Stop Bitchin' Out

Many people have heard of it in press conferences, news reports, pop culture, or perhaps in their neighborhoods. Its pervasive use of a perverse exaggeration of the facts has enlisted entire segments of the population to serve as passive accomplices to crime. It destroys the future in an attempt to avenge the past; all while safeguarding and implicitly encouraging the illicit activities of criminals.

It's the Stop Snitchin' "movement".

Stop Snitchin'--based on the time-honored concept of "honor among thieves"--has gone mainstream. While core supporters claim that they're only against informants snitching in return for leniency (especially when lying or exaggerating)--an idea that is somewhat understandable for most people--this point has been slowly forgotten over the years, and the campaign has been transformed into an insurance policy against witnesses to crime. Dissatisfaction with the difficulties (and illegalities) of jury tampering "forced" both small criminal elements and large criminal organizations to resort to this form of indirect sociological warfare to achieve the same end result. Much as with Friday's article about the unintended consequences of using lies to wage the drug war; so, too, are other drug war tactics--especially the ones used by law enforcement in the high-crime areas where gangs already thrive--counted among the primary reasons for why the Stop Snitchin' campaign was able to convince the wider populace to accept the gangland code of silence.

The enforcement of victimless crimes like drug use requires a paradigm shift in how law enforcement operates so that police can locate and punish offenders. This differs greatly from how true crimes--where the violation is usually readily-apparent--are dealt with. Instead of a 911 call or a body in the street; uncovering drug activity requires police to be intrusive, nosy, and in a consistently oppressive or hostile stance; differing significantly from the helpful and often friendly position police were once in. This has led some to mock "...to protect and serve" by rephrasing it as "...to subjugate and enslave". It is in this volatile environment that Stop Snitchin' was able to flourish and gain acceptance beyond the confines of the criminal underground in which it was originally conceived.

However, regardless of the impression some may have of law enforcement, we cannot allow order to succumb to chaos. If the Stop Snitchin' "movement" (and the lawlessness that it encourages) is not resolved by positive social change it could soon be too late. Laws can be changed relatively quickly, but it could take generations to undo widespread sociological counter-programming.

So, in the meantime, all I can say to counter the Stop Snitchin' "movement" is: Stop Bitchin' Out. Don't let fear, paranoia, or what amounts to peer pressure convince you to allow criminals to freely ply their trade; because being some criminal's bitch isn't how you earn respect, regardless of how many rappers or gang members say otherwise. As one rapper said: it's all about record sales; which means he's the music industry's bitch, and supports the Stop Snitchin' concept primarily for his own personal gain. There's no respect in that, either.

Here's some lyrics to drive home the point:
  You were just comin' up, but your dreams they got doused
  Some cop--a lil' o'zealous--sent ya to the big house
  But don't let some crooked cops, or some silly drug laws
  Become your weak justification to put justice on pause
  Don't teach this fearful paranoia to some innocent kids
  So when and if they grow up someday, and they life's on the skids
  They'd pay to get their shit back; even though it is hot
  And be content to not see nothin' if their buddies get shot
  Slappin' some skin with their homies; just like ev'rything's great
  Even when one's the perpetrator of their kid sister's rape
  They might keep sayin' Stop Snitchin', but I say Stop Bitchin' Out
  Your odds of being murdered increase on the Stop Snitchin' route
  The gangs and rappers support it, but they don't pay the cost
  So stop this stupid situation before the future's lost
  It ain't about reputation, but about neighborhoods
  So if ya think a crime's committed; time to give up the goods