Nah, it’s good, as the Swiss can be extremely prejudiced. The Germans know this, the French know this, and the Italians really know this. I just didn’t want you hurting your argument by doing an Austria/Australia mixup.
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Agreed. But even if they had a few guns lying around…
I really should get some sleep anyway. 
Also, Swede Cheese? 
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I know they can be racist, everyone has that capacity. But PoC are relatively rare there, it‘s not like that‘s a significant part of their population which they used to keep as slaves.
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That’s what that “bad apple” aphorism means. Even if the majority go into police work to protect and serve, they eventually get corrupted by the vocal minority who represent every negative stereotype about cops.
It’s what happens when you live your life by aphorisms you don’t understand. Instead of thinking “OMG, there are bad apples, get rid of them” one thinks “eh, just a few bad apples, most of them are good”.
The former is how we should be thinking. It doesn’t matter if some cops are good, or if most are. If there are some who aren’t, they should get gone like yesterday. And the rest of the cops should be eager to force the bad ones out, instead of hiding together behind the thin blue line.
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But they don’t.
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One bad apple quickly ruins the whole barrel
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That’s the full phrase, yes, but that last part keeps getting left out.
Even “one bad apple” without the ending is too nice a phrase. I’m thinking something more like “turd in the punch bowl” but even that’s too nice.
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When people talk about there being “just a few bad apples” it drives me completely nuts. Like, the entire point of “bad apples” is that you can’t afford to have even one. That’s the whole damned meaning.
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Indeed, that phrase was chosen intentionally.
But it’s no longer the barrel that’s spoiled; it’s the whole damn orchard.
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When a cop shoots an unarmed black kid while on the job, under the guise of doing his job, while being sanctioned by the government and then protected by Internal Affairs, the Police labor union, and several laws that prevent justice, THAT is a whole different scenario then, say a doctor, mail man, nurse, teacher, crossfit insrtuctor, etc. shooting an unarmed black person. If you really don’t see the difference between “Cop shoots unarmed black person in line of duty” and “Mail man goes postal and shoots up post office” then you are committing your own observation bias. ALL professions have bad actors; MOST professions aren’t armed with the excuse they need weapons to do their jobs.
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My argument, was that the difference in culture makes the difference, not the difference in law. Any thoughts on that?
It’s difficult to separate them, because the culture molds the law and vice-versa. However, the law is so strict there that it really makes American-style mass shootings highly unlikely.
For example, if someone walked into a restaurant or coffee shop with an assault rifle on their back, like open-carry assholes do in the US, they would get an immediate, overwhelming police response and spend a lot of time in jail.
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FTFY
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I wonder why we are comparing cops to apples in the first place, because what happens is entirely different: Police - especially in the US, but in most other places, too - is an authoritarian institution, so it inevitably promotes the kind of behaviour we are complaining about here. Therefore it’s not a case of “bad apples” infecting other apples, it’s a system that draws in people of a certain mindset, and the system is pretty resilient to any attempt to change it from within.
If you want a police that is a service to the citizens, you have to model it as a non-authoritarian institution.
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So if you don’t have the culture, you won’t get the law, and if you don’t have the law, then you won’t get the culture? Reminds me of:
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