Quote Originally Posted by mojo
It's one of the reasons I encourage people to investigate the history of policing (specifically in the US, but around the world). The notion that a society needs a standing police force is a relatively recent human invention.
Sure, as populations expand, and with it things like poverty and crime.

The notion that a society needs a standing police force is a relatively recent human invention.
As populations increased, relative poverty and the crime that comes with it become more prevalent. Considering human nature, I think it's an improvement to enforce law and order.

The severity of legal consequence for a crime has little to no bearing on someone's willingness to commit that crime.
I mean this is crazy. I can tell you what stops me turning my house into a weed factory... the threat of going to prison for it. Also the threat of being robbed by horrible bastards who might cut me up. But mostly fear of prison.

Consequences act as a deterrent for the vast majority of people. Nobody is perfect, pretty much everyone is capable of some kind of petty crime. Most people don't want to get caught and face the consequences. Even those that give no fucks still don't want to get caught.

Given that the police are paid with tax money, and that the primary functions we all assume they perform are false, I think it's appropriate to consider that we are not getting what we think we're paying for.
I have no argument against this sentiment. I just fear that abolishing the police would lead to a breakdown in law and order.

I think it's important to question whether the effect we're trying to buy is in fact even viable, given human nature.
Left to our own devices, humans are assholes. We kill, rape, torture, steal, we do war, ethnic cleansing, genocide, holocaust, nuclear weapons, apartheid, even human sacrifice, satanic death cults, the depravity is endless. This is human nature. This is why, despite considering myself an anarchist because I pretty much reject authority in my own life, I fear anarchism and am glad that authority exists. It's a strange ideological place to be.

No police is a step towards anarchism. Are you ready for that? Oskar probably is.