[WikiEN-l] Dangerous factionalism (Was: Re: SlimVirgin and CheckUser leaks)

[Ken Arromdee]

On Tue, 22 Jul 2008, Abd ul-Rahman Lomax wrote:
> When there is a brawl in a bar, and the police walk in, they do not 
> attempt to figure out who caused it, whose fault it is, who is to 
> blame, etc. They tell everyone to stop. Now. And if *anyone* doesn't 
> stop, they arrest that person (or worse.) How often that person, 
> being dragged off, is screaming, "But he started it!"

But if one person is participating in the brawl because they had to defend
themselves and they'd rather it be a brawl than a beating, they could file
charges against the other one.  The legal system doesn't say "you're
equally punished, now go away"; if one person's at fault, and the system
works properly, the system will figure that out and later punish only him.

And if someone makes a police report about a burglar, the police don't
respond by arresting both them and the burglar.