A Law Governing Each Activity - Essay Example

Law Introduction Political theorists such as Aristotle, Plato, John Locke, and Hobbes have explained the role of the law in the lives of citizens of every area of governance. While Aristotle and Plato are of the opinion that laws facilitate order and peace in society, Locke and Hobbes envision a society without rules and laws. In addition, he illustrates why people would choose what they deem good for themselves. John Locke, whose theory on politics has a big influence on today’s society and forms of government, believed that only the rule of nature should determine people’s course of action. In this paper, laws are discussed as far as their determinations of the levels of freedom people enjoy are concerned (Locke 15). A Nation of Laws In America, there is a law governing each activity. From handling children to the amount of sugar in a Coke bottle, everything in America follows given guidelines. Operating without these guidelines often lands people in trouble ending in jail terms and fines. While the breaking of laws occurs in every country, the United States is often ridiculed for having laws on subjects that could be easily resolved using other methods. Being the most elaborate constitutions on earth, the United States constitution has a profound effect on the way people handle other people and live life in general (Locke 24). First, having some rules in place limits people’s freedom of movement. For example, moving from one state to the next requires that one informs their original state’s Department of Motor Vehicles and then updates their driver license to that effect. Failure to do these often results in one’s license being suspended. It is actually illogical that a nation with a single currency, president, and national flag should have different laws on the same issue. Secondly, having too many laws limits people’s imagination since it scares them into believing whatever they are up to could land them behind bars. In this sense, many people fear entering businesses such as the trading of commodities since one just does not know to differentiate between legal and the illegal. In essence, being without laws has its advantages and disadvantages. While not clouding people’s judgment, it gives people freedom to carry out evil deeds unchecked. As Hobbes once said, the existence of such a “dissolute condition of master less men, without subjection to Laws, and a coercive Power to their hands from rapine, and revenge” would be a breeding grounds for all vices bent on curtailing civilization and comfort. Laws shall thus remain in place. Law Enforcement Agencies Law enforcement agencies literally enforce the law in their given territorial zones. In detail, though, these agencies are tasked with many other roles among them carrying out patrols within their locales; providing emergency services; upholding laws in various areas such as traffic; keeping records; keeping people’s property safe; conducting investigations into crimes; detaining the wrongdoers; providing public information; maintaining public relations; and preventing crimes in general. In this sense, therefore, law enforcement agencies play an important role in society (Locke 31-33). The presence of these agencies, on the other hand, has negative effects on people’s civil freedoms. As stated above, the American constitution limits people’s freedoms largely. The law enforcement agencies take away people’s individual interpretation of the constitution by insisting on the given agency’s point of view. In this way, people’s civil freedoms are tampered with by the agencies. The media plays a big role in the interpretation of laws in given situations. Media bias is the effect attained by a given media house due to its portrayal of a given situation the way it intends. For example, the media usually paints law enforcement officers dispersing demonstrators as inhuman arms of the government when, in the real sense, the officers play an important role in preventing the loss of property and life. The media also tailors most of its messages to be in line with certain premeditated activities such as choosing certain words in a politician’s speech to focus on when the speaker intended a different message. It has also been found out that media bias fuels segregation along racial and ethnic lines largely (Locke 49). For example, when George Zimmerman shot Trayvon Martin in 2012 in Florida, the media made it look like it had been a case of racial bias. Even when the courts decided that the defendant was not guilty of murder or manslaughter, the media painted this in racial terms when the truth was that Martin had threatened George. Issues of race such as this one could not have been blown to the scale observed were it not for media bias. The media’s reaction to this particular case fueled people’s judgment of it as racial as compared to criminal. To start with, George Zimmerman’s photograph that was used was one of an angry man staring back at the camera. On the other hand, Martin’s picture was that of a seven-year-old teenager smiling at the camera. One could easily draw a conclusion that Zimmerman was the one on the wrong owing to this picture. The bias of the media went further to portray Zimmerman as white and Martin as black. In this sense, it rekindled the ugly issue of racism, which has dogged the American scene for centuries to date. As has been observed, the media is a powerful tool in the administration of justice (Locke 51). Political Correctness Political correctness can be defined as avoiding extremes in one’s forms of expression or activities which could give the picture or have the effect of marginalizing, excluding, or insulting people with social disadvantages. In essence, any activity aimed at ‘reminding’ a certain group of people of their social disadvantages is political incorrectness. Political correctness carries a lot of weight in today’s society given the various laws put in place to ensure that no one is discriminated against based on any aspects they relate to. Besides making people of the socially disadvantaged groups feel accepted, political correctness avoids conflict in many ways. It is most famous application using ‘African American’ in the place of ‘black Americans.’ Other uses include ‘native American’ for ‘Indian,’ ‘chairperson’ instead of ‘chairman’, ‘chairlady’, and so on (Locke 72). In law enforcement situations, the most common phrases expressed are ‘African American’ for ‘black American’ and ‘police officer’ in the place of ‘police office.’ In applying political correctness in law enforcement situations, the law is enforced in better ways than when political correctness is ignored. For example, if a driver of the black American race is caught speeding and arraigned in court, calling him or her black driver would most likely change the case from being a simple breaking of traffic rules to racial labeling. In the same view, being arrested by a female police officer and calling her a police officer could paint the picture that there is an aspect of despise towards her (Locke 91). In conclusion, society cannot exist without laws and regulations. Even when the American constitution is labeled as being too elaborate and having clauses on ‘small crimes,’ it is among the best in the world since it provides the solutions required to resolve any disputes that may come up. In this view, it can be concluded that man requires institutions such as the legislature and law enforcement agencies. Care should be taken when applying the law to ensure that people’s freedom are not curtailed given that the constitution and any laws are put in place to grant freedom and not the other way round. Reference Locke, John. Jackson Jr. Racial Paranoia: The Unintended Consequences of Political Correctness. New York: Basic Civitas Books, 2010. Print. Read More