There is no way to eliminate uncertainty, but the undue loss of innocent lives (cops, homeowners, and even alleged criminals) can be severely mitigated – we need only hold people, and governments, responsible for the injustices they bring about..
There is no way to eliminate uncertainty, but the undue loss of innocent lives (cops, homeowners, and even alleged criminals) can be severely mitigated – we need only hold people, and governments, responsible for the injustices they bring about..
Over at A Stich in Haste, Kip responds to my earlier post (on Rights & Paramilitary Raids), and says not to get angry at the cops in these SWAT-gone-wrong situations. Specifically he says, the agents of the government are “just doing their job.” In a nutshell, this defense didn’t work in Nüremburg, and it shouldn’t fly here, either. Moving on though, I don’t think it’s fair to suppose that the state’s agents are absolved...
I’m not a fan of the paramilitary-style police raids that are increasingly being used against non-violent offenders and their mistaken neighbors. It creates hostility, panic, fear, and irrationality in a situation that could otherwise be diffused rather quietly. These tactics present ripe opportunities for criminals to mimic police tactics and terrorize law-abiding citizens. But mostly, I think that using violence to suppress non-violence is morally indefensible. I’ve been somewhat-following the Kathryn Johnson incident via...