Saturday, July 22, 2006

On Restraining The Police West


I pointed to this already. But I decided it deserved a direct post so you can't miss it. Great job by Dr. Sanity and RCP.

I'll begin my commentary under the assumption that you're not having any trouble with this Rorschach test. If you don't get it, quickly just move on and join the Hojjatieh where you'll find a coterie of soul mates.

Of course, this is no better -- and actually worse -- than your average cretinous hostage-taking bank robber. At best, he insanely believes that he is being stolen from and is trying to set things right by "taking back what's rightfully his". Most robbers are better in the sense that when they get surprised by the police and take hostages, their true nature is exposed by accident rather than by pre-meditation.

Why would hostage-takers do so if it wasn't an admission of the moral superiority of the police? Think about it. The only possible argument to the contrary is that the police will just shoot like crazy (no moral superiority) regardless and they are just using the hostages in the same way that they would, say, hide behind a desk.

But the only way this holds any water is largely the assumption that the hostage taker is crazy -- because the utility of a human body as a shield against an adversary with no moral scruples is minimal at best. And worse yet, if the police had no moral scruples in general, then the situation would be like hijacking post-9/11. All hostages -- like all airline passengers now -- will simply fight like suiciders themselves because of the lack of anything left to lose!

That's at best of course. At worst, bank robbers are as stupid, nihilistic and crazed as your average brainwashed Palestinian Islamofascist terrorist.

Did I forget to mention that they all wear variants of the KKK uniform?