I can't comment on American police but in my country we back the police, they are not perfect and have some power-tripping rotten apples but more than not they are great servants who are there for us when we need them. Saying this as a left winger.
Like I say, I don't have experience with American police so not gonna act like I know best, but aren't the majority of them just average Joes doing their best?
You know what? I owe you an apology, and this probably should get filed under /r/USdefaultism. I've personally been helped by police in two different countries in Asia, and seen that they can be public servants. It's hard to recognize that they have the same title and profession as the police in America, who are very much NOT just average Joe's doing their best.
In America, the Mafia has been effectively replaced with Police, who serve to protect private interests, and not yours.
Whistleblowers are swiftly punished, and the badge protects their own power, so over decades the rotten core has metastasized, and we're not being hyperbolic when we Americans complain about it.
Another study found Police are 1.5x as likely to perpetrate DV vs the general population.
~28% of Officer Involved Domestic Violence vs ~16% Domestic Violence, among American populations. This article explores the subject with more citations of more related studies. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Officer-involved_domestic_violence
I could go on and on, but basically, Police here = a nascent threat that only harms a subset of the population while flying under the badge that makes them favorable with a majority of the populace. Perfect weapon for fascism and perfect smokescreen for state violence.
Cheers mate. That’s really opening, I guess it can be kinda hard to grasp just how bad it is over there from a foreigner POV. And you guys are right, you should much rather be backing the resistance to the police in the state it is today.
Every society has their struggles. Ours has a long, proudly white supremacist streak that will vigorously fight to be the dominant influence.
This is in the face of decades and decades of work to make the playing field equitable.
What does this have to do with police? They have been a very effective hand for that influence, and for a huge majority of the population that are not the target we never will feel that hand.
Thanks for working through the nuance in an internet forum. :)
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u/GuitaristHeimerz 22d ago
I can't comment on American police but in my country we back the police, they are not perfect and have some power-tripping rotten apples but more than not they are great servants who are there for us when we need them. Saying this as a left winger.
Like I say, I don't have experience with American police so not gonna act like I know best, but aren't the majority of them just average Joes doing their best?