The Washington Times obituary of Spillane said of Hammer, “In a manner similar to Clint Eastwood’s Dirty Harry, Hammer was a cynical loner contemptuous of the ‘tedious process’ of the legal system, choosing instead to enforce the law on his own terms.”
Christ, what vicious condemnation.
Jenny Nicholson reviewed the book Trigger Warning. In the last dozen pages, some Navy Seal Delta Force Army Ranger suddenly appears and offers the alleged protagonist a job as a “one-man strike team,” roaming the country and “righting wrongs.” Like all the three-letter agencies got together to make some witness-protection mooks into fascist vigilantes. Every single time, it is shocking to remember that this power fantasy is some assholes’ actual moral belief system. These are problems they really believe exists - these are solutions they desperately want to see.
Oh I just watched an episode of fuckin Columbo where the titular detective encouraged a beat cop to make an illegal search, and if it was a problem he would “get a warrant later.”
And that’s every single cop show. That’s so much scarier to me. That the common, every day, “likeable” “good guy” cop characters are constantly violating suspects’ rights, and it’s always presented as justified.
It’s so common and consistent that I think a lot of people just think of it as being part of a cop’s job, and that “rights” are in opposition to justice rather than a part of it. Including a lot of cops. It’s really fucked.
Christ, what vicious condemnation.
Jenny Nicholson reviewed the book Trigger Warning. In the last dozen pages, some Navy Seal Delta Force Army Ranger suddenly appears and offers the alleged protagonist a job as a “one-man strike team,” roaming the country and “righting wrongs.” Like all the three-letter agencies got together to make some witness-protection mooks into fascist vigilantes. Every single time, it is shocking to remember that this power fantasy is some assholes’ actual moral belief system. These are problems they really believe exists - these are solutions they desperately want to see.
Oh I just watched an episode of fuckin Columbo where the titular detective encouraged a beat cop to make an illegal search, and if it was a problem he would “get a warrant later.”
And that’s every single cop show. That’s so much scarier to me. That the common, every day, “likeable” “good guy” cop characters are constantly violating suspects’ rights, and it’s always presented as justified.
It’s so common and consistent that I think a lot of people just think of it as being part of a cop’s job, and that “rights” are in opposition to justice rather than a part of it. Including a lot of cops. It’s really fucked.