• Yawweee877h444@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Eh, I don’t think “power corrupts” applies mostly in these situations. That would imply these cops weren’t racists or pedos until they joined the force and got that power.

    In these cases I think it’s more that these bad people, racists and pedos, seek out the positions of power that are available to them - law enforcement positions.

    But yeah I totally agree law enforcement has a problem of being extremely far right. If it is, which it is known, then people with similar ideologies will flock to those positions even more.

    • Takapapatapaka@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I agree on the point that “they are racist/pedo because of the power they receive” is pretty much false in this situation.

      But i would say that this is not the only meaning behind “Power corrupts”. (What follows is only a personnal opinion, there may be some wrong usage of terms or anything) To me, it also means that power corrupts our ways of thinking : believing in a strong power, even if you do not hold it, tends to makes this power more important than human lives or conditions. Like “Police is important, so it’s okay if some peoples get hurt to protect it”. In other words, the more you believe in power, the more it may become an end rather than a tool. This is were the corruption is to me.

      I think that people get racist because they believe in some kind of great cause that should held power (like Homeland, Historical Background, Race, etc.). Then they consider normal to use power for this cause, even if it is against other people. Maybe it’s not the same thing for getting attracted to young people. But doing pedo crimes always involve some power in the very act of it, and to some extent in the decision making that led to it.

      To sum it up, imo the hate and weird attraction of those cops basically mean that they think they have, or that they should have, a legitimate power over other people (minorities, kids, etc.). Even if it’s not the specific power that they got as cops that corrupted them, it is their belief in power more generally. (and as other said, the power they got as cops probably reinforced all of this, as a vicious circle).