"All Cops Are Bastards" is like saying "All Native Americans are Alcoholics" or "All Black People Eat Fried Chicken"
But it's okay because they're an acceptable target I guess
"All Cops Are Bastards" is like saying "All Native Americans are Alcoholics" or "All Black People Eat Fried Chicken"
But it's okay because they're an acceptable target I guess
@aji I consider it a sweeping generalisation all the same
Lots of Native Americans are alcoholics (very sad), and lots of black people like chicken (well I like it too), but these aren't statements you can apply to everyone.
@Elizafox
because it's not like they're structurally upholding vile power structures in society at all?
That's a fucked up statement to wake up to.
And I'm glad stupid racism like this is controversial on mastodon. Lets keep it like that. Same for absurd correlation humor, lets keep it humorous. Lack of pirates is still causing global warming.
@tomas @Elizafox But words end up meaning things. "All Cops Are Bastards" means all cops.
The right way to fix this is not to write off an entire class of people as inherently bad - even if they do have societal power and it doesn't harm them as much as writing off minorities as inherently bad.
The right way to fix this is to find and celebrate the good cops. (And by good, I mean the ones that fight corruption and abuse, not the ones that just don't do it.)
@Elizafox @tomas And, in the US, those are incredibly rare, but they *DO* exist.
@tomas @Elizafox That said, I do think it's reasonable for people who are targeted by abusive police to fear the police, and they're right to point out the abuses perpetuated by police against them.
And, there's cultural issues around American policing that encourage the bad cops, and discourage the good cops.
The solution isn't to say that all cops are bastards, though, it's to *fix the problems*. It's not like getting rid of the police entirely will actually work, after all.
@Elizafox @tomas I wonder how many of the people saying "ACAB" are in, say, western or northern Europe, for that matter. Or Japan. Or plenty of other actually civilized countries where the culture doesn't encourage assholes in the police force.
Recently listened to an interesting podcast about a recent book about the need for police
Upstream: Alex Vitale - The End of Policing (In Conversation) https://soundcloud.com/upstreampodcast/alex-vitale
Ive found the Upstream podcast has loads of interesting stuff.
@tomas @Elizafox
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