It sounds like you’re breaking down cops into several categories:
Cops that do bad things on purpose
Cops that do bad things on accident
Cops that work alongside groups 1 and 2
Sure, group 3 cops may use that discretion for good. Maybe they don’t pull someone over for going one over the speed limit, or decide to look the other way when a homeless guy tries to sell cigarettes. I agree with you, this is the kind of discretion that’s supposed to happen.
But when people say ACAB, they’re saying that when cops that don’t do terrible things work alongside cops that do, they are complicit. One cop slowly, agonizingly kills a guy. Three cops watch and do nothing to stop him. That’s an extreme example. But there’s a million small versions of that, in every big city and small town, where a cop uses either their legal authority or “I’m a person with a gun” authority to do something bad, and their coworkers let it happen.
Cops that don’t stop their coworkers from doing bad things are just as bad as those doing the bad things. So, ACAB.
Keep it up man, you’ve obviously got more energy than most of us who think that slogan is shit.
ACAB is one of the things which give ammo to the conservatives on a silver platter. It makes us look stupid.
There are occasional stories about cops who risk their lives to save people. But, fuck them I suppose, because of that one time they heard a story about their colleague they knew was shady, shooting someone for smoking weed and they didn’t organise everyone else in their department to protest outside the station until they were fired.
The problem with all of them is that they lack nuance.
Sure, they can be used as incindiary and provocative statements to initiate conversation or oust someone, but more often than not, the words are not crossing the aisle.
When the left says “defund the police” the right hears “completely strip the police of all money” (I have actually seen leftists make the claim that this is not hyperbole).
When the left says “trans women are women” we mean “the definition of woman has changed from biological to cultural” but what the right hears is “accept our assertion that trans women are biological women or be branded a transphobe”.
When the left says “black people cannot be racist” they mean “racism is mired in oppression. It’s a waste of time trying to address biases towards white people because they aren’t in a position to be opresssed” - but the right hears “black people are hypocrites”.
None of this shit does any good to making the world better. It doesn’t bridge a divide, it widens it.
On a similar note, did you hear the news about that “tik tok trad wife” who said the n-word? People found her employer and got her fired.
Good job dickheads, now she’s doing the rounds on Fox News, Alex Jones, Tucker Carlson etc.
Jordan Peterson, same deal. Brett Weinstein, same deal.
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It sounds like you’re breaking down cops into several categories:
Sure, group 3 cops may use that discretion for good. Maybe they don’t pull someone over for going one over the speed limit, or decide to look the other way when a homeless guy tries to sell cigarettes. I agree with you, this is the kind of discretion that’s supposed to happen.
But when people say ACAB, they’re saying that when cops that don’t do terrible things work alongside cops that do, they are complicit. One cop slowly, agonizingly kills a guy. Three cops watch and do nothing to stop him. That’s an extreme example. But there’s a million small versions of that, in every big city and small town, where a cop uses either their legal authority or “I’m a person with a gun” authority to do something bad, and their coworkers let it happen.
Cops that don’t stop their coworkers from doing bad things are just as bad as those doing the bad things. So, ACAB.
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Keep it up man, you’ve obviously got more energy than most of us who think that slogan is shit.
ACAB is one of the things which give ammo to the conservatives on a silver platter. It makes us look stupid.
There are occasional stories about cops who risk their lives to save people. But, fuck them I suppose, because of that one time they heard a story about their colleague they knew was shady, shooting someone for smoking weed and they didn’t organise everyone else in their department to protest outside the station until they were fired.
No room for nuance with these people.
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“Defund the police”
“Black people cannot be racist”
“Trans women are women”
I’m sure we’re actually all on the same page, with the exception of how valuable we consider the optics of these slogans.
I see right wingers present these slogans as evidence of our mental deficiencies.
They are either convinced we are stupid, or are trying to convince others we are stupid. We have given them ammo.
To this point, people have claimed they’ll have ammo regardless, but I’m not so sure. People detransition from the (alt)right every day.
The more sensible we appear, the easier it is for them to consider whether they were justified in what they believed in the first place.
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The problem with all of them is that they lack nuance.
Sure, they can be used as incindiary and provocative statements to initiate conversation or oust someone, but more often than not, the words are not crossing the aisle.
When the left says “defund the police” the right hears “completely strip the police of all money” (I have actually seen leftists make the claim that this is not hyperbole).
When the left says “trans women are women” we mean “the definition of woman has changed from biological to cultural” but what the right hears is “accept our assertion that trans women are biological women or be branded a transphobe”.
When the left says “black people cannot be racist” they mean “racism is mired in oppression. It’s a waste of time trying to address biases towards white people because they aren’t in a position to be opresssed” - but the right hears “black people are hypocrites”.
None of this shit does any good to making the world better. It doesn’t bridge a divide, it widens it.
On a similar note, did you hear the news about that “tik tok trad wife” who said the n-word? People found her employer and got her fired.
Good job dickheads, now she’s doing the rounds on Fox News, Alex Jones, Tucker Carlson etc.
Jordan Peterson, same deal. Brett Weinstein, same deal.
The left need to stop making these people.
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