Article

2008-05-30 Britain

Middle classes losing faith in 'rude' police going for soft targets instead of the criminals

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Posted by anonymous5089 2008-05-30 08:53|| || Front Page|| [11130 views ] Top

#1 Appeasement, thy name is Dhimitude.

Posted by DarthVader">DarthVader 2008-05-30 09:14|| 2008-05-30 09:14|| Front Page Top

#2 This is government inefficiency, a capital crime committed by a government. This and the many things like it ensure that the government will fall.

It is a constant in human history.

Posted by Anonymoose 2008-05-30 11:38|| 2008-05-30 11:38|| Front Page Top

#3 The author Jerry Pournelle has described situations like this as "Anarcho-tyranny."

Posted by Anguper Hupomosing9418 2008-05-30 11:40|| 2008-05-30 11:40|| Front Page Top

#4 'Complaints against the police have risen, with much of the increase coming from law-abiding, middle-class, middle-aged and retired people who no longer feel the police are on their side.'

Because they aren't.

Posted by Nimble Spemble 2008-05-30 11:46|| 2008-05-30 11:46|| Front Page Top

#5 They had that same feeling in Boston back in 1775. Little slow on the uptake there.

Posted by Procopius2k 2008-05-30 11:58|| 2008-05-30 11:58|| Front Page Top

#6 'Complaints against the police have risen, with much of the increase coming from law-abiding, middle-class, middle-aged and retired people who no longer feel the police are on their side.'

The police and the rest of the Establishment now have a new master and he only speaks English when he is too pig ignorant to speak the language his orc scrolls are written in.

Posted by Excalibur 2008-05-30 12:00|| 2008-05-30 12:00|| Front Page Top

#7 I thought much the same about the police here in the US -- particularly in the big cities -- back during the early 80s. However, it seems to me that the situation has been turned around.

Posted by PatP 2008-05-30 12:29|| 2008-05-30 12:29|| Front Page Top

#8 Heinlein talks about this in his stories about The Crazy Years. He was convinced that the 1970s and -80s were the beginning of that period, and died before he could see that reversed here in the U.S.... and forwarded in Europe.

Posted by trailing wife ">trailing wife 2008-05-30 12:32|| 2008-05-30 12:32|| Front Page Top

#9 reversed here in the U.S.... and forwarded in Europe

You really believe that?

Posted by g(r)omgoru 2008-05-30 12:51|| 2008-05-30 12:51|| Front Page Top

#10 You really believe that?

I'd say that, to borrow a quote from lotp, the USA are less advanced on the death curve... though Reagan and the conservative revolution from the 50's onward had a tremendous effect, IMHO, that is, to keep the "Culture war" (that is, the relentless forward drive of the Forces of Progress, with the conservatives always on the defensive) going... if there is any success to be expected, it will come from 1) collective individual responses, like homeschooling, switching off one's teevee and never turning it on again, going through the msm veil and nver going bacj,... and 2) the inherent, self destructive, failure of the Forces of Progress, the most evident being their nihilism (abortion, low birthrate).

Otherwise than those two hopes, assuming there is no paradigm shift in either or both continents, I really don't see what is the fundamental difference between the USA and western Europe (not eastern Europe is so far untouched, because there was no need to subvert it, as it was submitted, though communism did take its toll, the countries there are in pre-WWII moral state) is that the "struggle" has been lost in the later, and is being lost in the first.

I'm always amazed when people here assume that Western Europe is a "special" place, with its "problem" due to its intrinsic flaws and faults, and that the USA, the New Atlantis, are immune to that.

Posted by anonymous5089 2008-05-30 14:45|| 2008-05-30 14:45|| Front Page Top

#11 Ok, my writing skills need some improvement.

Posted by anonymous5089 2008-05-30 14:46|| 2008-05-30 14:46|| Front Page Top

#12 I'm always amazed when people here assume that Western Europe is a "special" place, with its "problem" due to its intrinsic flaws and faults, and that the USA, the New Atlantis, are immune to that.

Hmmm...maybe because the latter has a bunch of gun totting, church going, bitter white people?

Posted by Procopius2k 2008-05-30 15:08|| 2008-05-30 15:08|| Front Page Top

#13 I've lived in some university towns in my day, and this sounds like the same "Let's aggressively enforce the law on those inclined to obey it in the first place, cuz that's just easier" mentality I've witnessed in those places.

Another example of this mindset is the whole "Piss Christ good, Mohammed cartoons bad" attitude shown by the "courageous dissenters" in Western society.

Posted by charger 2008-05-30 15:20|| 2008-05-30 15:20|| Front Page Top

#14 Hmmm...maybe because the latter has a bunch of gun totting, church going, bitter white people?

Because Western Europe didn't use to have those?

Posted by anonymous5089 2008-05-30 15:22|| 2008-05-30 15:22|| Front Page Top

#15 Never mind the theory. Don't I always read comments here about how the (USA) elected/non-elected officialdom couldn't care less that the citizens think?

Posted by g(r)omgoru 2008-05-30 16:54|| 2008-05-30 16:54|| Front Page Top

#16 Because Western Europe didn't use to have those?

Generally, no. Western Euro governments were never too keen about an armed population [think 1848, they got the message]. Now just look at the exception, Switzerland, where everyone keeps their issued weapon and several hundred rounds of ammo at home, as members of the 'militia'. I don't see an overbearing centralized government and most people seem polite if a bit grumpy at times.

Posted by Procopius2k 2008-05-30 17:58|| 2008-05-30 17:58|| Front Page Top

#17
Hmmm...maybe because the latter has a bunch of gun totting, church going, bitter white people?
Posted by: Procopius2k 2008-05-30 15:08

150 mil with 350 mil standing strong. waiting.waiting.waiting.*wink*

Posted by Lampedusa Whaitle2779 2008-05-30 19:16|| 2008-05-30 19:16|| Front Page Top

#18 Someone was frighteningly prescient about this 51 years ago...

"Did you really think we want those laws observed?" said Dr. Ferris. "We want them to be broken. You'd better get it straight that it's not a bunch of boy scouts you're up against. We're after power and we mean it. There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens? What's there in that for anyone? But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced or objectively interpreted and you create a nation of law-breakers and then you cash in on guilt. Now that's the system, Mr. Reardon, that's the game, and once you understand it, you'll be much easier to deal with."

('Atlas Shrugged' 1957)

Posted by OldSpook 2008-05-30 20:10|| 2008-05-30 20:10|| Front Page Top

#19 I'm armed. Let me know if you need me.

Posted by Hellfish 2008-05-30 22:46|| 2008-05-30 22:46|| Front Page Top

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