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[pikachu17]

I know nothing about The Purge other than the basic premise, but I have to wonder, what kind of government would make it legal to overthrow the government, and what kind of person would want it to be legal to murder them?

[pisskop]

I know nothing about The Purge other than the basic premise, but I have to wonder, what kind of government would make it legal to overthrow the government, and what kind of person would want it to be legal to murder them?

Its a flawed premise that falls apart upon examination.

But iirc, it was a way to deal with overpopulation
a troubled economy (gun sales plus security hiring, plus construction of bunkers for the rich),
a means of allowing the rich to oppress the poor and
put them into unsafe ghettos (property values skyrocket if you have a fenced off area or live in a rural area),
and generally allow the government to silence dissidents with fully legal tactical hit squads.

Worth noting that anyone who held a mid-to-high level bureaucratic job wads 'immune' from the purge and it was still illegal to kill them.  But not illegal for them to kill you.

[Kagus]

But it's also something the very poor might see as an opportunity to finally get a leg up, through theft/burglary or such. So they'd support it despite the odds being very much skewed against them.

Sooo... Remind you of anything else?

[pisskop]

Lottery

[Enemy post]

I thought the point of the Purge was to exterminate the homeless, wasn't it?

[Reelya]

Exploring the real-life consequences of The Purge would actually be more interesting than the movie probably is.

While it's "legal" to do all sorts of stuff for 24 hours (EDIT: 12 hours in the movie), it would also be legal for the police to summarily execute you for doing any crimes. Sure, you could shoot your boss and not be "charged" but you'd immediately be gunned down by someone else. So, most people would spend those 24 hours bunkered down in their houses armed to the teeth ready to immediately execute any tresspassers, while the security forces would be roaming the streets ready to immediately terminate any looters or miscreants.

Also, a big plot hole is that committing a crime in the 12 hours is legal, but you'd have to prove that it was in the 12 hours. For example, if you murdered someone with a few minutes to go so that you couldn't be counter-killed with impunity, you'd have to have proof the killing occurred in the 12 hour time-window, and you can bet that lawyers would make the most killing, trying court cases for years using forensics that they show prove the actual killing took place just after the cut-off point, not before it. If you just left a body without evidence then they could fudge the forensics and say it's outside the time-window, or at least not provably in the time-window. So you'd have to document your kills and get proof of the time of the kill.

[wierd]

GPS would be essential, as would having a kill-cam to document the encounter with synchronized GPS metadata.

The various militia groups would be all up in that shit;  They would be among the groups roaming the streets imposing their preferred form of order, since it would be legal for those 12 hours every year.

Likewise, every racist group known to mankind would be out in force doing their own brand of "cleansing."  It would be a terrifying time to be a minority of any kind.


About the only groups that would uniquely profit though would be mortuary and funeral service providers.

[Kagus]

About the only groups that would uniquely profit though would be mortuary and funeral service providers.

One could even say they'd... make a killing.

[TamerVirus]

This youtube video pretty much details why the idea of a purge night would utterly fail and ruin the economy

[wierd]

If they don't cover the absurd concept of "Purge Insurance", then they arent covering it well enough.

[Frumple]

... wouldn't purge insurance just be life insurance? Maybe some homeowner stuff bundled in or somethin'. Like, I don't know the setting basically at all, but you're calling purge insurance absurd and I'm just thinking no more than any other sort of insurance

[Egan_BW]

Maybe its mutually insured destruction. Like "pay us, and we'll murder whoever murdered you next year"

[JoshuaFH]

Maybe its mutually insured destruction. Like "pay us, and we'll murder whoever murdered you next year"

Then the inevitable duel between rival Purge Insurance Collectors from different agencies, taking revenge on the collector that took revenge on who took revenge for the original insurance holder.

[Mathel]

Maybe its mutually insured destruction. Like "pay us, and we'll murder whoever murdered you next year"

Then the inevitable duel between rival Purge Insurance Collectors from different agencies, taking revenge on the collector that took revenge on who took revenge for the original insurance holder.

Or they could decide that they will not do an outright insurance war and just break the contract. That would also be "legal".

[JoshuaFH]

Well, it's The Purge, so bad reasons to kill people wins out over common sense, right?