[FRIAM] Thoughts on the Floyd protests

[Steve Smith]

Glen -

I know you weren't pulling our leg (or my finger).

This was the post I was composing when the tone deaf joke formed and
escaped:

My "intellectual" interest is in how self-organizing principles and
emergence operate in social contexts...  on both sides of the debate
here, as is being alluded to here already.   When Law Enforcement gets
significantly defunded, what fills the vacuum left by that?   There are
lots of *other* vacuums/rifts/holes being formed as our culture heaves
and buckles a little under a series of shifts.   I'm not sure what (if
any) are root causes and what are just cascades and reactions.  
Globalism, NeoLiberalism, Authoritarinism, Fascism, Manic
Hypercaptialism, Rapid Technological Change,  Hyper Connectedness, 
Information Overload, etc.

Many believe that shifting funding from law enforcement (which is by
definition more reactionary than preventative?) to mental and social
services which are intended to be more strongly pro-active in preventing
the kinds of problems that the police often have to remediate down the
road, is a net gain and possibly something that could be effected very
quickly, even if positive results may lag in many cases.  I don't know
how well that works for/with hardened criminals who've already been
taken from being under-nourished, under-respected, under-opportunitied
youth  through a series of trainings as a gang member first on the
streets, and then inside prison for several stints, annealed and
tempered by police, judges, prison-guards and one's fellow travelers to
a strong core with a wicked-sharp edge.   But maybe if her mother and
younger siblings aren't struggling to keep groceries in the fridge and
the fridge running then maybe she can mature into something a little
kinder-gentler.  Or maybe she already has, but it is hard to recognize
when the only interface she has is a regular stop-and-frisking?  I think
we do see a record of mellowing among aging hard-cores who survive long
enough to become elders in their communities?

I think Jon?s suggestion that private security will fill the vacuum is
also valid.  More people will gate their communities and more gated
communities will add uniformed patrols and more uniformed patrols will
add lethal weapons and training.   The next George Floyd might be your
massage therapist who made the mistake of making house-calls to your
gated community while black/brown/yellow/red/poor and the next Chauvin &
Co will be guys who couldn't even get IN to the police academy but COULD
buy mirror-shades, a loaded up batman utility belt, matching chromed
.45s with shoulder holsters, an Armalite 15 and a riot-style shotgun
(but not rubber nor armor-piercing rounds, those are for
law-enforcement-only) to carry in their ominously painted and hopped up
SUV with  run flat tires, a push-bumper, blinky lights and a siren.  
And that tricked out rig, security "professional" included, will cost a
fraction of what a *real* law enforcement officer would BECAUSE of the
lack of oversight/training/benefits, etc.    A new branch:  UBERArmed?

The above is mildy (but not entirely) the maunderings of a
frustrated/unexpressed cyberpunk novelist (me)... but oddly not that far
away in "some Adjacent Possible"? 

Personally, I'm more interested in how to use this Svaha/Liminal moment
to "Visualize World Peace"?   And what is in *that* adjacent possible
(ensemble)?   There is value to a Red-Team/Blue-Team analysis in these
situations, and I think *both* are necessary.  Awfulizing isn't the only
thing to be doing right now.  Things are shifting, vacuums are created,
playing-fields are being re-leveled... are there opportunities to "do
the right thing", or is "the right thing" so subjective that we will
simply "move the noise around"?   I identify as a humanist... I don't
even know if that means what it used to (to others) or if I'm in
anything like a "silent majority" in that identification.   Maybe the
Anarchists and Libertarians and Radical Progressives and Radical
Conservatives and ??? all think THEY are humanists.   Or maybe it's a
bad word to them?   I certainly remember my self-righteous Catholic
M-in-Law spitting the words "/Secular Humanist/" as if they were acid,
leaving smoking, corroding spots everywhere they landed.

- Steve



On 6/10/20 11:17 AM, uǝlƃ ☣ wrote:
> We have evidence of it, here: 
>
> Olympia police unions respond to photo of officer posing with armed men
> https://www.theolympian.com/news/local/article243401061.html
>
> FWIW, I think our mayor is wrong. The 3% sign isn't the OK sign, regardless of whether any supremacists actually use the OK sign or not. But like any tone deaf marketing message, if the symbol you adopt is *thought* to be a racist symbol, then you should go ahead and change it. Just stop flying the confederate flag even if it's been on your state flag for your whole life ... just stop using the swastika even if you're (East) Indian or Native American.
>
> But what does lend truth to the accusations leveled against the 3% is the lack of a public statement condemning Trump for violating the constitution in clearing St John's. If they exist to use their piddly little guns to protect us from the government, where were they then? Perhaps they are only interested in protecting a particular class of people? ... or only people with whom they agree politically?
>
> As for the cop in the photo, she should at least be suspended for her stupid mistake. Don't pose with with a bunch of dudes standing in a parking lot with guns. That's simply a stupid thing for a cop (or any professional) to do. And if you must do it, take off your uniform first.
>
>
> On 6/10/20 9:51 AM, Marcus Daniels wrote:
>> I think the point is that are already not accountable.   Protected by unions and colleagues who will look the other way, and a culture that accepts that certain people must consent to miserable lives. 
>>
>>> On 6/10/20, 9:48 AM, "Friam on behalf of Prof David West" <friam-bounces at redfish.com on behalf of profwest at fastmail.fm> wrote:
>>>
>>>     downside is the private militias that Jon mentioned. just like the military that replaces soldiers with private contractors - to whom are the latter accountable?
>>> On 6/9/20 4:28 PM, Jon Zingale wrote:
>>>> 1. Will the efforts to defund the police eventually meet with efforts
>>>> to build private militias? Will the future of policing in this country
>>>> follow a path similar to the shift from public to private postal service?
>>>> If so, what will accountability be?
>
>
>
>
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