(no subject)

[conuly]

There really is no reason America's police need military weapons and gear.

Ebola outbreak reaches Senegal, riots break out in Guinea

Military coup under way in Lesotho.

Syrian rebels attack peacekeepers in Golan Heights

U.S. sends arms to bolster Lebanon army after Islamist incursion

You Can Buy These Anti-ISIS Coloring Books (Featuring a Crucifixion) for Your Kids

On the flip side, ISIS recruits children to perform beheadings, shoot rifles, carry out terrorist attacks

Iraq conflict: Kurds 'recapture oilfields from IS'

Iraq crisis: Sunni rebels 'ready to turn on Islamic State'

Islamic State militants behead captive Lebanese soldier

Six Strategies Obama Could Use to Fight the Islamic State

Gotta say, out of the various conventions used for them, I find "the Islamic State" to be the most annoying. Gives them an air of legitimacy they don't deserve. And sure, all variations of ISIS, Isis, or IS are short for that, but you aren't actually saying aloud that they're a state of any sort when you use them.

EU to slap new sanctions on Russia over Ukraine

A paper that claimed government scientists covered up data showing a connection between vaccines and autism has been pulled by its publisher

Autism rates aren't actually increasing

Mothers who give birth in areas with higher concentrations of African-Americans are less likely to get breastfeeding support on maternity wards than mothers in other communities, a new study shows.

EPA says proposed Delta water tunnel in CA would harm environment

More Than 1,200 Illegal Giant African Snails Seized By USDA Since June

Much of the construction industry depends on fossil fuels, creating a big carbon footprint. As pressure mounts to make construction "greener", experts have started to design houses out of hemp and straw, and bricks made of mushrooms.

Researchers at Northwestern University say they have discovered a common cause behind the mysterious and deadly affliction of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig's disease, that could open the door to an effective treatment.

California passes plastic bag ban, would be first such law in U.S

It's true, being nice is important.

And on that note... Flowchart: Should You Catcall Her?

Comments

[houseboatonstyx.livejournal.com]

High tech equipment doesn't kill people, cops kill people.

Cops in body armor, gas masks, etc shouldn't need to kill to protect themselves. But they do it anyway.

[conuly]

Part of the problem, I think, is that all that fancy equipment with all that body armor makes them feel more at risk than they are, so they respond accordingly.

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

Your links lately have been great, and I have appreciated them a lot. However, if you're going to post links longer than 110 characters, please post them behind an <:lj-cut>, because otherwise they expand the Friends' Page to wider than my screen - which means I have to scroll back and forth for every line in order to read it

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

So having all this state-of-the-art protective equipment is making them feel less safe?

I don't buy that for one minute. I think all this junk is making them feel less accountable, playing into authoritarian power-fantasies. Armored, masked, armed to the teeth, they're not just a bunch of ordinary guys any more - they're UNSTOPPABLE WAR MACHINES!!!11!

Unstoppable war machines kill people. That is their purpose. Outfitting our police in all that military gear makes it inescapably clear to both them and the citizenry that their mission is not 'To Serve and Protect', but rather, 'To Terrorize and Destroy'.

[conuly]

Do they? I hadn't meant to do that to you, I'm sorry!

[conuly]

Oh, they definitely feel less accountable, that goes without saying. But putting people in defensive gear, I don't know, it makes them think they need to defend themselves, don't you think?

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

*hugs* S'okay - I don't know why it does that; apparently it only does it to some users. Thanks for lj-cutting this post; would you please also do this one (http://conuly.livejournal.com/2217878.html)?

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

No, I think it makes them feel they are defended, especially when they're facing people without any armor.

I've fought in both SCA armor and full-contact martial-arts gear. While tournaments are nothing like someone actually trying to kill you, one's body doesn't know that: the adrenaline flows just the same. Adrenaline is fight-or-flight. The better the armor, the less 'flight' impulse; therefore the more 'fight'.

What I think is that when people with authoritarian personalities (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right-wing_authoritarianism) are given power over others, they believe they have the right to use it. If small-town cops are armed and armored like an occupying army, of course they're going to act like an occupying army.

They are not "defending themselves." They are the aggressors. They are not doing it because they're afraid of getting hurt. They're doing it because they feel invulnerable - which they mostly are, behind all that Kevlar and firepower and immunity from legal consequences.

"One of the problems with psychodynamic approaches to understanding human behavior is that they tend to depict people as most always afraid of something and defending or protecting themselves in some way; even when they're in the act of aggressing. Covert-aggressive personalities (indeed all aggressive personalities) use a variety of mental behaviors and interpersonal maneuvers to help ensure they get what they want. Some of these behaviors have been traditionally thought of as defense mechanisms.

While, from a certain perspective we might say someone engaging in these behaviors is defending their ego from any sense of shame or guilt, it's important to realize that at the time the aggressor is exhibiting these behaviors, he is not primarily defending (i.e. attempting to prevent some internally painful event from occurring), but rather fighting to maintain position, gain power and to remove any obstacles (both internal and external) in the way of getting what he wants.

Seeing the aggressor as on the defensive in any sense is a set-up for victimization. Recognizing that they're primarily on the offensive, mentally prepares a person for the decisive action they need to take in order to avoid being run over.

The article cited (http://elenbarathi.livejournal.com/312775.html) is discussing covert psychological aggression, but the statements are just as true (if not more so) for overt aggression with high-tech weapons of war.

[conuly]

Sure thing. Just poke me if I ever forget again, or, more likely, don't realize.

[conuly]

You know, let's just agree on the important thing: Giving them military equipment - especially if it comes with a caveat that it must be used by a certain date - is really fucking stupid.

[eofs.livejournal.com]

The use-by date is just baffling. That's like legalising executions then giving the courts a quota.

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

Absolutely agree with that.

Tragic about the people who've been killed, of course, but Fergusun has really come at exactly the right time to push that point home to our legislators. As this article (http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/22/michael-brown-ferguson-residents-vote) says:
“Without the looting, without the burning down stuff, without the tear gassing, nobody would even be interested. We tried it the old way and the old way didn’t work. The Martin Luther King way didn’t work. Being non-violent didn’t work. Once you bring a little violence, they pay attention.”