Police Brutality and the Tao

A friend of mine in the Midwest once noted that there is hardly any difference between the police and gangsters — they are just on different sides of the fence. The mentality is similar and the blood thirst is the same. The core issue, I believe, is how we define masculinity. “To protect and serve” is a good ideal for the police. But how often is this practiced? When racism enters, the matter further complicates.

There is perhaps a dangerous assumption held by many that because the criminals are a rough bunch, the policemen have to be their match in terms of meanness and ruthlessness. This is the idea of using violence against violence, cruelty against cruelty. It seems intuitive. But it is exactly such sentiments which encourage police brutality, misconduct and abuse of power.

What is the alternative? There is, in fact, another paradigm used in Asian martial arts. It is the role model of the gentle warrior. Mr. Miyagi, the modest martial arts master in the movie The Karate Kid is a good example. He is not an exception. The same gentle warrior ideal is taught and practiced widely in all circles of East Asian martial arts — Chinese, Japanese and Korean. In fact, one common form of Japanese martial arts, judo (柔道), is literally “the way of gentleness.” One fundamental principle of judo is “softness can overcome hardness”(柔能剛制). Jigoro Kano, the founder of judo, explained…