Daryl Gates’ Comments on Drug Users

It would be easy to dismiss Gates’ statement as a laughable overreaction. The fact is, his words are painfully indicative of an attitude of violence that permeates the entire Police Department. This could be dismissed as a quaint throwback to the ways of the Wild West were it not for the fact that Gates also trots out the word treason to buttress his argument for this peremptory use of killing. These two elements--the abrupt use of violence and the reliance on statism--constitute the major part of a web of concepts that must be called by its real name: fascism.

STANLEY YOUNG

Venice