"Law and order" as a political slogan (Mark Kleiman)
Mark Kleiman makes some cogent and important points about good sense and nonsense in thinking and talking about crime.
In practice, what does the political slogan "law and order" too often tend to mean, both for those who use it and for those who sneer at it?
For the specific context to which Mark was applying these general principles, read the whole post (below).
Yours for reality-based discourse,
Jeff Weintraub
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The Reality-Based Community
May 30, 2008
"Law and order" as a political slogan
Posted by Mark Kleiman
Guy Dinmore, reporting in the Financial Times
It's not hard to see why liberals tended, and to some extent still tend, to think of crime as a made-up right-wing issue. And there's lots of language leaning in that direction in Dinmore's article. That's a terrible mistake: the same one that helped cement the generation of right-wing dominance we now hope is coming to an end.
Europe has a big and growing crime problem. Aside from homicide, European crime rates, even rates of violent crime, are now generally substantially above U.S. levels. And (unlike the U.S.) [JW: please note that parenthetical clarification!] in much of Europe the crime problem is intertwined with immigration. The fact that the Roma are being burned out of their homes by mobs, with the evident collaboration of the police, tempts any decent person to deny, or at least ignore, the facts about Roma culture and its attitudes toward crime against the gadje. But that is a dubious tactic ethically, and a losing tactic politically.
Liberals must stand firmly behind the rule of law, and be willing to take the necessary steps against lawless behavior even by members of groups with genuine grievances. Only then can we ask conservatives to stand with us against the lawless behavior directed at them: most of all the lawless behavior of those charged with enforcing the law.
In practice, what does the political slogan "law and order" too often tend to mean, both for those who use it and for those who sneer at it?
"Law and order" in this country never meant opposition to lynching, or attacks on Freedom Riders, or violence directed at abortion providers, or mob attacks on school integration ("forced busing") or the militia movement.This should be basic moral and political common sense, but all too often it hasn't been--with unfortunate results.
It's not hard to see why liberals tended, and to some extent still tend, to think of crime as a made-up right-wing issue.
[JW: Whereas in reality, as Mark has repeatedly emphasized elsewhere, poor people and other underprivileged groups are often the ones most victimized by crime.]
That's a terrible mistake: the same one that helped cement the generation of right-wing dominance we now hope is coming to an end. [....]
Liberals must stand firmly behind the rule of law, and be willing to take the necessary steps against lawless behavior even by members of groups with genuine grievances. Only then can we ask conservatives to stand with us against the lawless behavior directed at them: most of all the lawless behavior of those charged with enforcing the law.
For the specific context to which Mark was applying these general principles, read the whole post (below).
Yours for reality-based discourse,
Jeff Weintraub
==============================
The Reality-Based Community
May 30, 2008
"Law and order" as a political slogan
Posted by Mark Kleiman
Guy Dinmore, reporting in the Financial Times
... the racist rhetoric of some rightwing candidates elected in April on law and order platforms has unleashed a spate of assaults against the Roma, or Gypsy, people who are blamed for fomenting crime.Savor for a moment, if you will, the delicious irony of "law and order" used in this context. It's not that Dinmore is at all sympathetic to the behavior he documents; he's simply using the phrase as it's ordinarily used in politics. (The behavior is horrid enough, in all conscience: "In the Naples mob-controlled suburb of Ponticelli, criminal gangs and residents have torched the homes of several hundred Gypsies.") "Law and order" in this country never meant opposition to lynching, or attacks on Freedom Riders, or violence directed at abortion providers, or mob attacks on school integration ("forced busing") or the militia movement.
It's not hard to see why liberals tended, and to some extent still tend, to think of crime as a made-up right-wing issue. And there's lots of language leaning in that direction in Dinmore's article. That's a terrible mistake: the same one that helped cement the generation of right-wing dominance we now hope is coming to an end.
Europe has a big and growing crime problem. Aside from homicide, European crime rates, even rates of violent crime, are now generally substantially above U.S. levels. And (unlike the U.S.) [JW: please note that parenthetical clarification!] in much of Europe the crime problem is intertwined with immigration. The fact that the Roma are being burned out of their homes by mobs, with the evident collaboration of the police, tempts any decent person to deny, or at least ignore, the facts about Roma culture and its attitudes toward crime against the gadje. But that is a dubious tactic ethically, and a losing tactic politically.
Liberals must stand firmly behind the rule of law, and be willing to take the necessary steps against lawless behavior even by members of groups with genuine grievances. Only then can we ask conservatives to stand with us against the lawless behavior directed at them: most of all the lawless behavior of those charged with enforcing the law.
posted by Jeff Weintraub at 6:18 PM
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