The country is burning, thanks largely to those who uncritically have swallowed whole the neo-Marxist propaganda of the neo-liberal order.
As brutal as the death of George Floyd appears to have been—and it does appear brutal—nothing that has followed from it will lead to justice for Floyd or more justice generally. It’s all just rage for gratification’s sake—a distraction. Our problem isn’t one of racism; our problem is that we demand rulers and protectors, and then we are surprised when they turn around and kneel on our necks.
Here is the bitter truth: those now-fired cops in Minnesota almost assuredly will get off. One has been charged with third degree murder and manslaughter, but the odds are still good that he will walk in the end. Cops kill innocent people from time to time, and it rarely has anything to do with race. It is usually incompetence or general thuggery on the part of those police. And when they do it, they dance the dance: get charged with murder, get acquitted, and return to work.
In this case, the lawyer will probably portray the killer as stupid but not guilty to avoid the worse image of being malicious. His defense almost assuredly will be connected to bureaucratic jargon about police training and police protocol. There is a fine line between making an honest mistake and being negligent, we’ll be told, and his lawyer only needs to convince a jury that there is a reasonable possibility he tried to follow his training to protect his fellow officers.
Our Foundational Beliefs
The fact that, at the end of the day, a man in authority brutally knelt on the neck of another man over the possibility he tried to pass off a fake $20 bill won’t really matter. When push comes to shove, the police will remind us what we all deeply believe: we need them, they are just trying to do their jobs, and they just want to make it home to their families at the end of their shifts. Their opponents are now helping them by being worse thugs and burning down cities. The police have no better friends than these rioters.
Can’t you just picture, in your mind’s eye, a little girl saying goodbye to her daddy as he leaves for work, not knowing if he will make it home? Aren’t you glad he is willing to put his life on the line and be a first responder—to stand between those mean criminals who are just so violent? Police are public servants; they are heroes!
Plus, we need lots of laws. Regulations and bureaucracy are key to democracy. The state has to save us, after all, from our own stupidity.
Nine days out of 10 we swallow these tropes, hook, line and sinker. We hear them constantly and from many sources.
Keep in mind that there are many people who have an interest in keeping things the way they are. They make lots of money on the criminal system as it is, complete with petty laws, brutal cops, and mindless policies. Think of judges, lawyers, bailiffs, court reporters, prison guards, parole officers, social workers, medical technicians, regulators, trainers, inspectors, certifiers, background-checkers, equipment-suppliers, and morticians who profit from the system. Hell, there is likely even some contingent of janitors, probably with special janitor certifications for cleaning up jails, that profits from the system.
Or simply think about the other policemen and the police union, which is very powerful. They have a vested interest in protecting the hyper-policing, “get home at end of shift” culture and the policies it breeds to give them such great power and protection.
The Problem
To repeat: this isn’t a problem of racism, even if the cops in question are, in fact, racist, or if they were policing black men because of racial profiling, or even if black men are disproportionately forced into crime and poverty because of historical or “systemic” factors. The problem isn’t that we have a black-white divide.
The problem is that we have a those-who-can-kneel and those-who-must-submit divide. It’s a problem of how we view law and the police culture we have accepted. It’s a problem of power and cowardice and tyranny; and it’s a failure of self-government.
Police shouldn’t be kneeling on anyone’s neck, regardless of his skin color, especially over $20. “Kneeling on necks” includes all of the idiotic measures police take to subdue people of all races over silly, petty crimes simply to protect themselves. If we didn’t have a police culture of kneeling on necks, we wouldn’t have to worry about them kneeling on black necks.
But we do, largely because we buy the narrative fed to us on TV and radio and by politicians and the talking-head class. Police are heroes (sometimes), and we need them to save us. They are public-servants serving the community. Crime is a problem best left to the police to solve. Trust the experts; they are highly-trained. If you think a mask-wearing culture and the paternal state aren’t tied up in this, you are gravely mistaken. So too is hero worship of soldiers, first-responders, nurses, and doctors.
All of this is contributing and habituating you to a world of kneelers and submitters, as is the habit of slavish obedience to “science” and the “trust science” dogma.
We wouldn’t want you thinking common sense and decent behavior might be the foundation of a free society, now would we? It’s all just so complex and morality is just made-up anyhow. You need specialized, trained, educated, expert agents to guide you and protect you from the scary criminals and the scary viruses and the scary racists.
The Way Out: Where Do You Stand?
If we want a world in which men don’t kneel on other men’s necks, then we should start by making fewer laws, demilitarizing police, restricting police union power and the power of the state, and changing the hero-worship and “back the badge” culture of cowardice in government agents.
Don’t let the people you elect scare you into giving them more power. This work takes time and effort in the periods between tragedies. Outrage that happens only after the fact (and most often on social media); or embracing militant, black-power racism; or giving over to organized indignation to the likes of Antifa isn’t going to make things better or protect American sons of any color.
Have you ever objected to how police cuff everyone these days when they make an arrest? Do you object to their black, military fatigues? Do you care when they buy military vehicles? Does it concern you that it seems any cop can reach into his trunk and become a member of a SWAT team? Do you object when we bring them into our schools to train our children on how hyper-militarized police and petty laws are good? Or do you love the regulations and government inspectors controlling our every behavior that are built on the foundation of “law enforcement?”
Do you ever even question why a free people have standing police forces, like little armies, let alone why they call them “law enforcement?” Or do you simply yell about racism and demand justice?
If you just uncritically accept the lies about systemic racism and white privilege fed to you by a media that feeds off chaos—if everything for you comes down to identity politics—strap in for a race war and enjoy the violent, bloody eschatology of your foolish ideology. Then, when it is all over, get your neck ready and be prepared to be ruled by the people who led you there. You will have your own little prison of hate and rage and imagined enemies to keep you distracted.
The sad part is that we don’t really have an alternative. Stunted by our common leftist indoctrination masquerading as public education, we have no other way to view the world. We don’t believe all men are created equal and skin color doesn’t matter to our humanity or reason. Assaulted by the meta-narrative shoved in our faces by the media, we can’t see beyond the story presented to us. They tell us it is racism and we see racism. Hypnotized by the modern drug of social media, we’ve lost sight of what actual justice in real life looks like, with all of its limitations and flaws. It’s mob justice all of the time.
People make the trite comparison of men with guns protesting at a capitol building and people rioting in response to police killings. That one is easy—one group isn’t smashing cars and looting stores. The goals and behavior of the two groups are clear enough to see for anyone with eyes. In an ironic way, those men with guns protesting government are doing more to stop police brutality than all of the violence and hatred of BLM. They are certainly doing more than the media, which can only distract everyone with rage and hate.
There is only one end to all of this if things keep up, and that is war. We don’t need “conservatives” parroting the BLM talking points or college-indoctrinated young women urging crowds to “demand justice.” We need better rhetoric and statesmanship about law and police in a free society. Take away the power of one man to ride another while “booted and spurred,” and perhaps we might find a slice of real justice and liberty for all.