Quote:False dichotomy - It's not a "hate all cops" or "defend them all because most are good" choice. What a despicable notion!
It would be a despicable notion, had you not imagined it
I've never heard anyone say they hate all cops and I never said that myself, as for the other half of the dichotomy, it's definitely true that people think that way. Public opinion is clearly divided between two schools of thought - there's those who respect authority without question, either because that's just their nature or because they aren't fully aware of the abuse of police power, these people accept that there have been transgressions but believe that this is par for the course with any institution of power and not part of a wider systemic problem. Then there are people (like me) who think that there's clearly a problem with police culture and training that leads to these abuses happening far more than should reasonably be expected
Quote:It isn't important to define a percentage of cops that are "good" and cops that are "bad" as it is not important to define a percentage of black people that are "good" and those that are "bad."
It isn't important to put a percentage on it but only because we already know that the number of "bad" cops or at least cops who do nothing to stop the bad cops is high enough that something needs to be done. As for comparing that to defining good and bad black people - that's a real false dichotomy, the latter would presumably be making some bizarre point about black people genetically and the former is a matter of culture and training.
Quote:Cops are normal people who are influenced by the culture they are immersed in and the influences they face every day
Of course they are, you seem to think I disagree with that. I might not have mentioned culture in my previous posts but only because it goes without saying. Who would even try and argue that cops are somehow not normal and predisposed to abusing their power? You only have to look at examples of police forces from other countries to see that's not the case
“The larger the group, the more toxic, the more of your beauty as an individual you have to surrender for the sake of group thought. And when you suspend your individual beauty you also give up a lot of your humanity. You will do things in the name of a group that you would never do on your own. Injuring, hurting, killing, drinking are all part of it, because you've lost your identity, because you now owe your allegiance to this thing that's bigger than you are and that controls you.” - George Carlin
