GEN JACK D. RIPPER: Your commie has no regard for human life, not even his own. And for this reason, men, I want to impress upon you the need for extreme watchfulness. The enemy may come individually, or he may come in strength. He may even come in the uniform of our own troops. But however he comes we must stop him. We must not allow him to gain entrance to this base. Now, I am going to give you three simple rules. First, trust no one, whatever his uniform or rank, unless he is known to you personally. Second, anyone or anything that approaches within 200 yards of the perimeter is to be fired upon. Third, if in doubt, shoot first, and ask questions afterwards. I would sooner accept a few casualties through accident than lose the entire base and its personnel through carelessness. Any variation on these rules must come from me personally. Now, men, in conclusion, I would like to say that, in the two years it has been my privilege to be your commanding officer, I have always expected the best from you, and you have never given me anything less than that.State power is gaudy, and the institutions of "legitimate" violence love nothing so much as a pair of épaulettes. The police and military are the great purveyors of drag culture in any society. And it has long and often been the case that their affectations are used against them--worse, against the civilians who have been trained and indoctrinated to show deference to the uniform.
Even in the United States, we see such phenomena as home invaders dressing in SWAT gear before breaking into houses, as Radley Balko has documented on his blog.
14 comments:
Have the terms 'burglar' and 'burglary' fallen out of use in the USA?
Yes.
'Home invader' sounds so much more exciting on the news I suppose, conjuring images of tanks rolling across borders, squadrons of jet bombers roaring through the air, justifying a total violent response. Burglar has a quaint, old fashioned ring to it, almost late Victorian, a sort of Raffles in evening dress making off with the jewels air. The change of language parallels the militarization of policing. Invaders require armies to repel them.
in the parlance of our times.
when i've heard the term "home invasion" used, take it to involve the inhabitants being at home and the invader threatening them in some way, as opposed to a 'burglary' where the robber skulks around the neighborhood waiting for the inhabitants to be out of the house before they break in.
the dichotomy breaks down as soon as the news media discover, "home invasion," is a more fearful term of art for any crime that fits the literal definitions of "home" and "invasion." (as i hit the "preview button i see Inspector Lee has already made this point.)
A burglary is an attempt to steal stuff when you're not there. Doing so when the victim is present is, at least in the gun-loving USA, rare -- criminals are very aware of the danger of being shot. And we have the distinct term "hot burglary" for that. (Hot burglary is quite common in the disarmed UK.)
Home invasion refers to a more general category of crime. The goal of home invasion may be theft, as in hot burglary. Or it may be something else, for example, murder or rape. Thus two terms.
Legally speaking, because the law is the law, according to law, burglary is the all-encompassing term for trespass with intent to commit a felony.
Burglary has fallen out of use because pop culture has imbued it with an overly constrained definition, as Leonard has ably demonstrated.
is "prowler" a legal term? we should use that one more.
To return to our hosts main point (as I take it): do the majority of Americans defer to the men in uniform?
As for "deference to the uniform", it seems very practical to me for any government to:
(a) establish a uniform for its officers, even if just a star you pin on
(b) forbid non-officers from using that uniform ("impersonating an officer")
(c) require deference to it
Otherwise, at least with an armed citizenry, the chances of deadly mistakes happening to and from law enforcement are dramatically increased.
What is surprising here is not that people are deferent, but that criminals don't take more advantage. Particularly given that the fools in charge have created teams of anonymous black-clad militarized police. Much easier to impersonate.
"we see such phenomena as home invaders dressing in SWAT gear before breaking into houses, "
that's fucking hilarious, but I can't find it! Do you have a link?
I liked the point TNC made yesterday:
"[...]I've been thinking some about what we tolerate from the people charged with public safety and why. I think, in my blogging and writing about criminal justice, I've undervalued the basic human need for order, and overvalued a basic human commitment to individual rights. I don't mean to sound high-minded. Order is important. If you know the rules, even if the rules are draconian, you can plan your day, you can imagine how the next day may shape up, you have some sense of what awaits your children. But under chaos, say in a country besieged by competing warlords or a place where there's insufficient sanction to deter criminals, you have no sense of what the future holds."
"The death penalty promotes our sense of order--it offers assurance that those who savagely violate our most cherished morals will be harshly penalized. The question, for me, is what will we tolerate to preserve that assurance? What I hope will come out of this case is a more honest debate about the death penalty. I strongly suspect that Rick Perry--at this point--knows that something went badly wrong in Willingham's execution, and yet still believes in the death penalty. What I hope will emerge is death penalty advocates honest enough to admit that no system of state-sponsored execution can be infallible, because people are fallible. I want them to come out and say what's clear--innocent people will be executed. I want them to stop treating us like children, and make the argument."
Are we really happy here
With this lonely game we play
Looking for words to say
Searching but not finding
understanding anywhere
We're lost in a masquerade
"that's fucking hilarious, but I can't find it! Do you have a link?"
Here's one
http://www.journalgazette.net/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008808080345
"that's fucking hilarious, but I can't find it! Do you have a link?"
Here's one
http://www.journalgazette.net/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008808080345
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