It doesn’t matter who’s doing it or what label they stick onto themselves. It doesn’t matter if they claim to be on your side, or doing something for your own good.
Whenever someone quotes a set of statistics, and then claims that this justifies some inhumane action, or the passing of some inhumane law, especially if it gives power to an already abusive system, it is a trap. They are saying, “We do the thinking for you so that you can allow your baser self to commit atrocities without thinking.” It is a setup so that you’ll be able to later claim, “I was just following orders,” or console yourself with claims that you’re just a law abiding citizen.
A lot of statistical justification for tyranny has been spewed lately in light of the Ferguson verdict, and shocking revelations of police brutality against Americans of all ethnicities. Americans seem to be split between those who are aware, and those who are in denial. Many of those who are aware are so frightened of the police that they no longer bother to report petty or some not so petty crimes. They would rather get mugged than to report the mugger for fear the police will show up and shoot or assault them instead of the mugger. The unaware report the couple next door for kissing in their car, or teenagers for skateboarding in their own parking lot, kind of hoping the police will murder them in their place.
It reminds me way too much of stories from friends who lived in Soviet controlled countries before the fall. Neighbors would report others who were inconvenient. Everyone lived in fear.
In the U.S. you don’t get disappeared…most of the time. The cops show up and beat the crap out of you or kill you and maybe your dog and your babies too, and say it was an accident or self defense.
Many Israelis stare at me in disbelief when I tell them these things…that the U.S. is not a perfect place where the streets are paved with gold.
No…as always, they are wet with blood.
