Comments on: “If there are anarchists, if there are weapons, if there is an intention to engage in violence and confrontation, that obviously raises our concerns,”

By: You say that like it’s a bad thing. | People v. State

You say that like it’s a bad thing. | People v. State — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 12:05:43 +0000

[…] a just society, of how he thinks things should be and how he thinks things should work. I myself have set forth my own vision multiple times on this blog, and did so again in a comment on IOZ’s post: I […]

By: KH

KH — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 17:33:13 +0000

Evidently the Portland police think anarchists are some kind of violent primate. From Willamette Week this morning: “The Occupiers’ plans include a potluck at 6 pm, a concert at 8 pm and then a sit-in at the park. Occupy is planning for a non-violent evening. The police are anticipating anarchists hiding in trees with makeshift weapons.”

But the protesters are still occupying after a crowd of 5,000+ turned out in non-violent support. A crowd that that probably contained more than a few anarchists of the homo sapiens variety.

By: KH

KH — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 22:26:10 +0000

What the Portland Police commissioner calls an “anarchist” is typically a group of young, white males dressed head-to-toe in black, marching down the street shouting obscenities. “Nihilists” would be a more accurate descriptive term. The Portland police have a counter-force, which I seek to avoid as much as the nihilists, dressed head-to-toe in black riot gear that rides into action on the sides of specially constructed vans. The two groups are made for each other, literally.

Law and Justice as I understand these terms take over when an individual’s conscience fails to conform to societal standards and that individual is willing to risk punishment as a consequence of acting on their deviant desires. The justice system exists to protect the conforming members of society from the non-conforming; justice is the act of determining innocence or guilt, and in the case of guilt, the appropriate degree of protection and/or deterrence warranted by the deviant act. The absence of crime would reflect the character of or, less flatteringly, the desire for conformity of, the members of that society.

Thanks for the pointers to Thoreau earlier this week and the inspiration to crack open his collected works after a too-long absence from my life.