First of all, I admit, I was a late adopter of the expression, “moral equivalence.” I find it counterintuitive, it really means ‘false moral equivalence,’ right, ‘contrived moral equivalence,’ something like that? Or does it refer to people who really do think these disparate situations are actually equivalent? Whatever, let’s live with those questions, like they used to say in the “est” seminars. I’m a great believer that we need to juggle all these thoughts, all these balls need to be in the air at once, that we shouldn’t commit to any conclusions that could be wrong and then base our arguments from them. Everything should always be available for review in our minds, pending new information.
I think we all place the concept in the category of fallacious argument. Moral equivalencies are offered as justifications for behaviours that we all naturally intuit to be wrong, such as violence that is out of proportion to the behaviour that prompts it. Examples of moral equivalence may include:
- A nation like Israel literally killing something like a thousand Palestinians for every murdered Israeli because the Palestinian Arabs WANT to kill all the Israelis.
- A police officer literally killing a citizen in a fight that begins with an attempted arrest for a minor crime – of course, like jaywalking or operating a very small commercial enterprise without a license or without filing the taxes.
- A law introduced that curtails the rights of large numbers of people based on statistically insignificant levels of a crime – like the voter ID laws.
Now, I know everyone is making the race arguments about these things, and of course there is racism, and classism, the poor always get the short end, and through long term, cultural racism, ‘the poor’ is pretty much synonymous with ‘blacks,’ at least in America. Fair enough. I just want to point out what seems to be slipping under the radar: the simple moral fallacy underlying all policing, and authority in general, and that is the magnitude of the crimes in these situations.
I think we can all see the cost and benefits of imprisoning murderers. Sure, forcible confinement is bad, an infringement of the prisoner’s human rights, but his infringement on the human rights of his victims is worse, so we feel justice is served. Perhaps not optimally, at least I don’t really think so, but close enough for this conversation. And so, if this killer resists arrest and dies in the ensuing fight, that’s still close enough to proper – of course, provided he really is a murderer, provided he’s guilty.
Morally, that is not so bad. Pretty good in a horrible situation. But that example should not be used to cover all arrests. That is some bad science, in fact it is probably one of these arguments of ‘moral equivalence’ to say that anyone who resists arrest for anything can be righteously killed. Race and racism aside, that is reprehensible, and defending that behaviour very correctly puts the defender on the wrong side of morality. This is a net increase in crime: murder for jaywalking, murder for black market cigarette sales.
That is the opposite of what we are paying police for.
Talk about ‘do as I say, not as I do!’ Here’s what you can’t do, and here’s what we can do – this is the very essence of inequality, inequity and anathema to ‘all men being created equal.’
So here’s what I think should happen: I don’t think that we should enforce these laws if it means creating a bigger crime than the one we’re trying to stop. So no corporal punishment for non-violent crimes, for jaywalking for illegal small businesses – verbal admonishments only. Counselling and reason, let them know that they aren’t holding up their end of the deal in our attempts to have a fair society. Perhaps for the subsistence criminal, we can find them some legal money to live on. This may involve reorganizing our social structure in such a way that doesn’t leave so many people out of the right side of life and the law, such as decriminalizing drugs and stopping the erosion of the government’s revenues for education and healthcare.
Maybe we could document these minor crimes, and use the information in court if the person does anything that really does require police and courts, so we could show a pattern of anti-social behaviour, make a case that some sort of intervention is overdue for the stubbornly anti-social and criminal people that abuse the system.
Pie in the sky, right? Madness?
So, the status quo seems reasonable, then? That minor crimes should be punished corporally, with a forced trip to jail and possibly prison, something that would motivate the offender to fight for his life and turn our attempt to correct small crimes into deadly street battles instead? Please don’t take this the wrong way, I don’t blame everyone. It’s been complicated and confusing for so long, but that’s . . . crazy. All infractions of the law do not need to be enforced.
In fact, of course, all cases of breaking the law are not enforced now. How many crimes of the rich, the bankers, and the leaders are not punished? Of course, the crimes that are detected, solved, prosecuted and punished are far fewer than the actual instances of crime and always have been. In this way, criminal punishment has always been unfair and random. That perhaps bears repeating.
Criminal punishment has always been unfair and random. That being the obvious truth to any thinking person, and being that improving the consistency in catching and prosecuting is unlikely and possibly not even desirable – most of us think we’re close enough to the dystopic police state of our nightmares now – maybe we need to think about going the other direction. Simply not arresting and prosecuting the poorest people for minor crimes (again, drug laws come to mind) – not going after the lowest hanging fruit with the intent of violence and forcible confinement – could well be our best way to increase the consistency of our law enforcement, and therefore the general fairness of our society.
This could be one way that the police could gain some real respect and trust in the poorest communities – I mean, this wouldn’t be huge, much crime is violent crime, and I’m not advising we ignore those who would victimize others with violence – but this is exactly the point. Victimizing others with violence is exactly what the police are doing when they come to arrest and imprison people for minor crimes. If this is what cannot be changed, then talk of community trust and respect is empty blather. And deeply cynical too.
To say to people –
“We want to work with you, to establish a partnership, based on trust and mutual respect, based in understanding. We acknowledge that we are here to serve the community, to work for a greater peace and a better life for all – “
– while still maintaining that we intend nonetheless to come to your house, overpower you and throw you in prison for not paying your parking and court fines? That is deeply schizoid for some of us and downright cruel and cynical for some others. Either way, it’s . . . crazy. Again, violence, kidnapping and forcible confinement for minor crimes – that is a net increase in the level of crime, and it’s the very opposite of what the general population is paying the police to do.
Morally, arrests and the associated force and violence are worse than jaywalking, street level black market dealing, avoidance of legal and traffic fines, and drug possession. That is what I’m saying. This isn’t moral equivalence. It’s a total inversion.
Abuse with an Excuse 
Here’s something related:
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/crime/2014/12/edward_banfield_the_racist_classist_origins_of_broken_windows_policing.single.html
LikeLike
Appreciation to my father who informed me about this weblog, this
webpage is truly amazing.
LikeLike
THANKS! Sorry, WordPress marked you as spam and it took me some time to find you. Please, read, retweet, re-post, get it out there! Thanks again.
LikeLike
I am not sure where you are getting your information, but great topic.
I needs to spend some time learning more or understanding more.
Thanks for wonderful info I was looking for this info for my mission.
LikeLike
THANKS! Sorry, WordPress marked you as spam and it took me some time to find you.
Great news, always happy to hear someone gets it!
LikeLike
Greetings! I’ve been following your site for a long time now and finally got the bravery to go ahead
and give you a shout out from Austin Tx! Just wanted to tell you keep up the great work!
LikeLike
THANKS! Sorry, WordPress marked you as spam and it took me some time to find you. Yes, please read, retweet, get it out there! Tryna save the world here. 🙂
LikeLike
You – Tube limits are 10 minutes and a file size of 1 GB. Some of these
tactics will require time, others can literally generate traffic with the flip of
a switch. These “impostors” are really a false
belief system that colors your world, takes over your life,
and causes havoc.
LikeLike
THANKS! Sorry, WordPress marked you as spam and it took me some time to find you.
LikeLike
I’m amazed, I have to admit. Rarely do I encounter a
blog that’s equally educative and engaging, and without a doubt,
you have hit the nail on the head. The issue is something that not enough men and
women are speaking intelligently about. I am very happy I came
across this in my hunt for something concerning this.
LikeLike
THANKS! Sorry, WordPress marked you as spam and it took me some time to find you.
Yes, no-one talks intelligently on this subject, breeding is a very unconscious activity.
LikeLike
Thanks in support of sharing such a pleasant thought,
piece of writing is pleasant, thats why i have read it entirely
LikeLike
THANKS! Sorry, WordPress marked you as spam and it took me some time to find you.
LikeLike
Thank you for some other informative blog.
Where else may I get that type of information written in such an ideal way?
I have a mission that I’m just now operating on, and I have been at the
look out for such info.
LikeLike
If there’s anyone else writing this idea, I don’t know about it. Finding citations is prbably impossible. Sorry, this stuff is original . . .
thank you so much! Sorry for the delay, I just found you in my spam file and changed your setting . . .
LikeLike
Pretty nice post. I just stumbled upon your weblog and wanted to say that I have really
enjooyed surfing around your blog posts. In any case
I’ll be subscribing to ykur eed and I ope youu write again soon!
LikeLike
thank you so much! Sorry for the delay, I just found you in my spam file and changed your setting . . .
LikeLike
Having read this I believed it was extremely enlightening.
I appreciate you finding the time and effort to put this short article together.
I once again find myself personally spending way too much time both reading
and leaving comments. But so what, it was still worth it!
LikeLike
thank you so much! Sorry for the delay, I just found you in my spam file and changed your setting . . .
LikeLike
Great goods from you, man. I have understand your stuff previous to and you are
just extremely great. I actually like what you have acquired here, really
like what you’re stating and the way in which you say it.
You make it entertaining and you still take care of to keep it smart.
I can’t wait to read much more from you. This is actually a wonderful web site.
LikeLike
thank you so much! Sorry for the delay, I just found you in my spam file and changed your setting . . .
LikeLike
With havin so much content and articles do you ever run into
any problems of plagorism or copyright violation? My site has a lot of
completely unique content I’ve either authored myself or outsourced but it looks like a lot of it is popping it up all over the internet
without my permission. Do you know any techniques to help reduce content from being stolen? I’d certainly appreciate it.
LikeLike
thank you so much! Sorry for the delay, I just found you in my spam file and changed your setting . . .
my solution for plagiarism is to write stuff no-one cares about, apparently! I don’t mind, unless someone sues ME. I’m giving it away for free. If someone was paying, I couldn’t say this stuff, I figure.
LikeLike
Its such as you learn my mind! You appear to grasp so
much about this, such as you wrote the guide in it or something.
I think that you simply can do with some percent to pressure the message house a bit, however instead of that, that is wonderful blog.
A fantastic read. I’ll certainly be back.
LikeLike
Thanks!
LikeLike
Magnificent goods from you, man. I’ve understand your stuff previous to and you’re just extremely excellent.
I really like what you’ve acquired here, really like what you are
stating and the way in which you say it. You make it enjoyable and you still care for
to keep it wise. I can’t wait to read far more from you.
This is really a terrific site.
LikeLike
THANKS! Sorry, WordPress marked you as spam and it took me some time to find you.
LikeLike
What’s up i am kavin, its my first time to commenting anyplace, when i read this piece of writing i thought i could also make
comment due to this brilliant piece of writing.
LikeLike
THANKS! Sorry, WordPress marked you as spam and it took me some time to find you. You should be able to now.
LikeLike
This allows the website to register and store information about the
phone sso that you can read it later. Once you know about the
benefits that you get from the internal post tracking software you can determine whether or not they are right for you and your business.
This is a great service for youngsters who have big list of
friends.
LikeLike
Oh my goodness! Amazing article dude! Many thanks, However I am experiencing problems with your RSS.
I don’t understand the reason why I am unable to join it.
Is there anyone else getting identical RSS problems?
Anybody who knows the answer can you kindly respond? Thanx!!
LikeLike
I haven’t heard, and if there’s anything for me to set up for an RSS feed, I don’t know what it is. I assume it’s something between you and WordPress . . . I’ll try to check my settings page sometime soon.
LikeLike
Hey There. I found your blog using msn. This is
a really well written article. I will be sure to bookmark it and come back
to read more of your useful information. Thanks for the post.
I will certainly return.
LikeLike
thanks!
LikeLike
“I just want to point out what seems to be slipping under the radar: the simple moral fallacy underlying all policing, and authority in general, and that is the magnitude of the crimes in these situations.”
A good point. I’d add something to this. Moral equivalency leads to moral hazard. Bad thinking leads to bad results.
LikeLiked by 1 person
WONDERFUL Post.thanks for share..more wait ..
…
LikeLike
Right here is the right site for anyone who really wants to
find out about this topic. You understand a whole lot its almost tough to argue with you
(not that I really will need to…HaHa). You certainly put a new spin on a topic
that’s been written about for a long time. Great stuff, just excellent!
LikeLiked by 1 person