Great Math Mystery

[Steven D'Aprano]

On Fri, 17 Apr 2015 07:47 pm, Fetchinson . wrote:

>>> In an altercation with the police, complying with their orders greatly
>>> increases your chances of survival.
>>
>> Ah, the definition of a police state: where ordinary people, whether
>> breaking the law or not, are forced by fear of death to obey the police
>> at all times, whether the police are acting legally or not.
> 
> I think you are grossly mischaracterizing that sentence of the OP. He
> simply makes an observation: in an altercation with the police,
> complying with their orders greatly increases your chances of
> survival. Is this observation/statement true or false? Based on
> empirical data from the past 50 years (in the US and elsewhere) I'd
> say it's true by a huge margin.

Which is *exactly my point*.

"Failure to obey arbitrary commands from random police officers, whether
legally justified or not, may carry the penalty of summary execution at the
discretion of the officer" is a defining characteristic of police states.

I made no comment on the OP's intention for making that statement. Perhaps
he was making an ironic comment on the state of US law enforcement; perhaps
he thinks he is being genuinely helpful; perhaps this is his way of mocking
those killed. I don't know. Whether he is a fascist who thinks police
states are wonderful, or a liberal who thinks they are terrible, he
described a police state. Whether he knew it at the time or not.



-- 
Steven