A Moral Imagination

So the other day I was talking with a friend of mine, who Just Happens To Be a Crown Prosecutor….

Now, those of you who show up here regularly will know that my relationship with the cops is Ambivalent, at best.  It’s not that I don’t support Lawful Authority – I believe in the Righteousness of contracts, the inviolability of property, and serving your country like a Good Goddamned Soldier.  I’m basically a Paladin with addiction ‘problems’.  But when you get down to the particulars of the police forces in our society, I’ve got some major problems with how they conduct business.

This Crown Prosecutor, though?  He’s a good guy, got a kind heart.  Granted, his 9-5 job is locking up people in cages like they’re Fucking Animals, but I don’t hold that against him.  He knows what I believe, I know what he believes, and I figure there’s no reason the two of us can’t share a few quiet brews, Fox and the Hound notwithstanding.

He asked me how work’s going, so I mentioned an article I’m working on – thinking it’d be right up his alley.

“Get this,” I said, “You know what he number 1 cause of Peace Officer mortality is?”

“What?”

“Traffic tickets; it’s the most dangerous part of their job.  And for the most part it shouldn’t be part of their job.  May 2-4 is coming up, and they’re going to be out in droves acting as tax-collectors for the city, putting their necks on the line to shore up the budget.  I’m pretty sure that most of the Officers in this city would rather be chasing after real crimes…”

His eyes began to glaze over.  I saw troubled waters ahead.

“Wait a minute,” he said, “You know that May 2-4 is the most dangerous driving day of the year, right?”

“…doesn’t really surprise me?”

“And so shouldn’t the police do something?”

“…I suppose…”

“And surely speeding laws, fines, and the whole establishment are only there to benefit the poor, misguided citizenry?”

Shit.  I was being Lectured To, like a 13 year old questioning his priest about the sodomy.  My friend the Crown Attorney was a True Believer.  Salvation’s so damned easy, don’t you see?  Just read the criminal code, it’s all in there.

But keep up to date with the latest laws – the Revelation changes from year to year.

***

This would be a good time to talk about Morals and Ethics.

I’ve always drawn a sharp distinction between the two.  Morals are hard and fast rules, a code of behaviour – Do This, Don’t Do That – Don’t Lie, Respect Your Elders, et cetera.  They’re binary, black and white.  Morals treat every situation with consistency.

Ethics, on the other hand, are nothing but grey.  They ask the questions “What is fair?  Who are the people involved?  What events led up to this?  How can we move forward?” Ethics recognize that each situation is unique.

So which system is better, Morals or Ethics?  Well, neither, really.  Morals protect against manipulation, while Ethics protect against brutality.  Sometimes a bit of charity is deserved for those whose bad trip left them cold.  But too much of the social welfare, and you get single mothers raising Criminal Babies for The Benefits.

I’m no fan of the post-modernists and their infinite apologetics.  But they’re not the ones carrying guns and government jewellery.  It’s cops and prosecutors, enraptured by the Righteousness of their Cause, that truly terrify me.

I’m baffled by their lack of imagination; their lack of training in the scientific and rational arts.  Earlier today Monroe posted a comic about the Null Hypothesis – to put it simply, your default assumption for any  noticed-relationship-of-variables should be It’s a statistical fluke. Unless you have a plausible causal mechanism, and have repeatedly attempted to disprove the relationship, you don’t know anything.

But this is not the principle by which law enforcement operates.

* Drug dealers are Bad People; ergo, keep drugs illegal, so that we can keep throwing the purveyors behind bars.

* Most fatal car accidents involve speed limit excesses; ergo, the speed limit is perfectly reasonable in All Places.

* Most assaults involve alcohol; ergo, blame the drug, and ban the culture.

***

So anyway – there I was, drinking a Big Rock, and merely suggesting that when nearly 4000 speeding tickets are issued over a single weekend, there just might be an ulterior motive at play; that just maybe we should have our police target Criminals instead of preying upon Average Joes who are violating a minor infraction…

Hell, I was only suggesting it because I thought the cops might enjoy being Police for a change!

His response was that I had to disprove the reasonableness of the speed limit, and every other by-law that might be enforced that day.  Any of you Atheists out there will know the saying “Upon the claimant lies the burden,” – but when you’re dealing with government it’s the Skeptic who must prove themselves.

***

I have a couple of older relatives who are cops.  They joke like soldiers, they pirate software, and I’m pretty sure they speed whenever it’s safe to do so.  They live life joyously, they know when to Enforce & Obey the rules, but they also know when it’s time to let the the rules slide.

My friend the Crown Prosecutor?  I’m not so sure.  I’d like to think he’s smart enough, and kind enough, to see that the Laws aren’t always Just…

But from what I’ve seen of Modern Law Enforcement, it’s mainly governed by Codes (to prevent Racisim) and Standards (to prevent liability).  They’re ain’t no room left for common sense, no more.

One-size-fits-all Policing.  One-size-fits-all Morality.

This is precisely why I’m not voting on Monday.