Note to the "ladder of force left"

Yoshie Furuhashi furuhashi.1 at osu.edu
Sun Oct 21 09:17:23 PDT 2001



>ravi wrote:
> > since you did get mugged, i
> > assume you support some form of response
>
>Yoshie can respond for herself, but I note that you overlook a
>distinction here that Justin and I exchanged contrary opinions on. Were
>I _being_ mugged, I would welcome whatever interference (including
>shooting the motherfucker between the eyes) might stop the mugging.
>_After_ the mugging, unless I needed an official report for insurance
>reasons or there was very substantial probability of recovering lost
>items, I would not be in favor of any response whatever.
>
>Carrol

As a matter of fact, I did make a report to the police (mainly to protect my credit). The officer who came duly took notes, & that's that. Naturally, I got back none of the things I lost, nor did I expect to. I don't think the police bothered to investigate it, as the monetary value of the things I lost was minuscule. That's life. Criminal justice doesn't exist to catch all those who commit crimes. The main purpose of the police is not to protect people from those who commit theft, robbery, rape, murder, etc., though in a limited number of cases it may accidentally protect a few of us. It mainly exists to discipline us all (Cf. Michel Foucault, _Discipline & Punish_), while creating an ever larger pool of potential criminals (Cf. high rates of recidivism), especially if punishments meted out are really harsh. Likewise, the "war on terrorism" may possibly destroy a few terrorists, but if it does, it does so only accidentally. It won't make us safe from future terrorism; in fact, it will help to perpetuate it. -- Yoshie

* Calendar of Anti-War Events in Columbus: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/calendar.html> * Anti-War Activist Resources: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/activist.html> * Anti-War Organizing in Columbus Covered by the Media: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/media.html>



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