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This line is a final allusion to the man in the title, Clint Eastwood, whose Dirty Harry and Man With No Name characters survive in largely lawless worlds, creating their own rules, and defending themselves entirely without the aid of a larger governmental system. “Law” in the Wild West was often a synonym for “guns,” very much like some of the roughest ghettos in America even today. Del promises to teach you how to rough it like Clint.
Police are also known as law enforcement officers, and at the time “The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly” was made, as lawmen. “The law” is still a common metonym for the police (and the criminal justice system).
Police in the United States originated as slave catchers and still disproportionately target minorities, especially Black people. A few dozen police departments (as of this comment being posted) have acted so unconstitutionally they must now operate under DOJ consent degrees.
If a regular person acted the way police do, they’d likely go to prison for kidnapping, murder, stalking, and other serious crimes, but police usually invoke qualified immunity and see few consequences.
Meanwhile, police shoot-outs can be compared to shoot-outs in the Wild West, bringing the reference right back around to Western films like “The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly”.
So you “could” survive. (That what I hear, unless he really fluctuates the word “can”.)
292
it’s not “right here”, rather it’s “ma ghe è?” said by Christian de Sica, one of the best Italian actors ever
non è “Right Here” ma è Christian De Sica che dice “ma che è”
1,036
to me, this line refers to how the law has never been on black people’s side, and we have to look out for ourselves, be clever and observant, if we want to survive
84
I think it also goes to say, considering the themes and imagery in a lot of Del’s other work, that he’s trying to prepare the listener for the coming New World Order, or however you want to put it, wherein the world will be thrown into chaos and specialized, compartmentalized, egotistical knowledge will be useless and trust and understanding will be necessary for survival.