My sentiments exactly. I have taken a lot of flak over the years for saying the same thing, "There is No Such Thing as a Good Cop!" If they were "good" they wouldn't be infringing upon my rights in the name of some nebulous (because they are enforced differently) made up rules by appointed biased majoritarians.
So Mr. & Mrs. American Sheeple, at what point is one a "good" majoritarian policy enforcement officer? When he only lightly infringes upon your rights? What part of "infringement" are you not clear about? PoLice will only respect your rights when they KNOW that they are JUST AS vulnerable to the application of force as YOU ARE!
No Such Thing as a Good Cop
When people act on their OWN judgment, like grown-ups, they are stuck with the responsibility and consequences of their actions. A favorite excuse of people who do stupid and/or evil things is "I was just following orders." This amounts to claiming that they were NOT acting as thinking, judging, responsible beings with free will, but were acting as unthinking tools of someone else. Put another way, the "obeying authority" excuse amounts to saying: "You can't blame me! I'm just a stupid, programmable machine, not a thinking human!" Swell.
People who believe in self-ownership (e.g., anarchists) don't ever get to use that excuse. You see, we believe that we are endowed with thought and free will, and that we are therefore obligated to judge right and wrong for ourselves, and obligated to act accordingly. What we do, WE DO. We don't try to dodge responsibility by pretending that we were possessed by someone or something else.
If the whole world were like that, even if there remained many differences of opinion, as well as stupidity, carelessness, and/or malice, the vast majority of evil would stop. Why? Because most evil is NOT committed by people acting on their own judgment, but by people "doing what they were told."
One of the most serious decisions a thinking person can make is, "Should I use violence?" Most people who are acting on their own will resort to violence only in rare and extreme cases. Those who act as unthinking tools of "authority," on the other hand, use force and violence CONSTANTLY, without hesitation, without any qualms or doubts, and without any guilt or remorse.
My suggestion for ANYONE who uses force is this: use your judgment, and when you decide to use force, accept the responsibility yourself, and face the consequences yourself. Don't hide behind "he told me to" and other spineless excuses. In other words, grow up and act like an adult.
But people in "government" don't do that. Consider, for example, the fact that a couple MILLION people are in cages right now for possessing "narcotics"--a term which means "mind-altering substances that politicians didn't give their permission to use." Do you think any of the politicians, cops, judges, prison guards, paper-pushers, or anyone else in the "justice" system would ever take PERSONAL responsibility for kidnapping someone and putting them in a cage for smoking a joint? No. They ALL blame "the law," as if it's some magical force that possesses their minds, relieving them of all responsibility for their actions.
If not for "law"-worship, how many beer-drinkers would feel okay about locking someone up for possessing pot? Approximately zero. Incidentally, though I don't drink alcohol myself (or use any narcotics), I accept that those who do, whether to relax a bit or to get sloshed, have the right to do so. But every cop, judge, politician, or paper-pusher who condones the "war on drugs," and then goes home to chug a few beers or sip some wine--which is almost every one of them--is a hypocritical, evil coward. All together they form a machine that unjustifiably locks up MILLIONS of people, and yet NO ONE in the system accepts responsibility for doing it. THAT is why the "authority" myth is so horribly dangerous: its acts of violence and evil are very real, but NO ONE believes he is accountable for any of it.
A rather dramatic example happened at the Nuremberg trials: "Yeah, I helped exterminate innocent people, but I was just following orders! I'm not to blame!" And while Americans condemn the Nazis for that cop-out, EVERY "law enforcer" in this whole damn country uses the EXACT same excuse. "Hey, I'm just doing my job." I wonder, if someone got a JOB as a cop-killer, if the "boys in blue" would think that was okay.
Many of my past messages have been about "bad cops." But the truth of the matter is, there are no good cops. Initiating violence against people who have committed neither force nor fraud--whether it's done under the guise of "drug laws," "weapons laws," or fining people for not having that little sticker on their cars--is unjustifiable force. In other words, committing immoral violence is an unavoidable part of EVERY cop's job. There cannot be a "good cop" any more than there can be a "good car-jacker." Every cop's job is inherently evil, because a cop cannot just decide not to go after people who commit "victimless crimes," which make up MOST of the people the police harass, fine, or imprison.
"Hey, I don't make the laws, I just enforce them." They might as well say, "Hey, I don't use my own judgment, I just commit violence against whomever the politicians tell me to." And that's supposed to make it okay? Well, it doesn't. Personally, I have more respect for car-jackers. Yes, they commit evil, and I wouldn't hesitate to kill one if necessary, but at least they don't do what EVERY cop does: complain and whine about it when people suggest that THEY are responsible for what THEY do.
When people act on their OWN judgment, like grown-ups, they are stuck with the responsibility and consequences of their actions. A favorite excuse of people who do stupid and/or evil things is "I was just following orders." This amounts to claiming that they were NOT acting as thinking, judging, responsible beings with free will, but were acting as unthinking tools of someone else. Put another way, the "obeying authority" excuse amounts to saying: "You can't blame me! I'm just a stupid, programmable machine, not a thinking human!" Swell.
People who believe in self-ownership (e.g., anarchists) don't ever get to use that excuse. You see, we believe that we are endowed with thought and free will, and that we are therefore obligated to judge right and wrong for ourselves, and obligated to act accordingly. What we do, WE DO. We don't try to dodge responsibility by pretending that we were possessed by someone or something else.
If the whole world were like that, even if there remained many differences of opinion, as well as stupidity, carelessness, and/or malice, the vast majority of evil would stop. Why? Because most evil is NOT committed by people acting on their own judgment, but by people "doing what they were told."
One of the most serious decisions a thinking person can make is, "Should I use violence?" Most people who are acting on their own will resort to violence only in rare and extreme cases. Those who act as unthinking tools of "authority," on the other hand, use force and violence CONSTANTLY, without hesitation, without any qualms or doubts, and without any guilt or remorse.
My suggestion for ANYONE who uses force is this: use your judgment, and when you decide to use force, accept the responsibility yourself, and face the consequences yourself. Don't hide behind "he told me to" and other spineless excuses. In other words, grow up and act like an adult.
But people in "government" don't do that. Consider, for example, the fact that a couple MILLION people are in cages right now for possessing "narcotics"--a term which means "mind-altering substances that politicians didn't give their permission to use." Do you think any of the politicians, cops, judges, prison guards, paper-pushers, or anyone else in the "justice" system would ever take PERSONAL responsibility for kidnapping someone and putting them in a cage for smoking a joint? No. They ALL blame "the law," as if it's some magical force that possesses their minds, relieving them of all responsibility for their actions.
If not for "law"-worship, how many beer-drinkers would feel okay about locking someone up for possessing pot? Approximately zero. Incidentally, though I don't drink alcohol myself (or use any narcotics), I accept that those who do, whether to relax a bit or to get sloshed, have the right to do so. But every cop, judge, politician, or paper-pusher who condones the "war on drugs," and then goes home to chug a few beers or sip some wine--which is almost every one of them--is a hypocritical, evil coward. All together they form a machine that unjustifiably locks up MILLIONS of people, and yet NO ONE in the system accepts responsibility for doing it. THAT is why the "authority" myth is so horribly dangerous: its acts of violence and evil are very real, but NO ONE believes he is accountable for any of it.
A rather dramatic example happened at the Nuremberg trials: "Yeah, I helped exterminate innocent people, but I was just following orders! I'm not to blame!" And while Americans condemn the Nazis for that cop-out, EVERY "law enforcer" in this whole damn country uses the EXACT same excuse. "Hey, I'm just doing my job." I wonder, if someone got a JOB as a cop-killer, if the "boys in blue" would think that was okay.
Many of my past messages have been about "bad cops." But the truth of the matter is, there are no good cops. Initiating violence against people who have committed neither force nor fraud--whether it's done under the guise of "drug laws," "weapons laws," or fining people for not having that little sticker on their cars--is unjustifiable force. In other words, committing immoral violence is an unavoidable part of EVERY cop's job. There cannot be a "good cop" any more than there can be a "good car-jacker." Every cop's job is inherently evil, because a cop cannot just decide not to go after people who commit "victimless crimes," which make up MOST of the people the police harass, fine, or imprison.
"Hey, I don't make the laws, I just enforce them." They might as well say, "Hey, I don't use my own judgment, I just commit violence against whomever the politicians tell me to." And that's supposed to make it okay? Well, it doesn't. Personally, I have more respect for car-jackers. Yes, they commit evil, and I wouldn't hesitate to kill one if necessary, but at least they don't do what EVERY cop does: complain and whine about it when people suggest that THEY are responsible for what THEY do.
Larken Rose
http://www.larkenrose.com
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