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"Light & #39;em up"
The militarization of the police isn& #39;t just about equipment. It& #39;s also importing a particular counterinsurgency mindset that sees all civilians as suspect and deems them legitimate targets of violence the moment they fail to & #39;comply& #39;
https://youtu.be/LozQg0oX-Gw ">https://youtu.be/LozQg0oX-...
The militarization of the police isn& #39;t just about equipment. It& #39;s also importing a particular counterinsurgency mindset that sees all civilians as suspect and deems them legitimate targets of violence the moment they fail to & #39;comply& #39;
https://youtu.be/LozQg0oX-Gw ">https://youtu.be/LozQg0oX-...
Counterinsurgency theories argue that the population is the terrain of modern conflict: subversive enemies use the population to hide, and rally it as a resource. To stamp out insurgency, the thinking goes, it is necessary to control the population./2
But counterinsurgency theory also makes two more logical moves that justify using full force against civilians. /3
The first is to claim that in using the population as a shield, insurgents exempts themselves from the normal protections for civilians. They don& #39;t follow the rules, so the rules don& #39;t apply. /4
The second is the important one: because the insurgent is invisible, they are only revealed through their failure to respect the & #39;order& #39; imposed by the counterinsurgent. In essence: if you break the rules, you are automatically marked out as an enemy. /5
Why does this matter? First, it self-justifies violence against any civilian: if disobedience (construed extremely widely) signals an insurgent and insurgents aren& #39;t subject to the normal rules, cops can deploy whatever violence they like against anyone. /6
Second — and more importantly — this narrative invents an enemy. Counterinsurgency doesn& #39;t need an insurgency to exist. It justifies it& #39;s own existence by creating & #39;insurgents.& #39; Police riots in a very real way create the violence cops need to justify their COIN narrative. /7
I highly recommend reading @stschrader1 and @BernardHarcourt on the ways counterinsurgent thinking has reshaped policing in the U.S. going back to the Cold War. /fin
