ON TV crime shows police will often react based on the evidence of a single “witness”. I put witness in quotes because I think what sloppy writing. Why would the police accept the word of a single person, who could be lying for any number of self-interested reasons, money, vengeance, to cover up someone else’s or their own involvement, notoriety, mistaken identity, the list goes on. While the shows are fiction, we know this also happens in real life. Sometimes in some police forces, it seems like any witness will do as long as it leads to a conviction, however questionable.
Bad enough that anyone in tragic circumstances is betrayed by friends or family or caregivers, but I can also see a lot of false accusations being made in the future and forced physical examinations terrorizing girls and women. The zealots will be pursuing every accusation and there will be wrongful convictions. I suffered several early miscarriages of intended pregnancies and frankly, if such laws existed at the time, I don’t know that I would have continued trying to have a child. Hardly a pro-life outcome. If life really mattered to these monsters then no child would go hungry or be shot at school by an assault rifle or be forced to carry a rape or incest pregnancy to term. I think the GOP are so far down the slippery slope of repression, suppression, and morally unsupportable behaviour that nothing they engage in makes any sense. Unless you consider that all of this is just a first step and front for the power hungry to gain authoritarian control. That is what makes sense.
It's appropriate that Republicans seem to idolize Russia so much these days, because didn't the Russians perfect the idea of citizens snitching on each other during the Soviet era?
There was a researcher at Harvard who did a study on these kids showing that even transferring some to foster families made a difference. But the study itself is ethically stomach turning because he knew damn well that kids shouldn’t be institutionalized. Nobody seemed to have a problem of just assigning some of them a caring adult
This was the culture encouraged in the Ceausescu regime in Romania where abortions were banned. Civil society was poisoned for a few generations. Women put their babies in orphanages where they were neglected and became irrevocably developmentally delayed.
I don't think the problem is "snitch culture" at all. The problem is that there are laws criminalizing abortion and that there are people who support those laws. Snitches are great when they are helping us to enforce good laws. I'm grateful to Ted Kaczynski's brother for turning him in. And the same for Jackson Reffitt who reported his January 6th insurrectionist father to the FBI. And wouldn't it have been wonderful to have some more snitches in Eric Rudolph's life?
ON TV crime shows police will often react based on the evidence of a single “witness”. I put witness in quotes because I think what sloppy writing. Why would the police accept the word of a single person, who could be lying for any number of self-interested reasons, money, vengeance, to cover up someone else’s or their own involvement, notoriety, mistaken identity, the list goes on. While the shows are fiction, we know this also happens in real life. Sometimes in some police forces, it seems like any witness will do as long as it leads to a conviction, however questionable.
Bad enough that anyone in tragic circumstances is betrayed by friends or family or caregivers, but I can also see a lot of false accusations being made in the future and forced physical examinations terrorizing girls and women. The zealots will be pursuing every accusation and there will be wrongful convictions. I suffered several early miscarriages of intended pregnancies and frankly, if such laws existed at the time, I don’t know that I would have continued trying to have a child. Hardly a pro-life outcome. If life really mattered to these monsters then no child would go hungry or be shot at school by an assault rifle or be forced to carry a rape or incest pregnancy to term. I think the GOP are so far down the slippery slope of repression, suppression, and morally unsupportable behaviour that nothing they engage in makes any sense. Unless you consider that all of this is just a first step and front for the power hungry to gain authoritarian control. That is what makes sense.
More authoritarian tactics from the GOP 😡
Thus the attempt in Florida to require female high school athletes to report their menstrual cycles in order to play sports.
As much as the Right hates Communism they sure do love imitating Stalin and Soviet Russia
It's appropriate that Republicans seem to idolize Russia so much these days, because didn't the Russians perfect the idea of citizens snitching on each other during the Soviet era?
There was a researcher at Harvard who did a study on these kids showing that even transferring some to foster families made a difference. But the study itself is ethically stomach turning because he knew damn well that kids shouldn’t be institutionalized. Nobody seemed to have a problem of just assigning some of them a caring adult
This was the culture encouraged in the Ceausescu regime in Romania where abortions were banned. Civil society was poisoned for a few generations. Women put their babies in orphanages where they were neglected and became irrevocably developmentally delayed.
I don't think the problem is "snitch culture" at all. The problem is that there are laws criminalizing abortion and that there are people who support those laws. Snitches are great when they are helping us to enforce good laws. I'm grateful to Ted Kaczynski's brother for turning him in. And the same for Jackson Reffitt who reported his January 6th insurrectionist father to the FBI. And wouldn't it have been wonderful to have some more snitches in Eric Rudolph's life?
I'm wondering how they would know about drugs being sent in the mail... the USPS is supposed to be sacrosanct
Anyone who thinks this isn’t a big deal should read up on the tremendous damage the Stasi caused to East German society.
Well said. Great insight and observation. This is an important CULTURAL commentary, rather than legal or medical.
😖