Woozle/2022/09/12
posted to Better Police, Safer Communities on Nextdoor
Law & Order
This explains an awful lot...
- 2022-09-12 Law & Order: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO) (video, 27m28s)
I'd never heard of Dick Wolf; I wish I never had. I've never watched L&O; after this, I don't think I want to.
While I suppose it could be seen as an idealistic view of how the police should be -- a goal to strive towards via systemic change -- it doesn't present itself that way; it presents itself as an accurate representation of the here and now (which it clearly is not).
It also glorifies state-sanctioned violence, and derides roles and processes essential (not sufficient, just necessary) to fairness and justice -- in much the same way that many folks who claim to support "freedom" seem to think that you can have freedom for a few without having freedom for all.
We already have perfect policing, apparently, and any change can only be bad. Defendants are always guilty, defense lawyers are always scumbags, police always follow procedure (because they've been trained properly), "innocent until proved guilty" is a liberal fantasy.
I believe in free speech, because creators need to be free to criticize the system -- but there needs to be some kind of firewall between {a fictional show that is essentially propaganda} and {information considered sufficiently accurate by practicing professionals that they use it for informal training}.