Hi Guys. Sorry it takes me a while to get back to you but I am very busy in the week! Anyway...
The concept of anarchism has always appealed to me. The idea of the innate goodness of the individual that is corrupted by society or the system. It is a theoretical argument but I am not sure everyone would behave well if there were no laws and no system. I believe there are many people forced into causing harm to others by the way society operates at the moment. They would not have to behave in this way if the current system did not exist or was radically different. What am I saying here? I am saying that the way society operates at the moment, with all the injustice and discrimination, pushes people to act against their nature to damage and harm others. Eradicate all injustice and discrimination - would that stop all people damaging and harming each other - I am not sure. If there were still people who would continue to exploit and harm others, how would you stop such injustice if you had no system, no society?
ginger nuts there are certainly higher rights than property rights. The right to physical and spiritual well-being of the individual must be higher rights. Why should people have arbitrary rights over pieces of the world? Of course if you believe in the innate goodness of the individual, in the absence of 'the system' all would work to the good of everyone - each according to their ability and each according to their need. Have we not tried this? The problem is, if individuals are innately selfish, out for what is in it for them, they will only or primarily work for the good of themselves and not 'the whole'.
"Do as you will but harm none" is the principle that I try to work to, within the constraints placed upon me. I have the freedom of my own conscience to the extent of the priorities I place on what I and my officers do. Does smoking small amounts of cannabis harm anyone else other than the smoker? I do not think so. Can I, as a police officer not enforce the law and get away with it. Probably not. So I introduce a pilot scheme where we do not arrest people for cannabis in Lambeth.
I am looking at a new strap line for the police in Lambeth - and this is spooky because I thought of it before I read your latest post ginger nuts - "Don't damage my community". What does that mean? I guess you could translate it into "DO as you will but harm none." Is this dialogue influencing me or am I not miles away from the thinking of my fellow posters?
Every circumstance is different and that is why police officers have discretion to enforce the law or not in a particular situation. It has advantages and disadvantages. It is open to getting much better resolutions and it is open to abuse.
freethepeeps I think the Editor says Whisey is Colin (obviously a master of disguise!) I e-mailed Ed. from work yesterday. Ed. if you did not get it call me in the office!
What good does the criminal justice system do? Well I guess it has the potential to enforce the "do as you will but harm none" ethos. If you do harm someone else, should there not be a sanction against that person. Now I am not saying that tradtional punishments like prison are the right or the most effective sanctions, but the criminal justice system has identified those who have unjustifiably harmed others and 'punished' them for that.
Of course whether you are talking about philosophies or religions or legal systems, they are all the products of, or have been interfered with, by human beings (even if the Bible is the Word of God, it is interpreted by human beings, etc.) I think all human beings are fallible and whatever you are talking about, if there are humans involved, it is flawed. The criminal jusice system is flawed.
I am trying to do the best I can in the job I do within the system that currently exists. I guess that puts me in the other camp to those who want to overthrow 'the system'. I do not treat all of anything as criminals - all protestors, all black people, all straight people (!) I try to treat each individual as an individual. Do not treat all police officers as lapdogs of a corrupt capitalist system. Dogs sometimes turn on their owners. They are notoriously unpredictable and they can end up working against the people that keep them! Kept dog is OK, I can live with that. Lapdog - in your dreams!
I admire anyone who passionately believes in their cause and I will defend their right to promote that cause provided they "harm none".
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