Originally Posted by
mconlonx
Well, that's just your western cultural predjudices showing in your stated preference. If you read the article, you'll see that they have their own form of civil services and self-police. OK, a strong military would have been nice before western nations started making rules which escalated traditional tribal disagreements into ENDLESS CIVIL WAR, but where's the need for a developed constitution and judiciary if they are taking care of things on a local level?
Tribal or not, the country is ruled by a bunch of warlords. I'm not going to defend European colonialism in Africa, but centralized government and a strong military is what allows a society to resist outside influence and survive. Regardless, it's not really my western prejudices that are showing, but the inherent distrust in any sort of tribal or clan organization. One of the things I like about the "Western" idea of law (which is actually taken from the ancient Babylonians) is that it applies to all equally regardless of which family one is from. And before you start, I'm well aware that rich people and expensive lawyers take advantage of the system - I'm just not sure what a good solution would be.
To bring this back around, our civil services, police, strong military, well-developed constitution and judiciary apparently result in police state tactics like those expressed during the Tucson Tuesday Night Ride. Good on you for living here if that's what you're into.
This was a ridiculous overreaction by the local police department, don't make it into a symbol of nation-wide repression. I hope Tuscon locals are able to put enough pressure on the PD to make sure it doesn't happen again.