Item — HN Reader

Like you I also come from a third-world country and this sort of thing is also the advice there.

Now I live in a much better country and I no longer have to fear the police. Quite a change.

There is no way why this has to be the way it is. If you are afraid of the police, it is the police's fault. Time to start arresting them and cleaning up.

2 comments

There is something enlightening and deeply inspiring about how protesters in Ecuador were able to detain the police themselves and order them to unequip their riot gear. Among the crowd they were presented as equal to the protesters. Many riot police are portrayed as faceless monsters hiding behind riot masks and advanced military equipment.

It had never occurred to me that the people can win and detain the police, not the other way around.

This is the silent understanding that most police departments operate under and produce optics to insulate against. They know its a 100:1 ratio at best and if everyone in town decided no more police all at once, there's not a whole lot the local sheriff could do about it without ramping directly into a regional revolution.

This is why the police departments in America parade around in armored vehicles and use absurdly overpowered weapons for regular duty. The intent is to keep everyone thinking that the police are incomprehensibly overpowering and could never be approached in a direct conflict. The reality is that it wouldn't take much to wrest back control and they know it. The 2nd amendment is your best friend if you are an American. You should NEVER have to use it, but it's like your copy of the police having an M1A1 tank at the local precinct.

Just like you have to worry that the SWAT team might arbitrarily come into your house and end your life, they should have to worry that maybe one day everyone in town is going to get tired of their shit and band together to put an end to it all.

And it's worked and happened in the past: https://www.npr.org/2015/09/23/442801731/director-chronicles...

I fully agree and this documentary illustrates your point well. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/american-patriot-ins...

I agree some of them are bad hence my edit. The problem is two sided and we should address problems on both sides.