tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657443.post9038702494460087516..comments2023-12-31T03:18:37.403-06:00Comments on "E pur si muove!": That Viral Oklahoma Cop VideoLester Hunthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14746157071827337723noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657443.post-33608586156899102722009-06-18T23:16:12.456-05:002009-06-18T23:16:12.456-05:00Doug,
Of course you are right about the duty to d...Doug,<br /><br />Of course you are right about the duty to disobey an illegal order. Admittedly, this suggests that the case for applying the principle to military orders is much stronger than the case for applying it to illegal arrest. An illegal order often would require one to do an injustice to another person ("Sergeant, shoot this man!"). That would probably be rare in the case of an illegal arrest -- although, given that in the OK case the driver and medic had a patient on board, I can easily imagine a variant scenario in which they would have an obligation to do something like, eg., getting into the ambulance and saying "chase us to the hospital, officer, and we'll have to sort it out there!" That would probably count as "resisting arrest."<br /><br />That's cool that you met LTG Dubik. He was an excellent student -- he published a paper he wrote for me in the journal "Philosophy and Public Affairs"! -- and I'm sure he's a fine soldier.Lester Hunthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14746157071827337723noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657443.post-9723227645952774252009-06-18T18:00:40.669-05:002009-06-18T18:00:40.669-05:00Lester,
I hope I'm not nitpicking here, but o...Lester,<br /><br />I hope I'm not nitpicking here, but one thing I would modify: A military member has not just the right but an obligation to refuse to obey illegal orders.<br /><br />I was glad to see you soften the proposed ban on hiring former military members as civilian police officers, but are you still trying to fix what may not be a problem? I suspect that in some communities you will find a large percentage of the police force with former military and current reserve duty. What percentage of them are problems, and how does that compare to those who lack military experience? It is, for instance, plausible that the high pressure and disciplined environment that many in the military endure could actually help them react more calmly and professionally in stressful situations.<br /><br />The part about LTG Dubik being a former student of yours brought a smile to my face. (I don't know him personally, although I spoke with him a couple times in the course of staff duty.) The military needs to send even more of its bright young officers into rigorous civilian MA/PhD programs. I think it can serve to educate well both the military member and his civilian mentors and peers.Dougnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657443.post-83398716830014926772009-06-18T17:14:55.379-05:002009-06-18T17:14:55.379-05:00What amazes and disturbs me the most (since we alr...What amazes and disturbs me the most (since we already know that power will be abused) is the fact that some of the talking heads on TV defended Martin. It just shows what a powerful urge there is in the human soul to respect authority figures, no matter how petty.<br /><br />One lawyer on CNN said, as a reason for "siding with the cop on this one," that since the ambulance's lights weren't on (thus indicating that the trip was not an emergency) the cop was within his rights to stop the vehicle. This of course is irrelevant to the issue. As far as I know, no one has a problem with him stopping the ambulance, the problem is his unprofessional behavior, which begins apparently the instant he gets out of the patrol car.Lester Hunthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14746157071827337723noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657443.post-37212928546927953382009-06-18T14:04:36.710-05:002009-06-18T14:04:36.710-05:00Thanks Lester. The whole incident leaves me almost...Thanks Lester. The whole incident leaves me almost speechless.Daniel Shapirohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14608986962689416106noreply@blogger.com