Kant and The Wire

For a few years I've heard a lot of people I really like in the media talking about how good HBO's series The Wire is. It is commonly referred to as one of the best written TV series of all-time, and many of the people who write for the show are renowned as novelists. Because I'd heard so many good things, I decided I'd check it out (it's free on HBOgo if you or your parents subscribe to HBO.)

There are five seasons. I'm almost done with season three. Just in case anyone decides they want to watch the series I will do my best to avoid spoilers. Anyway, I should probably get to the Kant part. Throughout the first three seasons, many of the police the show follows are burdened to fight the "war on drugs." In West Baltimore, a district of the city overrun with drug trade and drug related murder, the police seem to be fighting a war which they have no chance to win. In response to an officer being killed, Major Colvin decides to ignore the drug trade as long as it is conducted in certain free zones he designates. These zones are places where people do not live. The hope is that the drug dealers will leave alone the areas of West Baltimore that are "worth salvaging." The experiment works, but Colvin gets in a lot of trouble from his superiors who may themselves be in some hot water over it.

I think that this relates to Kant's writings about the differential between public and private roles. I think that Kant would condone Colvin going to the press and saying that the "war on drugs" is not working. I think he would also condone Colvin voicing his opinion that neighborhoods would be better off if drug trade in certain free zones was tolerated. However, I do not think that Kant would condone what Colvin did. Kant endorses arguing, but obeying. Colvin did not argue, in that he did not appeal to his superiors for a chance to do things a different way. He also did not obey. Instead he implemented this strategy which one could argue was highly successful, but was not in line with what he was told to do as a police major.

Immanuel Kant

It will be interesting to see what happens to Colvin in the episodes to come. I was stricken by how relevant these past few episodes have been to what we've been discussing in class. Also, for anyone who has heard good things about The Wire and is considering watching it, I highly recommend it.