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<div class="gmail_quote">On Mon, Jul 19, 2010 at 12:27 AM, E. Wayne Johnson <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:ewj@pigs.ag">ewj@pigs.ag</a>></span> wrote:</div>
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<blockquote style="BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; PADDING-LEFT: 1ex" class="gmail_quote">There would not be much reason to go with a gun.<br><br>Actually it is the lack of a participative social model that precipitated the Kiwane C. thing.<br>
<br>Simply asking the kids what they were up to could have taken care of the whole matter.<br><br>I think that city-fied folk like the rush of power they get by calling the cops on someone.<br><br>Sort of like the little girls who used to run for the office to tattle every time there was a skirmish on the playground.<br>
<br>Saying that they are afraid to intervene directly seems pretty flimsy to me.<br></blockquote>
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<div>If we leave violence out of the equation, I quite agree. There are certainly situations in which it's most appropriate to simply talk to one's neighbors first. I've done that several times in my apartment building with regard to loud music. No need to involve the cops unless the neighbor is uncooperative or belligerent.</div>
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<div>But it does take a modicum of courage. And in the scenario I posited, where your neighbor's house is being burglarized by people you don't know (and who might be presumed to be armed), you call the cops.</div>
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<div>In the case of Kiwane, I have often wondered why the two police officers didn't simply walk up to the two boys and say, "Hey, what are you guys up to?" Fifty years ago, and in a situation where race wasn't a factor, I think that's what probably would have happened. Policing has changed dramatically over the past 50 years, and I don't think it's been for the best.</div>
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<blockquote style="BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; PADDING-LEFT: 1ex" class="gmail_quote">On 7/19/2010 1:11 PM, John W. wrote:<br>
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<div class="h5"><br>On Sun, Jul 18, 2010 at 11:41 PM, E. Wayne Johnson <<a href="mailto:ewj@pigs.ag" target="_blank">ewj@pigs.ag</a> <mailto:<a href="mailto:ewj@pigs.ag" target="_blank">ewj@pigs.ag</a>>> wrote:<br>
<br> The whole Society-by-Proxy thing rubs me the wrong way.<br><br> Doesn't it occur to anyone that it's pretty damn strange that the<br> police power<br> is invoked rather than the people in the society communicating<br>
with each other?<br><br> That there is this knee-jerk response to call the cops rather than<br> manage the problem<br> directly and locally is incredibly strange to me.<br><br> But then again...uh... <br></div>
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<div class="h5">Right you are, Wayne. If we think our neighbor's house is being broken into, we should all just run over there with our Glocks and start blastin' away!</div></div></blockquote></blockquote>