General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: We must NOT buy into the narrative that a cop's life is worth more than any other [View all]FBaggins
(26,861 posts)As with the overuse of "nazi" in online discourse... the use of this term too often demonstrates only the user's ignorance of the reality behind those terms.
Of course... it's just as ridiculous to use it here. Nobody claims that a cop's life is more valuable than an elementary-school student... or a teacher... or an admin assistant or congresswoman.
It isn't that it "tears at the fabric of society" because the individual has some additional value relative to others... it's becaus the role they play is as a representative of society. Judges aren't more valuable, but killing a judge because she's a judge harms the society. Gabrielle Giffords' shooting was not notable because of her political positions or her inherent "extra" value because she was in Congress... it was because an attack on our representatives (if it's done because of that role) is an attack on all of us and the very system that makes up "We The People".
If the guy has a grudge against some individual who just happens to be a cop... it's no more reprehensible than any other murder (accepting of course that any murder is represensable)... but if he hunts him and kills that same guy because he's a cop, then the crime is a greater one because it is an attack on his role within the community. It doesn't change his value at all