While I’m not against body cams, I feel like they address issues so niche and so far removed from the core problems that they only really provide a false sense of a solution.

The problem is that a cop’s purpose in our capitalist system is not to protect and serve the general population. It’s not to universally enforce laws that improve society for the good of everyone. The system they exist in is corrupted to its core by capitalism. Most of the law itself doesn’t exist for everyone’s benefit - it exists to serve existing power structures.

Sure, cops will give legitimate tickets to people breaking traffic laws, and sometimes the powerful can’t just pay for a good lawyer and have to face… a fine. Of course, a fine is just the cost of doing business if you have money. Also, note that the only portion of my example that was actually illegal for a cop was planting evidence, which cops have already learned to bypass by shifting their torso to distract from or obscure the action. Sure, they sometimes get caught if the victim has the resources for a good lawyer… and the cops misjudge how well they obscured the action… but the cop doesn’t usually target people with those kinds of resources. Things like traffic fines exist to harvest money from the population to fund the department and serve well as an excuse to pull someone over and escalate the situation if needed.

Cops exist to selectively enforce laws mostly designed or corrupted to be selectively enforced. Sometimes the masses will get a decent law passed or a cop will try to do the right thing but the rest of the system has been corrupted enough that those with power rarely face consequences.

These laws and “enforcers” exist to teach the masses that they need to behave and keep their filthy, unworthy hands off of whatever the powerful don’t think they deserve. The culture is that of the thin blue line, which serves to isolate them and otherize “civilians”. The culture is that of noble warriors fighting for their lives and ready to defend themselves from a barbaric, uncivilized world… like brown kids and distressed minorities. They think that they “protect and serve”. They put a lot of lipstick on that pig when you look at the big picture they only protect and serve those with power… and sometimes themselves.

When shit gets real and the masses protest, cops will be there to find (or infiltrate and create) a reason to escalate, arrest people, and disperse the protest. They’ll enforce curfews to “keep the peace”. They’ll absolutely protect businesses. Sometimes they’ll even break up strikes or attempts to organize.

The war of drugs, and most other similar initiatives, mainly exist as tools for “law enforcement”. In reality , “law enforcement” is primarily aimed at the lower classes when they step out of line.

It’s extremely important to recognize that “laws” are enforced selectively. Those with power, money, and influence rarely suffer anything more than performative punishment, and only when not doing so might cause a substantial public backlash.

At the start of the war on drugs with Nixon, it was recognized (openly in conversations made public thanks to Watergate) as an extremely convenient way for cops to target and control blacks and anti-war protesters.

This continues today. Cop pulls you over and gets suspicious because you aren’t white… “Is that marijuana I smell? I’m going to have to search your vehicle to find or, maybe even plant, something I can use to charge you with a crime.” … “You don’t consent? That’s sounds really suspicious. What are you hiding? Nothing? Well then it’d be easier if you just consent. It’s really in your best interest.” … “Still no? Well, I hope you don’t have somewhere to be, I’m going to have to call a K-9 in while I take 30 minutes to write up your ticket…”

Don’t forget that when it crashes, they’ll get to try to rebuild the system so that it’s more stable for the capitalist class and workers have fewer rights and options.

I try to spend consciously and it’s fucking depressing. The list of companies I avoid grows and grows and grows. If it isn’t some antisocial billionaires throwing their weight around trying to get more money or change the world to better fit their vision with complete and utter disregard for normal people, it’s pressure from the millionaires to increase share value so they can try to get their turn.

The need to increase profit, or more recently increase the rate of growth (the line that shows how fast the line goes up has been discovered so now that line needs to go up), has ruined everything.

If the company isn’t completely, directly captured by these antisocial forces they are indirectly captured by the environment that is dominated by those same forces. Monopolies, anticompetitive business practices, hostile takeovers, vulture capitalists, ladder pulling, or just people strapped for cash that just buy whatever is cheaper regardless of the human cost involved.

Now everyone else is being squeezed and struggle to live a decent life or find dignity. Those responsible for this environment just use those struggling people. They’ll redirect them to squeezing each other - scams, pyramid schemes, MLMs. They’ll keep us fighting amongst ourselves - blame immigrants, minorities, DEI.

Now “AI” is continuing to get hyped and pushed even if it sucks at its job and demands insane amount of energy. It’s way cheaper than people, or at least the cost is easier to pass on to others and it might be even cheaper eventually… so everyone is investing in it.

From an American perspective, it’s just so much and I feel like things are only getting worse and fast.