: The Criminalization of Everyday Life

#90

Post by puller »

dmix wrote: post #61

I wish people would move beyond 1984 and quote more Foucault's Discipline & Punishment [1]. There is a much deeper-rooted problem in society than mass surveillance or militarization of police. It's the question of why we all let this happen without any resistance. We accept and welcome our controllers. Foucault wrote about the effects of prisoner mindset in society in the 1960-70s. Our subjugation and tolerance to au…

People trying to assert their own control isn't going to fix the government, it is just going to change who is in control
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