LogFAQs > #952957335

Reform can only come about through bipartisanship. People on the left will have to drop sweeping generalizations of police if they want people on the right to concede that bad cops exist. While there are bigots who defend bigoted cops, dirt defending dirt, the primary disconnect is in how law enforcement -- specifically American law enforcement -- is perceived.

Conservatives tend to view grievances in simple problem-solution format. If you complain about something, it means you are seeking a solution. A liberal can say "all cops are bastards" as a means of letting off steam or making their opposition to police brutality known. Plugged into the conservative equation, "all cops" are the problem and their complete and total removal is the only foreseeable solution. If you want to remove all cops, you want lawlessness and anarchy.

That's the disconnect. They're defending bad cops because they think law enforcement as an institution is being attacked. They think that cops are generally good and that law and order are necessary to keep people from acting malevolently toward one another (raping, killing, robbing, etc.).

If the left is willing to concede that not all cops are bad, I fully believe the right will join them in condemning those who are. If 80% of cops are rotten to the core, we still have to go through the painstaking process of weeding out the bad ones and maintaining the good ones.