Ex-cop manhunt in LA; tragedy ensues

[Sithdarth]

Well, I would like an analysis from the specialists here: is a paranoid delusion a possible sign of mental illness? Discuss.

That depends entirely on if you happened to be high on something or not. A true persistent paranoid delusion (not brought on by some form of chemical) that remains despite repeated proof to the contrary is almost assuredly a sign of some form of mental illness.

Now in order to head of where I think this is going I'll say this; thinking that all the brown people are out to get you is not a paranoid delusion (even if it seems like one). It is not a paranoid delusion for at least two reasons I can think of right now. The first being is that racists/bigots will often have a token friend of the minority they are racists/bigoted toward or when pressed will admit that not every member of said minority is guilty of the things they are afraid of. Thus proving that the belief is not a delusion but simply a misguided belief based on what is probably poor reasoning and/or bad information. The second, and this ties directly into the first, is that a racist/bigot (should they be willing and not just stubborn) can be taught not to be a racist/bigot once again proving that it is a belief and not a delusion.

In short, thinking that a minority group is out to get you in and of itself does not qualify as a paranoid delusion and a true paranoid delusion is a symptom of mental illness.

[Token]

Well, obviously. The DSM has three different types of paranoia- paranoid personality disorder, paranoid schizophrenia, and persecutory delusional disorder. Dunno what the point of asking that was?

EDIT: or what sith said.

[CABAL49]

Racism can't be linked to mental illness or anything else other than social factors. I get what you are meaning to say RPG, but it is not only coming off as offensive it is completely wrong and you are better off dropping the point.

I mean, of course discrimination is dumb. APA did some good studies on racism, mixed with other studies on genetics to come to the nice conclusion that we are all more or less the same. That there is no inferior or superior race. So not only is racism morally wrong, it is unscientific. What the APA did determine is that social factors is a better explanation of why people behave certain ways and it is something that we've known for hundreds of years, which is social factors.

And Snake, stop making excuses for the LAPD. They are fascists.

And for everyone who suggests that this man had taken a different route, what would you have done?

[Krylo]

Originally Posted by CABAL49

And for everyone who suggests that this man had taken a different route, what would you have done?

I guess not killed an innocent woman and her fiancee for the horrendous crime of being related to a police officer.

[Krylo]

Like I don't care what happened to him, or what options he had open. There is literally nothing in this world that justifies murdering two innocent people to hurt someone else who cares about them.

That you even seem to be attempting to do so with that sentence is actually physically sickening.

[Premmy]

Dude's literally behaving like a super-villain.

Originally Posted by Sithdarth

Stuff

Let's not forget that the society we live in likes to find new and creative ways to tell us that brown people are out to get you.You don't have to be mentally ill to be brainwashed.

[Jagos]

What I have to say about racism:

Racism generally becomes generalized as a post-facto rationalization (of course this is a dialectical process, what I mean is that the material justification for racism always precedes the first appearance of racist theories) of certain policies of oppression of one state against another, of one class against another, or of segment of a class against another. The historical evidence of this is pretty overwhelming, but just to give some examples:

Africans, in ancient times, were not discriminated against based on the color of their skin. For example, Romans were more than happy to consider Egyptians and other Sub-Saharan Africans as civilized citizens, while the Gauls and other European tribes were definitely seen as inferior. Skin color was for the most part irrelevant, with the civilizing factor being how close one was culturally and legally to Rome. Fast-forward a few centuries and the almost complete extermination of the native americans creates the demand for more slave labor in America. By proximity the West coast of Africa is the ideal place to get it, and thus racist theories about the inherent inferiority of black people becomes dominant.

For many centuries inter-European racism was basically non-existent. There was hardly any systematic oppression among Europeans, so no justification based on inherent traits had to be created. When the XX century Nazi Germany tried to create its own domestic Empire to the East, emulating by their own admission the American conquest of the West, suddenly all sorts of previously "white" races became "subhuman", like the slavic people, or definitely inferior races that could be subjugated to German will, like many Southern Europeans. Again we see how racism comes into existence to justify the material reality of some sort of systematic oppression, and not the opposite (ie, racism does not just exist and later breeds Imperialism). Related to this, note how modern day inter-European Imperialism is again resurrecting some of this rhetoric, with the EU-IMF-WorldBank policies against Southern Europe being in part justified by the inherent laziness, stupidity and in general inherent inferior status of its inhabitants. History repeats itself, etc.

The pattern is clear. Wherever racism shows up, you'll easily be able to find, hiding right behind it, a situation where one group of people is oppressing and exploiting another class of people. A rationalization for this state of affairs is needed, so all sorts of racist theories appear, in the end just being more or less ad-hoc constructs that show us how what we are seeing is not only to be expected, but a*natural*outcome of some inherent attributes of both oppressor and oppressed.

Source

Divide and conquer continues to be efficient for exploitation. Hell, just look at the last election and the treatment that Obama was given for the last four years. Think about the history of the US and race relations. It isn't changing until you change the system and make it less exploitative. No reforms, just an actual revolt.

[Solid Snake]

Originally Posted by CABAL49

And Snake, stop making excuses for the LAPD. They are fascists.

*sigh*

Expressing that critics of an institution should actually establish their criticisms with facts as opposed to reacting with raw, undistilled and potentially hyperbolic emotion is not "siding with the institution."

What I wanted was a reason to be convinced that the LAPD are every bit as terrible as previously insinuated. With, you know, actual analysis as opposed to unsubstantiated normative statements.

[Magus]

Thanks Sif, I think that explains it. Racism is not necessarily a paranoid delusion because according to one of the requirements for a paranoid delusion, it requires that the delusion not have possible explanations in the person's own culture or belief system. If someone is raised to be a racist, then their being racist is not because of a paranoid delusion, but their own upbringing. And as pointed out, they can alter their beliefs through mere education as opposed to psychiatric counseling.

Originally Posted by Solid Snake

*sigh*

Expressing that critics of an institution should actually establish their criticisms with facts as opposed to reacting with raw, undistilled and potentially hyperbolic emotion is not "siding with the institution."

What I wanted was a reason to be convinced that the LAPD are every bit as terrible as previously insinuated. With, you know, actual analysis as opposed to unsubstantiated normative statements.

Well here is an article about the current culture of racism and sexism within the LAPD. Couple this with the repeated reports of brutality against minority prisoners and you start to get a picture of them as a corrupt, racist organization when you consider past decades of even more flagrant abuse, including, a mere 15 years ago flagrant murder and drug dealing.. Consider the Rampart scandal.

The Rampart scandal refers to widespread corruption in the Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums (or CRASH) anti-gang unit of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) Rampart Division in the late 1990s. More than 70 police officers either assigned to or associated with the Rampart CRASH unit were implicated in some form of misconduct, making it one of the most widespread cases of documented police misconduct in United States history. The convicted offenses include unprovoked shootings, unprovoked beatings, planting of false evidence, framing of suspects, stealing and dealing narcotics, bank robbery, perjury, and the covering up of evidence of these activities.[1]

The Rampart Scandal is notable in popular culture because at least three LAPD officers implicated in the scandal were found to be on the payroll of hip-hop mogul Marion "Suge" Knight of Death Row Records, a convicted felon with known ties to the Bloods street gang. Moreover, LAPD investigators alleged Rampart CRASH officers Nino Durden, Rafael Pérez and David Mack were involved in the 1997 drive-by murder of recording artist Notorious B.I.G..[2]

The Rampart investigation, based mainly on statements of the admitted corrupt officer (Pérez), initially implicated over 70 officers of wrongdoing. Of those officers, enough evidence was found to bring 58 before an internal administrative board. However, of the officers named by Pérez, only 24 were actually found to have committed any wrongdoing, with 12 given suspensions of various lengths, 7 forced to resign or retire, and 5 fired.[3] As a result of the probe into falsified evidence and police perjury, 106 prior criminal convictions were overturned.[4] The Rampart Scandal resulted in more than 140 civil lawsuits against the city of Los Angeles, costing the city an estimated $125 million in settlements.[5]

Partly as a result of the scandal, Police Chief Bernard Parks was not rehired by Mayor James K. Hahn in 2001. Both the scandal and the de facto firing of Parks are believed to have precipitated Mayor Hahn's defeat by Antonio Villaraigosa in the 2005 election.[6]

As of 2013 the full extent of Rampart corruption is not known, with several rape, murder and robbery investigations involving Rampart officers remaining unsolved.[7][8]

This is several years after the Rodney King beating, by the way.

[Sifright]

So like Snake.

You ever hear of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1992_Los_Angeles_riots

You know what sparked it?

The LAPD beating the shit out of Rodney King.

You know what happens to the police officers that did it?

They got off. Thats why there was rioting.

This kind of shit is typical all over America, the police are not held accountable for their actions.

The LAPD is just the absolute worst example of the police in USA.

Edit:

Like snake, instead of going "Bluh, bluh bluh, waaaah why you call the lapd mean facists" Why don't cha fucking google LAPD. You get a laundry list of their fucking awful shit.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Ang...nt#Controversy