Tenebrae
4th Level Yellow Feather
- Joined
- Mar 21, 2005
- Messages
- 3,987
- Points
- 38
I am faithful listener to the Planet Money podcast from NPR. Twice a week, the guys and gals working there offer us a unique, somewhat ironic look into economics, and the psychology that surrounds our use of money.
The last one I listened to though, available from their website and iTunes as of the 21st of July 2016 and titled Paying for the Crime, had little to do with economy. It was the short, and most regrettably partial recap of a criminal case that's been running since the 90s, a thought-provoking tale of abuse of power from the Chicago Police Department. I strongly suspect that this story was ran as a tie-in to the hot and still unresolved Black Lives Matter craze that's been shaking America as of late.
Unsatisfied by the unusual partiality in which the people at Planet Money presented the case, I decided to dig into that a bit. I found this article in the archive of the Chicago Reader, beautifully written by one John Conroy (who is also interviewed in the podcast), published in 1990 and called House of Screams:
http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/house-of-screams/Content?oid=875107
A little warning: it is rather lengthy and exhaustive. But precisely because of that, it is an excellent read. Much more balanced than Planet Money's oversimplified presentation, it takes the time to put things into their hot context and delve into the many protagonists' psychology.
And beyond that, there is the reflection. This case in my opinion gives us an excellent opportunity to think about our constitutional rights, police violence, and how much leeway we the people are willing to give to those who have sworn to protect us. In line with Trump's bombastic declarations towards the use of torture, the Abu Grahib prison scandal, and the Black Lives Matter movement, this is all a reflection I think we should undertake.
This case is far from simple. People like Andrew Wilson, Darrell Cannon, etc... are the scum of the earth, there is no doubt about that. Yet, according the the Constitution, Declaration of human rights and the like, they have inviolable rights which have been gruesomely violated by the same people who took an oath to uphold them, with approval from everyone in the hierarchy, over and under them. To complicate matters further, Detective Burge, the torture ring leader, is a war and police hero. I think some people would agree that he is not too different from the fictional character Jack Bauer (of Fox's TV series "24" in case you do not know) who does unspeakable things to criminals (and sometimes innocent people), and yet is hailed as a hero by a considerable number of viewers.
I was too young to have been there, but I have also read about the controversies which surrounded Clint Eastwood's/Don Siegel's Dirty Harry movie. Far tamer than the current case, in retrospect, yet it also brought about the issue of police violence (a chilling scene features the torture of an absolute scumbag in a "ticking bomb" scenario), and triggered a vivid debate among the American cultural elite: where do we draw the line? When does a hero become a villain? When does a by-the-book adhesion to the principles of the Constitution and the law become cowardice?
These questions have been asked since the advent of democracy. They have been asked time and time again, during peacetime and during wartime. I do not have an answer to any of them, not yet anyways. But I do believe that they are important questions, and thus I wanted to share them with you all in an open fashion.
The last one I listened to though, available from their website and iTunes as of the 21st of July 2016 and titled Paying for the Crime, had little to do with economy. It was the short, and most regrettably partial recap of a criminal case that's been running since the 90s, a thought-provoking tale of abuse of power from the Chicago Police Department. I strongly suspect that this story was ran as a tie-in to the hot and still unresolved Black Lives Matter craze that's been shaking America as of late.
Unsatisfied by the unusual partiality in which the people at Planet Money presented the case, I decided to dig into that a bit. I found this article in the archive of the Chicago Reader, beautifully written by one John Conroy (who is also interviewed in the podcast), published in 1990 and called House of Screams:
http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/house-of-screams/Content?oid=875107
A little warning: it is rather lengthy and exhaustive. But precisely because of that, it is an excellent read. Much more balanced than Planet Money's oversimplified presentation, it takes the time to put things into their hot context and delve into the many protagonists' psychology.
And beyond that, there is the reflection. This case in my opinion gives us an excellent opportunity to think about our constitutional rights, police violence, and how much leeway we the people are willing to give to those who have sworn to protect us. In line with Trump's bombastic declarations towards the use of torture, the Abu Grahib prison scandal, and the Black Lives Matter movement, this is all a reflection I think we should undertake.
This case is far from simple. People like Andrew Wilson, Darrell Cannon, etc... are the scum of the earth, there is no doubt about that. Yet, according the the Constitution, Declaration of human rights and the like, they have inviolable rights which have been gruesomely violated by the same people who took an oath to uphold them, with approval from everyone in the hierarchy, over and under them. To complicate matters further, Detective Burge, the torture ring leader, is a war and police hero. I think some people would agree that he is not too different from the fictional character Jack Bauer (of Fox's TV series "24" in case you do not know) who does unspeakable things to criminals (and sometimes innocent people), and yet is hailed as a hero by a considerable number of viewers.
I was too young to have been there, but I have also read about the controversies which surrounded Clint Eastwood's/Don Siegel's Dirty Harry movie. Far tamer than the current case, in retrospect, yet it also brought about the issue of police violence (a chilling scene features the torture of an absolute scumbag in a "ticking bomb" scenario), and triggered a vivid debate among the American cultural elite: where do we draw the line? When does a hero become a villain? When does a by-the-book adhesion to the principles of the Constitution and the law become cowardice?
These questions have been asked since the advent of democracy. They have been asked time and time again, during peacetime and during wartime. I do not have an answer to any of them, not yet anyways. But I do believe that they are important questions, and thus I wanted to share them with you all in an open fashion.
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