Hey Everyone!! :-)
Since I've moved on to writing the third Petri book, and so I'm not sharing Alyce excerpts on regular anymore, I thought I'd give you one today. For old time's sake. ;-) Enjoy!
Excerpt from Answers From Alyce:
"Are the police part of the ruling elite in your society?" asked Squid-boy.
I shook my head. "No. That's part of the genius of their strategy. Cops are just working stiffs, like the rest of us. Most of them are good people and they become police officers because they actually do want to help others and keep them safe. But the way the powerful have structured the legal system makes it almost inevitable that the police will end up at odds with the communities they're supposed to serve. And that means that regular people end up viewing cops as 'the enemy', and so cops end up returning the favor and viewing regular people as 'the enemy', too."
"When, in reality, it's the people who are pulling the strings who are the enemies of both groups," murmured Yax.
I pointed at him. "Bingo. That's it, exactly."
"But how does your legal system set up such a dysfunctional dynamic?" asked Squid-boy.
"Oh, there are lots of ways. One is the drug laws we talked about before. They criminalize normal human behavior and then selectively enforce those laws. People will take drugs because it feels good to them to take drugs, and it doesn't really matter what the laws say. The people in power know this; that's why they make such laws. And they're careful to only criminalize the drugs that poor people tend to prefer; the drugs that are more common among the rich are either not illegal or there are less severe penalties associated with possessing them."
"So, they set up a situation where police feel they have a right to peer into people's private affairs," said Yax.
"Yep. And, let's be honest, just making laws like that is a huge overstep of authority by the government. After all, it's one thing for the government to regulate the manufacturing of goods or to mandate certain warnings be issued about the likely effects of a given substance. But who are they to tell consenting adults what they may or may not put into their own bodies? Why should free citizens allow their personal, private behavior to be controlled like that?"
"So, the laws surrounding these mind-altering substances only exist to create tensions between law enforcement officials and the rest of the community?"
"Pretty much."
"Then why do your people allow these laws to exist?"
"Well, that goes back to the divisions that have been created between people with different skin colors and between people from different parts of the country. Again, the drug laws aren't enforced equally and they don't apply equally to all drugs. The government uses propaganda to make it seem like some drugs are more dangerous than they are and those are generally the drugs that are typically used by people who are poor or who have darker skin or both. Which makes people with lighter skin or people with slightly more money start to think that the people in the communities that are associated with the drugs the government has convinced them are dangerous are dangerous themselves just because they live in those communities. So, they vote for politicians who want to keep the drugs illegal because they think that will protect them from the people who use those drugs. Also, the corporations that manufacture pharmaceuticals want other drugs to be illegal because they are competition for those corporations. And, so, the corporations bribe politicians to keep those laws in place. In other words, there’s more than one reason for the laws."
"But can't the people who live in the communities that are most affected by these laws organize to change them?" asked Squid-boy.
I nodded. "They can, and some of them have started to do that, but it's not easy. Those tend to be the communities that are the most disenfranchised. The laws we talked about before that keep people from voting tend to affect those communities the most. Plus, they are generally poor, which means most of the people who live in them work two or three jobs just to put food on the table, which doesn't leave them with a lot of time or energy for political engagement."
Yax frowned. "That seems awfully convenient for those who are in power."
I snorted. "Of course it is; that's how they designed the system. Also, you have to keep in mind what happens when the people in those communities finally do come together to protest." I pointed at the robots dressed like militarized police in the exhibit we were standing in front of. "This doesn't usually end well for the protesters."
"So, they are protesting because of the laws that keep them from voting," said Squid-boy.
"Like I said, yes and no. That's part of what got them here," I gestured at the scene. "But the specific thing they're protesting is the fact that police have repeatedly murdered unarmed civilians in their communities and then haven't been held accountable by the legal system."
"What?" the two aliens chorused.
I nodded. "Yeah, it's a complicated issue; everything ties into everything else."
"But how can law enforcement authorities be allowed to murder members of the community they're supposed to protect and not be held accountable?" asked Yax.
I shrugged. "Think about it. The system is set up so that police are constantly inserting themselves into the private lives of citizens without invitation or any real legitimate cause. Which, naturally, breeds resentment against them in the community. Being no more than human, the police respond to that resentment with resentment of their own. After all, from their perspective, they're just trying to do their job and enforce the laws. Also, keep in mind that police are often recruited from the communities that have been propagandized by the government into thinking that the poorest communities and communities that people with darker skin live in are dangerous. So, they're predisposed to distrust the people they're supposed to protect. Add to that the selective enforcement of the laws, which tends to reinforce their prejudices, and you have police who view the people they're supposed to protect with fear and contempt."
"But there must be some law enforcement officials who come from poorer communities."
"Yes. And they're inducted into the culture that's fostered in the police force to protect each other at the expense of the communities they're supposed to serve. Add to that the training that most police receive that teaches them to automatically regard other people as threats and to always take action to protect themselves and not take any risks, and police officers who come from the communities that tend to have an adversarial relationship with police usually either shift their loyalties to their fellow officers or they quit."
"Again, that seems like a system that has been set up specifically to cause trouble," observed Squid-boy.
I shrugged. "It has. And it's succeeding admirably. Again, most people who become police officers are good people who only want to help. But the way the system is set up, they're almost guaranteed to find themselves at odds with the public. And, of course, law enforcement is a dangerous job; there are a lot of people who have bad intentions and who are violent. It's not unreasonable for the police to want to protect themselves from harm when they have to deal with the most vicious members of society on a regular basis."
"Logically, it seems as if members of law enforcement would do more to protect their own safety if they formed good relationships with the communities in which they work. They would be far more likely to receive assistance and information about threats if the people they worked amongst didn't fear them more than they fear the predators."
"Yep. That would make sense, Squid-boy, and it would result in those communities becoming safer for everyone, not just the police. But that wouldn't serve the interests of those in power, so it's not likely to happen."
If you want to read more of Alyce's answers, and you haven't already done so, you can grab your copy at the link below. Happy reading!! :-)
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