Police on alert as crowds gather for Lakers' championship game
Source
LAPD Chief Charlie Beck said "extraordinary measures will be in place" to prevent unrest. Beck said the LAPD deployment will be "four or five
times larger" than last year's response and include hundreds of patrol officers and specialized tactical units on foot, horseback, bikes and
motorcycles.
I thought this would make for and interesting discussion on the complacency of society towards living in a police state.
A lot of people here, for whatever reason, have this idea that martial law is going to be declared and the government will suddenly (and without
reason or resources) relocate 300 million people. What they don't realize is that we already live in an authoritarian society. One that has
progressed from one local town sheriff who had only the town's safety in mind to a police department with tens of thousands of officers determined to
fine you for going 75 in a 65 zone on the highway. They don't realize we live in an increasingly authoritarian society hell bent on making you afraid
of both the law and those who enforce it. We are becoming accustomed, slowly but surely to increased government and authoritative control over our
lives. We even believe it is a good thing. We believe we need to be controlled because we are wild animals that will rape and murder each other if we
are not kept on a leash.
From kindergarten we are taught to have unquestioning respect and obedience towards authority. This creates a naturally rebellious behavior in most
humans. These kids act out as adults and cause us to feel that having a police response such as the one in the article is a necessity. We feel this is
for our "own good" and we complacently sigh and shake our heads and move along.
My personal opinion is that the presence of this authority is what causes these riots in the first place. It is that natural human urge to be free and
able to do what you please. The TPTB through years (hundreds of) of under-education and grooming has created a sector of society that is prone to acts
of violence and conversely created a sector of society that feels a "police state" as it were, is necessary for their own safety and protection. We
ALL without exception fall into one of those sectors of society. I am willing to admit that even I do.
We have been taught that we cannot protect ourselves. We cannot help calm and control our fellow man. We need the police to do it for us.
There are many, many people that pride themselves at breaking the law. That is because they know what we at ATS also know, that laws have devolved
from statutes that help secure our safety into an oppressive web of trip wires that explode in the faces of innocent and guilty men alike. Those that
were innocent are so jaded they become guilty because they feel it doesn't matter either way. They are the rebellious sector that TPTB can use to
say, "See! Authoritarian law enforcement is necessary to save you weak people from yourselves because we all know you need to be saved and you can't
save yourself."
I believe that humans are more than capable of enforcing rules amongst themselves without needing authority to oppress them into it.
This is of course all my very personal opinion. I would like to hear what you have to say about this and the article. Even if you don't care. Please
don't leave without giving your two cents. Everyone's opinion matters to me.
Also, if you haven't already please take a look at my friend Protoplasmic Traveler's epic thread:
All Roads Lead To Rome
[edit on 6/18/2010 by dbloch7986]
