Pick pretty much any disadvantaged group and there will be or have been a law that keeps them in their place. I guess they should just follow the rules and complain via the methods the oppressors specify?
Not only that, you might be able to make that case in a hypothetical system where most people are law abiding, e.g. because there are few laws and only against well known and unambiguously legitimate offenses like murder and theft. Never in one where laws are numerous and broad and commonly violated but selectively enforced.
"You lose your rights if you break the law" in the legal system of Three Felonies A Day is equivalent to no one having any rights.
The thing is that there is a huge amount of indoctrination from schools to popular media that encourages people to just accept "Law" as somehow of divine providence. Many many people go their entire lives without considering the possibility that the primary function of many laws and "justice" systems would be to oppress and victimize people.
This is a great addition to the conversation! I didn't know about the Peelian principles and had only a passing familiarity with the entire concept of 'policing by consent.' Living in the US, it is not surprising that this concept seems foreign to me.
Personally, I still take issue with the idea of locking other human beings in cages. I think a police force that strictly follows the ideals laid out by Sir Robert Peel is about as close to ethical as it can get while still having people whose full-time job it is to enforce society's collective will on others. I believe there will always be better conflict resolution techniques than violence. That being said, the Peelian principles do lay out a seemingly ideal compromise in a society haunted by trauma and violence. Maybe even a path to a society where we don't lock anyone in cages anymore.
I’m in New Zealand which fully subscribes to it (based on my limited understanding!), and had a long talk with a policeman who was walking his dog. He had worked in NZ, the UK and Australia. He put Australia down the other end of the scale and the UK somewhere in the middle. It was a very interesting conversation.
Pick pretty much any disadvantaged group and there will be or have been a law that keeps them in their place. I guess they should just follow the rules and complain via the methods the oppressors specify?