Amnesty and Authority
How do certain channels of authority discourage societal unity?
By Amir Benson
The image of civility typically begins with courtesy. Recognizing one another as ‘deserving of good manners’ is crucial in establishing a society that can help itself and its neighbors, if they choose to do so to willing territories. Maintaining societal tranquility throughout all days in all walks of life is a utopia not a single nation has claimed to attain; and honestly, why would there be such an everlasting peace when we as people appear to have all but mastered both the arts of necessary violence and alluring theatrics?
Leveraging publicity for stunt approval is a common tactic used among those with instated influence in order to further twist the implications and expectations of authority1. In any such case, the individual within a populated space will have a duty to their responsibilities; as such, there are largely populated spaces with individuals that have their obligations holding authority over their want for civility. Authority, by definition, is very multifactorial2; however, to open the discussion on how certain authorities can impact advances toward civility the definitions and connotations of multiple channels of authority must first be compared and contrasted.
Before exploring certain shortcomings of the authoritative chain of command, certain concepts like the police, lawmaker, and lineage should be properly defined and impartially explored.
Police noun
Po ⠂lice
1a
: the department of government concerned primarily with maintenance of public order, safety, and health and enforcement of laws and possessing executive, judicial, and legislative powers
b
: the department of government charged with prevention, detection, and prosecution of public nuisances and crimes
2a
b
plural : police officers
3a
: a private organization resembling a police force
campus police
b
plural : the members of a private police organization
4
: one attempting to regulate or censor a specified field or activity
the fashion police
5a
: the internal organization or regulation of a political unit through exercise of governmental powers especially with respect to general comfort, health, morals, safety, or prosperity
b
: control and regulation of affairs affecting the general order and welfare of any unit or area
c
: the system of laws for effecting such control
6a
: the action or process of cleaning and putting in order
b
: military personnel detailed to perform this function
Police verb
Po ⠂lice
1
: to control, regulate, or keep in order by use of police
2
: to perform the functions of a police force in or over
3a
: to supervise the operation, execution, or administration of to prevent or detect and prosecute violations of rules and regulations
b
: to exercise such supervision over the policies and activities of
4
: to make clean and put in order
5
archaic : govern
Source: flickr.com
Lawmaker noun
Law ⠂Mak ⠂er
: One who makes laws: [LEGISLATOR
:one that makes laws especially for a political unit
especially : a member of a legislative body]
Lineage noun
Line ⠂age
1a
: descent in a line from a common [progenitor
1a
: an ancestor in the direct line : forefather
b
: a biologically ancestral form
2
progenitors of socialist ideas—The Times Literary Supplement (London)
progenitor cells]
b
the gun’s direct lineage is in the 1960s
—Erik Larson
2
: a group of individuals tracing descent from a common ancestor
especially : such a group of persons whose common ancestor is regarded as its founder
Source: worldhistory.org
(Cited from Merriam-Webster: Police, Merriam-Webster: Lawmaker, and Merriam-Webster: Lineage)
Defining the terms with their direct meanings will help draw up their intentions, but paying attention to how these authorities utilize their influence sheds light on to certain current correctional agendas. Those with power instill fear of consequence alongside the attempt to perpetuate regulation; seemingly so the civilian class will hold select regulations as sacrocanct3, or sacred, within a widespread multiplex of societal panic. Detrimental incidents impact all manner of people indiscriminately, yet a case could be made in favor of nationalism4 and privatized interests being the main drivers of discriminatory legislative movements.
The expectation of the police is to safeguard peaceful livelihood in the event of domestic distress while upholding proper conduct and civil integrity; while certain recurring scenarios and witness accounts would portray that there aren’t enough protocols or accountability checks implemented to properly maintain civil standards. A barbarity too frequently endured in the all too popular instances of excessive force leading to severe injury and/or loss of life during the detainment process, especially with regards to minority “offenders”.
The expectation of the lawmaker is to create regulation within a nation for solidarity and prosperity by being receptive to the nation’s many voices and penning out carefully considered bills, to later be reviewed throughout a fair, balanced, and domestically involved campaign; while the highly alluded to notion among the public is that lawmakers will likely be incentivized by lobbyists and corporate interest stakes more than civilian strife. The influx of income and investments is likely in rampant transaction in order to filter biased bills down the pipeline of career politicians toting faction-based philosophy to argue on ample amounts of complicated systemic matters within closed-off board rooms and in rapid succession.
The expectation of lineage is to provide any free human with a personal history in which they can revel in, praising those who founded their traditions, core beliefs, and communal identity; while the reality is that it is more modernly represented as a game of slots where the right line up of genetic factors dictates whether one may live in affluence or apprehension, pride or prejudice, vacant of conscience or victim or circumstance.
The volume of public outcry is made immutable by the access to free news and general inclination towards opinionated discussion spurred by the United States allowance of free speech. The commonfolk placed under authoritative jurisdiction would normally have no reason to further explore the inner workings of command and governing procedure, which disrupts the channel of communication from congressperson to civilian by the extent of inevitable omission; Think of it like a game of telephone, where representatives of authority can say potentially anything to establish the starting phrase in open or enclosed communications, and the “uniform” set of consequences for the misinterpretation/miscommunication of these messages are any number of felony charges, or possibly an on-site execution. With the pieces rigged as they are the only hope of change can, and has, come from enough people on the open line saying the same thing at once. Volume and verbiage should have no set standard when it comes to activism, if censorship exists anywhere then the pursuit of equal ground is anyone’s game.
Source: flickr.com
If we elect those who interpret, execute, and instate legislation out of refusal to seek further understanding of the inner workings of political relations, then all democracy stands for will go to waste. How are the peoples’ liberties expected to be safeguarded when critical discussion spaces are as open as they are for any person to cast stones at scapegoats on the grounds of strawman fallacies5?
If there is no clear indication of universal respect towards regulation then does the blame turn to the wily, inconsolable public which begs for change but can’t agree on where to begin or towards the haughty demagogues6 hiding behind centuries of brazenly curated, fuddy-duddy, one-sided amendments7?
On that note, do we as the governed people play our part in checks and balances if we allow sinister deeds to be sanctioned in forms like voter consent and compensation via taxpayer?
The public’s indignation is deepened when those at the helm of upholding rules and regulations are caught performing sadistic experiments or discussing subversive tactics to supplement sections of societal control, while also attempting to convince the public that any fulfilled ambitions are solely a result of an individual’s effort.
Influence, like protection, can be purchased or bargained for; and the likely case is that if one must buy it then they are likely to be standing on an askew platform. The pillars of authority advertise their own services to be as integral to the sustainability of the nation as the land it rests on itself, and yet there are heaps of heavy offenses often associated with such branches of high-class bureaucracy8.
Reports of abuses of power are not particularly scarce in today’s sociopolitical climate, the frequency and magnitude of the offenses are typically scaled to how they directly intrude upon the idea of continuous public safety. When there is direct contact between a figure of authority and an unruly civilian the correlation between likely outcome and longstanding suspicion becomes all the more clear; however, figures that influence over distance can afford to take subtler approaches. Here are some headlines cited from The Independent to serve as some examples of corruption-related issues seeded into central authoritative channels. All article sources are linked in their respective titles.
Police –
___ – Murder
___ – Assault
___ – Abuse of power
___ – Good deed
Lawmaker –
___ – Politician(s) targeting Politician(s)
___ – Politician(s) targeting Citizen(s)
___ – Citizen(s) targeting Politician(s)
___ – Politician(s) act in civilian interest
Lineage* Defined by Search Term: Legacy –
___ – Harmful societal favoritism
___ – Barbarism made tradition
___ – Bloodline seeking honor
People will always develop varying perspectives within their own realms of understanding. Witnessing and respecting one another’s means and methods of acquiring understanding is the first key step in interpreting alternative means of domestic sustainability. History dictates that we were not all granted the same tools and expectations to achieve the same brand of excellence, so the standards we are all raised to seem to serve nobody; nobody, except for those who enforce them. Luckily for us, public opinion and funding still hold authority over most privatized industries of enforcement9.
Evidently, there is some miscommunication afoot if there are repeat instances of blatant safety violations and obstruction of citizens’ rights being steadily sanctioned by the heads of state; only to then be spread by an improperly socialized public. Examples of this can range from expected cases like when law enforcement confronts minority suspects with comparably more hostility than their non-colored counterparts, to more nuanced instances such as that of Oregon State Representative, Janelle Bynam, who had a voter call the police on her while campaigning door-to-door (Sampathkumar, The Independent, 2018); which was fortunately resolved without further escalation.
However, Ms Bynam’s encounter can only serve as proof that people of color must roll the dice when leaving the house and partaking in their daily duties lest an act such as “excessive typing on the phone” be deemed suspicious and worthy of notifying authorities. The stakes of a 911 call are immeasurably raised nowadays given the reputation of law enforcement and their measures when it comes to confronting/detaining minorities. Ms. Bynam uses her campaign to help destigmatize the black image and build up a community ever held to the ropes.
Many of these racist-adjacent reprehensible acts have no clear indication, other than to further deepen tragic traditions that cement subliminally instilled skin-deep subjugations. It’s not a science but it is, people are people, and each person should strive for harmless excellence in their own right as they see fit. The issue lies in the traditions that stem from an era of living in discrimination or servitude rather than livelihood.
We will continue to see our fellow countrymen alienated by the aid of career politicians accepting and rejecting legislative notions defined in doublespeak and tied to insider trades. We will continue to unconsciously alienate10 through conformity unless we effectively communicate on established equal grounds. Channels of authority should be spearheading the holistic community efforts, or at least attempt to be honest as to why they are selective about which communities repeatedly receive the main course of humane efforts.
In the earliest days of U.S. law enforcement, locally sourced Boston Night Watchmen were becoming a prevalent concept in northern colonies. The Boston Nightwatch of 1631 began as a settlement-funded, town-orchestrated patrol force that fended off thieves, ne’er-do-wells, feral wildlife, and small fires. As the company matured and grew less attentive to its staff hands, it fell under the town hall’s order in 1636.
Issues concerning minor acts such as unwed coupling, public intoxication, and thieving were taken to court and paid with a balancing fine or act of public humiliation. Crimes considered serious offenses like murder, sexual assault, arson, adultery, and witchcraft would often have received the death penalty after a short trial.
The Nightwatch served until 1845 to give way to the Boston Police Department; a quasi-military structured state-run organization that persuaded civil obedience by favor of palm-to-palm payouts and political pardons. Corrupt officers receiving handouts on duty and acting under direct orders of the holder of state office is not unheard of to the attentive.
Certain jurisdictions of officers since The Nightwatch’s conception were given the task of capturing, returning, and further persecuting fugitive slaves, as well as dispersing any attempts of black persons forming public unions. There would soon follow a drastic influx of stringent social codes and resulting mass incarceration to further induct freed slaves back into servitude under community service laws.
Enforcement mainly took the role of suppressing slave rebellion and terrorizing the slave populous to retrieve desired behaviors. Slave patrols worked in tandem with slave owners to ensure the descendants of the African diaspora had no means to generate thoughts of freedom.
“An Act for Preventing Negro Insurrection” of 1680 reads,
It shall not be lawfull for any negroe or other slave to carry or arme himselfe with any club, staffe, gunn, sword or any other weapon of defence or offence, nor to goe or depart from of his masters ground without a certificate from his master, mistris or overseer, and such permission not to be granted but upon perticuler and necessary occasions; and every negroe or slave soe offending not haveing a certificate as aforesaid shalbe sent to the next constable, who is hereby enjoyned and required to give the said negroe twenty lashes on his bare back well layd on, and soe sent home to his said master, mistris or overseer . . . that if any negroe or other slave shall absent himself from his masters service and lye hid and lurking in obscure places, comitting injuries to the inhabitants, and shall resist any person or persons that shalby any lawful authority be imployed to apprehend and take the said negroe, that then in case of such resistance, it shalbe lawfull for such person or persons to kill the said negroe or slave soe lying out and resisting.
When considering the entire purpose of abolitionism is to grant oppressed people their freedom and how many civil rights activists are labeled as terrorists or domestic threats in their time, is now a good historical period in time to ask why authority seeks to extort and exterminate its primary means of production for profit spikes so often? And when will we, as the product and the means of production, agree that enough is enough?
To lay the history of the American law and information system out in the open is to highlight, not only instances of violence and injustice enacted by the criminal justice system but also the corporate/political handouts, the molding of black codes11 into modern patrol training, hiring Klansmen and descendants into positions of court decree, journalistic publication, public safety, legislative decision making and many more levels of institutions harboring prejudice towards marginalized groups.
Reporting news is one thing, but needing to adapt to the spread of agenda and misinformation is new ground for a lot of U.S. citizens. Building a baseboard from a blueprint lacking benevolent intention takes the front stage in much of recent domestic discourse. The civilian masses must exude confidence, forbearance, and conviction in order to rationalize and alleviate the befalling’s of the forefathers. To develop a more holistic domestic homestay in hopes of establishing a lasting normal we must recognize that there were monstrous and vile persecutions instated so the masses could be indefinitely controlled through regulations. The past is now too bitter for certain civilians to swallow, resulting in rampaging ignorance and ungrounded entitlement. If we as people are truly free then we are free to ask for assistance after being forced to assimilate into a hateful, preoccupied, self-indulgent, venal12, hypocritical, duplicitous, incessantly craving, accountability dodging, economy driven, morally flaccid ecoscape13.
If a ruling class puts itself at the helm of a country and uses its barbarians and brutes to muscle their way atop the silent majority, then how far are we away from true tyranny? Moreover, where is it best to discuss these matters when the oppressor holds themselves high out of earshot until we say something they deem disorderly to the powers that be? I tend to wonder if the hired muscle of tyrannical nations make more than supposed top earners, and which of the ways would make more sense.
Just as grievances begin with initial complaint, civility can only be born through courtesy; and what is a nation if not a collection of amendments and grievances with thoroughly enforced theoretical borders? It is my belief, as I was brought up to believe, that life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are never to be tried or taken unjustly. So if you are to call yourself a fair and righteous person, be respectful with yourself, your neighbors, and your right to protect what is yours. Respect your predecessors regardless of current legacy, and may just justice prevail.
Definitions
Amnesty – the act of an authority (such as a government) by which pardon is granted to a large group of individuals: To grant amnesty to : to pardon (someone) officially often before a trial or conviction
Authority – power to influence or command thought, opinion, or behavior: freedom granted by one in authority: persons in command: a governmental agency or corporation to administer a revenue-producing public enterprise: convincing force: a citation (as from a book or file) used in defense or support: the source from which the citation is drawn: a conclusive statement or set of statements (such as an official decision of a court): a decision taken as a precedent: an individual cited or appealed to as an expert.
Multifactorial – caused or marked by a polygenic mode of inheritance dependent on a number of genes at different loci: also: caused by or dependent on the interaction of multiple genes combined with one or more environmental factors;
Multifactor – having, involving, or produced by a variety of elements or causes
Sacrosanct – most sacred or holy : inviolable: treated as if holy: immune from criticism or violation
Nationalism – an ideology that elevates one nation or nationality above all others and that places primary emphasis on promotion of its culture and interests as opposed to those of other nations, nationalities, or supranational groups: support for and promotion of the political independence or self-determination of a nation or people: a nationalist movement or government
Straw man Fallacy – a weak or imaginary opposition (such as an argument or adversary) set up only to be easily confuted: a person set up to serve as a cover for a usually questionable transaction
Demagogue – a leader who makes use of popular prejudices and false claims and promises in order to gain power: a leader championing the cause of the common people in ancient times
Amendment – the process of altering or amending a law or document (such as a constitution) by parliamentary or constitutional procedure: an alteration proposed or effected by this process: the act of amending something : correction: a material (such as compost or sand) that aids plant growth indirectly by improving the condition of the soil
Bureaucracy – a body of nonelected government officials: an administrative policymaking group: government characterized by specialization of functions, adherence to fixed rules, and a hierarchy of authority: a system of administration marked by officialism, red tape, and proliferation
Red Tape – official routine or procedure marked by excessive complexity which results in delay or inaction
Enforcement – to give force to : strengthen: to urge with energy: constrain, compel: to carry out effectively
Alienate – to cause to be estranged: to make unfriendly, hostile, or indifferent especially where attachment formerly existed: to convey or transfer (something, such as property or a right) usually by a specific act rather than the due course of law: to cause to be withdrawn or diverted
Venal – capable of being bought or obtained for money or other valuable consideration: purchasable: originating in, characterized by, or associated with corrupt bribery
Ecosphere – the parts of the universe habitable by living organisms
Definitions cited from merriam-webster
