The Dresden Files > DF Spoilers
Some thoughts on Stormfront
Bad Alias:
--- Quote from: g33k on October 14, 2019, 05:55:32 PM ---No, Denton was trying to do the right thing...
He got into the Hexenwulf gig out of initial frustration with watching bad guys skate free on technicalities.
--- End quote ---
I'd say that a law enforcement officer going outside the system to deal with a criminal they can't convict inside the system is corrupt. As soon as he decided to murder Marcone, he was corrupt. He did that before he got the belts.
g33k:
--- Quote from: Bad Alias on October 14, 2019, 07:48:47 PM --- I'd say that a law enforcement officer going outside the system to deal with a criminal they can't convict inside the system is corrupt. As soon as he decided to murder Marcone, he was corrupt. He did that before he got the belts.
--- End quote ---
Do we even know how long they had the belts? I had thought it was for at least a year, maybe several years. I'm not clear whether it was Marcone, or some other bad guy, who got away and led them to become vigilante's.
This is doing something wrong, but it isn't being "corrupt." They aren't taking bribes or kickbacks, they aren't extorting people, etc. "Corrupt" law enforcement is going after personal gain.
They were instead trying to catch/punish criminals. They became murderers to do this... it's even worse than mere financial gain. But it's not corruption.
Bad Alias:
When they got the belts is unclear. When they started using them is when the murders started about a month before the book starts.
It was investigations into Marcone being shut down that was what drove them to murder.
Corrupt isn't just use of office for financial, or even non-financial personal, gain, though that has become the main (almost exclusive) use of the term, which is a shame. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/corrupt. Think of a corrupted file or something being tainted. Law enforcement's only job is to uphold the law. Murder and denial of due process is the opposite of upholding the law. A good example of a corrupt law enforcement agency is the FBI under Hoover doing all sorts of things it shouldn't. Blackmailing private citizens and elected officials, spying on civil rights leaders. Hoover used his office to subvert the will of the people. That is a corruption of his purpose as Director of the FBI; therefore, it is a corrupt act.
Also, not every act that results in personal gain is corrupt. The most obvious personal gain is that they get a paycheck. Law enforcement also get all sorts of discounts and special treatment. Another example is parlaying connections and experience into lucrative private sector jobs.
--- Quote from: g33k on October 15, 2019, 10:36:20 PM ---They became murderers to do this... it's even worse than mere financial gain.
--- End quote ---
That's basically my original point. If you don't accept my definition of corrupt, then go with a synonym like depraved, perverted, debased, nefarious, or villainous. You can even go with the Latin origins which is basically "broken."
Kindler:
Yep, the first Werewolf murders were committed a month before Fool Moon. The wolf motifs and the lunar cycle aligned enough that Murphy called Dresden and basically asked, "Hey, are werewolves real?" I believe they got the belts around that time, but it's not specifically stated.
I took Harry's soulgaze with Denton to mean that Denton had decided the only way to deal with Marcone was to kill him, since they couldn't prosecute him. He started looking for a way to do that, and eventually stumbled upon someone super helpful! Not only were they able to tell him that yes, werewolves are real, but there's a rival gang of lycanthropes nearby you can pin the murder on! Or, you know, you can just mess up Harvey MacFinn's circle and let him deal with it, since he's got a grudge against Marcone.
I like Fool Moon well enough, but it's a rather messy book. I think the Berserkergang Gang bit could've been removed without affecting the structure, bu I take it that Jim really wanted to just do every kind of werewolf myth in one shot.
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