Just Doing Their Job?

Just Doing Their Job?

One of the arguments often used to defend poorly behaving police is the claim that they are “just doing their jobs.” This is such an absurdly silly argument that I am surprised that ANYONE takes it seriously.

I will not spend much time addressing the typical response to this most typical of arguments. This response is the claim that the Nazi’s were also just doing their jobs too when they participated in the mass slaughter of innocents. Yes, this argument is 100% true, but it hardly seems relevant in the America of today. Furthermore, using arguments like this may lead us to fail in our attempts to convince others to fight against the arbitrary use and abuse of police power.

Agents of the Gestapo and the SS were indeed following orders when they committed their atrocities, however in many cases, they were forced under threats of violence or death to carry out these acts. Often times people killed innocent people to prevent from being killed. This does not in any way excuse these people or these acts, but it does provide us with some kind explanation for why some of these men participated in evil acts.

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