STOP and FRISK is CORPORAL PUNISHMENT

Just thinking aloud – hope you find something of interest in it. My mind is in New York and the controversy around the Stop and Frisk Law. The law is not new to people of color and poor people in general – they've always been stopped, searched, and their homes entered by officers of the law, often without pretense or warrant. When the issue first started to generate some heat in the press I thought it curious that what was already a fact in some communities had become a matter of law and policy. Then my mind as always, started to grapple with the why of it. It wasn't long before I ran smack into the truth of it. There's a tactic used to control group behavior – it's referred to as "Corporal Punishment". When one person of a group does something objectionable all members of that group are punished as if each is responsible for the act. The idea is that innocent members of the group would be encouraged to point out or stop the guilty member from further objectionable acts. All those with power and influence have or will use the tactic to maintain power – governments, law enforcers, wealthy individuals, large organizations and institutions. It seems odd, but people with power gain an ally when they use the tactic of Corporal Punishment – people who are punished without just cause are often all too willing to help those in power achieve their goals: there is usually favor in doing so.