Polices As Bullies

[discocrisco01]

The Smirking Chimp reports

I started writing this as a post after reading the Smirking Chimp article about a pregnant woman being tased in front of her child 3 times because she did not sign a traffic ticket. Then, in the article, I read about a nine-year-old and a six-year-old being tased by police also for simple non-compliance when no threat was present. So, I began thinking this through.

Just what on earth would cause a policeperson or someone in authority want to cause excruciating pain for another person who is no threat whatsoever to him or her?

I conclude that police, and others who torture someone who is no threat to them whatsoever are basically bullies. In the back of his or her mind, the cop who even desires to torture a child or an old woman or a black person or a homeless person or a prostitute, who is already down and under control, is a bully, and this cop gets his or her jollies by creating suffering in his or her "lessers."

Now, the terms “lesser” and “betters” are important here. This is the perspective held by people who can easily fit themselves into a social order hierarchy where they accept, without question, the status of people above and below themselves. In their minds, some people are worthy and good, while others are “less.” In their minds, “less” becomes associated with bad or unimportant or insignificant, and when they look at themselves in this hierarchical mental structure, they find that they too become insignificant in relation to those who are above them in this hierarchy. And, with this realization, comes a feeling of hopelessness and disempowerment. One of the first things basic military training does for recruits is to “break them down” psychologically, and make them realize through a series of punishments that they are the “lesser” in the military hierarchy, and that they are good only in relation to doing the will of the organizational hierarchy. To think and do otherwise is unacceptable and bad. Next, they are trained in the thinking of the organization to comply and to work to achieve its aims without question. Well, many police officers come from this background and most police departments have a paramilitary organizational training and organizations also.

My question: When does line between the military and the police cross the line?