I was raised Presbyterian, but I don’t think I ever really believed in Hell (or Heaven). Of course, I also thought being a Christian mostly just meant trying to be a good person and it took reading the bible to realize I wasn’t a Christian at all. Part of the problem was that I didn’t know there was an option other than Christian, Jew, or Atheist. Finally found Wicca in high school, which fits my beliefs well-enough that I claim it. The core tenet of Wicca is “an it harm none, do as you will,” but it’s not like there’s someone waiting to judge me. Not hurting people is just the right thing to do; why is that so hard for some to grasp? I’m anti-organized-religion at this point because it seems to do more harm than good.
I’m not sure about getting rid of all of some kind of law enforcement force; I’ve known too many psychopaths (I mean this literally, as in, someone who does not have empathy) in my life to not want *something*, but the police definitely needs to get out of stupid shit like traffic enforcement, “the war on drugs,” “noise disturbances,” and all that type of stuff.
Some unfortunately very common example scenarios that need *someone* to call and handle:
1) my ex-bf is threatening/trying to kill me
2) there is a shooter somewhere
3) i was raped or assaulted
4) my neighbor attacked or killed my pet
5) my neighbor’s pet attacked me or my kid or my pet
6) i think this child is being abused
and then of course, you have things like straight-up murder, and serial killers, who may not be common, but do exist (I lived in Gainesville during the time of Danny Rolling). Also, my neighbor (who, ironically, was also a cop), had his house broken into a couple years ago and a bunch of stuff stolen. I had a friend whose truck was stolen and later used in a high-speed chase with cops. Gary’s home was broken into 3 times when he was a kid. Mine was once as a kid and once as an adult. So, you know, that stuff does happen. Now, all but one of those thefts involved either drug-runners or druggies, so if we can fix our drug problem, we’d get rid of a lot of other crime, but I don’t see that happening anytime soon (and by “solve,” I DO NOT mean “put everyone in jail”). The house crimes we could solve by having alarm systems for everyone (although, when the alarm goes off, it’s still the police that gets called, currently), but the rest…?
We need *something.* Especially in this country full of trigger-happy entitled pricks with guns. Just not what we currently have. And we especially *DO NOT* need murderers in uniforms.
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I must say I’ve always distrusted people who think they and others need a higher power to keep from doing bad things…
Oh, that’s interesting!
I was raised Presbyterian, but I don’t think I ever really believed in Hell (or Heaven). Of course, I also thought being a Christian mostly just meant trying to be a good person and it took reading the bible to realize I wasn’t a Christian at all. Part of the problem was that I didn’t know there was an option other than Christian, Jew, or Atheist. Finally found Wicca in high school, which fits my beliefs well-enough that I claim it. The core tenet of Wicca is “an it harm none, do as you will,” but it’s not like there’s someone waiting to judge me. Not hurting people is just the right thing to do; why is that so hard for some to grasp? I’m anti-organized-religion at this point because it seems to do more harm than good.
I’m not sure about getting rid of all of some kind of law enforcement force; I’ve known too many psychopaths (I mean this literally, as in, someone who does not have empathy) in my life to not want *something*, but the police definitely needs to get out of stupid shit like traffic enforcement, “the war on drugs,” “noise disturbances,” and all that type of stuff.
Some unfortunately very common example scenarios that need *someone* to call and handle:
1) my ex-bf is threatening/trying to kill me
2) there is a shooter somewhere
3) i was raped or assaulted
4) my neighbor attacked or killed my pet
5) my neighbor’s pet attacked me or my kid or my pet
6) i think this child is being abused
and then of course, you have things like straight-up murder, and serial killers, who may not be common, but do exist (I lived in Gainesville during the time of Danny Rolling). Also, my neighbor (who, ironically, was also a cop), had his house broken into a couple years ago and a bunch of stuff stolen. I had a friend whose truck was stolen and later used in a high-speed chase with cops. Gary’s home was broken into 3 times when he was a kid. Mine was once as a kid and once as an adult. So, you know, that stuff does happen. Now, all but one of those thefts involved either drug-runners or druggies, so if we can fix our drug problem, we’d get rid of a lot of other crime, but I don’t see that happening anytime soon (and by “solve,” I DO NOT mean “put everyone in jail”). The house crimes we could solve by having alarm systems for everyone (although, when the alarm goes off, it’s still the police that gets called, currently), but the rest…?
We need *something.* Especially in this country full of trigger-happy entitled pricks with guns. Just not what we currently have. And we especially *DO NOT* need murderers in uniforms.