The American national mythology. "Fired the shot heard 'round the world" and all that.
> > The State has more force
> >at its disposal than any citizen's group can bring to
> >bear. Do really think these right-wing "Michigan
> >Militia" types would stand for two minutes against a
> >real army? Guns in the hands of citizens are good for
> >only one thing - killing other citizens. The Feds
> >ain't worried.
They aren't citizens?
Wojtek Sokolowski:
> Finally, a voice of reason. Methink, the closet sympathizing with
> gangserts and rogue elements populating inner cities and the hatred of
> anything that smacks of public law enforcement agency is another variant of
> this romantic gun-toting, government-hating mythology.
> ...
"Reason" being, I suppose, misconstrual. As Wojtek had faulted "the Left" for inadequate hostility to crime, I had thought it necessary to show that there was more than one "Left", each responding to crime (or "crime") in its own funny way. Admittedly, I put on a little ironic, perhaps even baroque, decor; but I thought my point was reasonable enough. The responses above have nothing to do with what I wrote except to reflect some of the fritz on it, perhaps. I certainly didn't profess any more admiration for other violent gangs than I do for the police; that would be as dull as putting an I-Suck-up-to-cops sticker on my car. Please!
If we are going to talk seriously about public law enforcement agencies, we would have to take up their position in such activities as the Drug War or other aspects of our ongoing _daily_ class and caste conflicts. How can a moral person prosecute the Drug War, or rough up innocent people who are minding their own business on the basis of their race and class? But if the police are not moral, yet use force, what are they? Such questions are too elementary to be entertaining, however.
Gordon