What Being American Is Like In Police State 2016

Found a very revealing montage of police brutality, and decided to share it:



Question authority.

Are you claiming the USA is a police state based on that video?

Quag said:

Are you claiming the USA is a police state based on that video?

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No. It is the title of the video.

Abbazorkzog said:

No. It is the title of the video.

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Ok then what are you trying to say?

Quag said:

Ok then what are you trying to say?

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This:

Abbazorkzog said:

Question authority.

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Abbazorkzog said:

This:

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To elaborate: just because someone has a badge, or a fancy title, does not elevate them into a position to rightfully monopolize ethics or a moral high-ground. We should all be aware of and challenge the notion of bad people usurping a public service for their own selfish reasons, or to commit violence against the less fortunate.

Abbazorkzog said:

This:

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Ok I didn't get that from the video at all, but its always a good idea to question things, that's how we learn.

Quag said:

Ok I didn't get that from the video at all, but its always a good idea to question things, that's how we learn.

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To be fair, a few of those were maybe justified. But it seems to me that most of them were textbook examples of power abuse.

Abbazorkzog said:

To elaborate: just because someone has a badge, or a fancy title, does not elevate them into a position to rightfully monopolize ethics or a moral high-ground. We should all be aware of and challenge the notion of bad people usurping a public service for their own selfish reasons, or to commit violence against the less fortunate.

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Yes Ill agree to that but you shouldn't challenge the authorities just for the sake of challenging them. You should challenge them when you feel they are wrong and in the appropriate way. There are a lot of bad cops who abuse their power but far more who are very good doing a dangerous and difficult job. Just as there are a lot of bad people who do bad things but fortunately there are far more good people. One shouldn't jump to the conclusion that the police are in the wrong any more than one should jump to the conclusion that they are in the right. Far to often on especially on this forum we have seen people demonize the police or the civilian(s) based on a news report or snippet of video.

Abbazorkzog said:

To be fair, a few of those were maybe justified. But it seems to me that most of them were textbook examples of power abuse.

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Yeah but remember police are not robots they have emotions and as much as we want them to keep them out of their interactions with the public we dont know the whole story behind any of those videos. As a human if you just saw your friend get shot/stabbed or otherwise inured but someone it takes a great deal of restraint not to take a bit of revenge while detaining them. Now that isn't an excuse so dont think that is what I am saying. What I am saying is that even the best person in the world can (not necessarily will) do such things in the heat of the moment. They should still be punished but if you go hanging every police officer out to dry for every single incident regardless of the situation you will discover that it is very hard to get people to join the police force, then we shall have some serious problems.

Quag said:

Yes Ill agree to that but you shouldn't challenge the authorities just for the sake of challenging them. You should challenge them when you feel they are wrong and in the appropriate way. There are a lot of bad cops who abuse their power but far more who are very good doing a dangerous and difficult job. Just as there are a lot of bad people who do bad things but fortunately there are far more good people. One shouldn't jump to the conclusion that the police are in the wrong any more than one should jump to the conclusion that they are in the right. Far to often on especially on this forum we have seen people demonize the police or the civilian(s) based on a news report or snippet of video.

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Agreed, but it seems to be there is a problem with abuse of power in law enforcement (at least locally). Don't know if I agree with the "far more" part. Human beings (in my experience, anyway) I have seen more prone to heinous, selfish and arrogant actions than vice-versa.

Abbazorkzog said:

Agreed, but it seems to be there is a problem with abuse of power in law enforcement (at least locally). Don't know if I agree with the "far more" part. Human beings (in my experience, anyway) I have seen more prone to heinous, selfish and arrogant actions than vice-versa.

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My experience has been the reverse but let me ask you this.
You have witnessed these acts in person or seen/read/told about them? Remember the police operate 24/7 I am pretty sure we can both agree they are not abusing people all the time, even the bad ones spend more time NOT being violent than being violent.

Abbazorkzog said:

To elaborate: just because someone has a badge, or a fancy title, does not elevate them into a position to rightfully monopolize ethics or a moral high-ground. We should all be aware of and challenge the notion of bad people usurping a public service for their own selfish reasons, or to commit violence against the less fortunate.

Click to expand...

The thing is, that rarely happens these days, especially, when you compare it to the thousands of arrests each day and the tens of thousands of police/civilian contacts.
Most police use of force is justified. Why? Because so many people have no respect for authority or for other citizens, or their property. They don't obey lawful commands(daily, probably hourly) and officers of the law have to use force to effect compliance.
Just a rough guess, if only 50% of those questioned by police, would be civil and respectful toward law enforcement, things would not have to escalate. The other 50%? They are in the commission of a crime or have a warrant out for their arrest, for past crimes.
The case that comes immediately to mind is the one where the wife is standing off to the side saying "he don't have no gun, he gots a Bible."
Then we find out, after he is shot and killed by police, that he would not comply because he did have a gun and was even wearing an ankle holster.

Quag said:

Yes Ill agree to that but you shouldn't challenge the authorities just for the sake of challenging them. You should challenge them when you feel they are wrong and in the appropriate way. There are a lot of bad cops who abuse their power but far more who are very good doing a dangerous and difficult job. Just as there are a lot of bad people who do bad things but fortunately there are far more good people. One shouldn't jump to the conclusion that the police are in the wrong any more than one should jump to the conclusion that they are in the right. Far to often on especially on this forum we have seen people demonize the police or the civilian(s) based on a news report or snippet of video.

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Agreed.

Quag said:

Yeah but remember police are not robots they have emotions and as much as we want them to keep them out of their interactions with the public we dont know the whole story behind any of those videos. As a human if you just saw your friend get shot/stabbed or otherwise inured but someone it takes a great deal of restraint not to take a bit of revenge while detaining them. Now that isn't an excuse so dont think that is what I am saying. What I am saying is that even the best person in the world can (not necessarily will) do such things in the heat of the moment. They should still be punished but if you go hanging every police officer out to dry for every single incident regardless of the situation you will discover that it is very hard to get people to join the police force, then we shall have some serious problems.

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It's getting a lot tougher in Chicago to hire cops, for good reason. They are leaving at an unprecedented rate, through early retirement or just came to their senses and are seeking police employment outside of Chicago, or outside Illinois.

Abbazorkzog said:

Agreed, but it seems to be there is a problem with abuse of power in law enforcement (at least locally). Don't know if I agree with the "far more" part. Human beings (in my experience, anyway) I have seen more prone to heinous, selfish and arrogant actions than vice-versa.

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Don't know where your "locally" is, but outside the large cities, most people are more civil. The ethnic makeup of a city, plays a huge part in police interaction.
That's not a racist statement, that's just the facts.