A former New York City police commissioner and once potential head of Homeland Security, Bernard Kerik was indicted for tax fraud and in 2010 imprisoned for three years. Released earlier this year, he recently conducted an interview with the Today Show, his first since getting out.
Kerik's comments here are clear, rational, and should be taken seriously. As mentioned in the interview, many will dismiss his remarks on account of his previous behavior. This tactic is known as an ad hominem argument. The fallacy is an attempt to change the subject by directing attention away from the person's argument and toward the person. It is as common as it is illegitimate.
As I mentioned in my Sep. 7 blog, the United States has just over 4 percent of the world's population and claims 22 percent of the world's prisoners. This disproportion indicates an institutionalized attempt to remove from society those segments deemed undesirable. The lines tend to be racial, but the issue of class is a key consideration. As one of Kerik's fellow inmates said, "Prison is like dying with your eyes open." This is part of the policy; extermination would never be tolerated, but virtual extermination is the next available formula.
At the end of the video, Kerik makes a point I very much appreciated, as it is one I have been making for some years: that if Americans saw with their own eyes what is going on, the response would be anger. When people are presented with better information they tend to draw the appropriate conclusions. This applies to domestic policies just as much as it applies to foreign intervention.
