The militarization of the US police is of real concern. It psychologically aids the process where if the police feel like they are the ‘army’, then the people will become the ‘enemy‘.
I remember speaking to a young actor a few years back. I had watched an excellent performance of him on stage, playing a Nazi SS officer. Afterwards I congratulated him on the way he embodied the character. He was reserved and humble in real life – and thanked me. He said – as soon as he put on the uniform, he felt different. The SS uniform helped him access the character’s dark ruthlessness. He was even shocked at his own transformation, and the influence his wardrobe had over him.
And this is backed up by research: If you wear a white coat that you believe belongs to a doctor, your ability to pay attention increases sharply. But if you wear the same white coat believing it belongs to a painter, you will show no such improvement. And there is a body of work on embodied cognition, e.g. If you carry a heavy clipboard, you will feel more important. And it has long been known that “clothing affects how other people perceive us as well as how we think about ourselves” (Dr. Galinsky).
So why do the riots at Fergusen look like Iraq or Gaza. There has been a deliberate militarization of the the police and Department of Homeland Security. Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul and others have criticized the Pentagon effort for turning domestic police forces into occupying armies. “Big government has been at the heart of the problem,” Paul notes. “Washington has incentivized the militarization of local police precincts by using federal dollars to help municipal governments build what are essentially small armies — where police departments compete to acquire military gear that goes far beyond what most of Americans think of as law enforcement.”
Therefore the logic is: If they no longer look like police – and rather look like an occupying army – most likely the police in the US will behave like an occupying army – and treat American citizens as the enemy.
And this has been demonstrated in Fergusen, Missouri where protesters were cloaked in clouds of tear gas. The police and protesters continue their stand off over the death of Michael Brown, an unarmed teenager who was shot multiple times and killed Saturday by a police officer. And a protester named Samantha Broomfield told the Saint Louis Post-Dispatch,“I’m down here at the protest and they start throwing tear gas and shooting rubber bullets at all the protesters, telling us to go home, and we live here. They need to go home. We live here. We’re looking for justice. Where’s the justice for this boy’s death?”
But Fergusen aside – what is the Department of Homeland Security planning?
Reports indicate that DHS has bought over 1,600,000,000 bullets – enough to wage a war for a very very long time. Are they preparing for something? Or are they just making sure their weapon manufacturing cronies are keeping their companies turned over? Paul Joseph Watson of Infowars.com reported that DHS purchased 10 million hollow-point bullets – bullets prohibited by the rules of war.
So if you look like an army – it will behave like an army.
Oh, and I thought only ‘crims’ purchased hollow nosed bullets.