• Varyk@sh.itjust.works
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    6 months ago

    Do you really think all cops are bastards or is it like a easy thing to type instead of “corrupt cops are bad” or something?

    • nick@midwest.social
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      6 months ago

      All. Because the ones who aren’t corrupt fucks either look the other way, or try to report the bad ones and get bullied off the force.

      • pumpkinseedoil@sh.itjust.works
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        6 months ago

        You say “all” but I’m pretty sure you only mean the ones in specific countries. In most European countries they simply do their job and don’t have a negative connotation (apart from people getting angry when they have to pay fines for speeding / parking wrongly / etc.).

        Requirements and training also are much harsher here.

        • Strykker@programming.dev
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          6 months ago

          Just assume anyone making a post on the internet in English is American, because they have the majority of the publicly discussed issues and post most of the English content.

          You’ll be less confused and not lots people off by studying a “well aktchually” in where it’s not needed.

          • pumpkinseedoil@sh.itjust.works
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            6 months ago

            Pretty much everyone is making posts in English because I’m pretty sure literally everyone on Lemmy can speak English. You can’t assume someone’s nationality / first language just because a post is in English.

      • Varyk@sh.itjust.works
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        6 months ago

        Woo, I disagree. I mean, statistically that can’t be true.

        Do you have a proposed alternative to law enforcement?

        • thehorsefromthehorseheresy@lemmy.world
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          6 months ago

          There are all sorts of ways to make police less shit. Maybe police should not have the means and freedom to arbitrarily apply violence. It doesn’t take much imagination to think maybe acorn cop shouldn’t have a gun.

          • Varyk@sh.itjust.works
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            6 months ago

            Regulate law enforcement.

            That’s a much more convincing and realistic way to improve law enforcementn than calling them names.

            ACAB is some insecure schoolyard taunt that doesn’t help anything or affect the social conscience.

        • Ð Greıt Þu̇mpkin@lemm.ee
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          6 months ago

          Southern Occupation style military police detachment,

          A soldier fresh out of bootcamp has more trigger discipline and de-escalation training than your typical blue bastard anyways, and the federal military answers to the federal government, so they can’t negotiate qualified immunity agreements or any of that shit, and their funding is already provided, so no quota meeting traffic ticketing.

          • Varyk@sh.itjust.works
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            6 months ago

            I agree about trigger discipline and de-escalation training, don’t they also have training to dehumanize their opponent?

            Maybe I’m missing something, what exactly is " Southern occupation style military police detachment"?

            I will say right off the bat that I completely support way more training for police officers and a far more rigorous screening.

            • Ð Greıt Þu̇mpkin@lemm.ee
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              6 months ago

              The post civil war occupation of the south.

              It was basically a brief golden age for black leadership in the south because that’s how “not letting anyone fuck around” the union occupation force was with the traitors.

              It was so effective at cock blocking the terrorist little shitbags that the red second they had enough political leverage they had them disbanded and proceeded to immediately kick off the first golden age of the klan.

              • Varyk@sh.itjust.works
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                6 months ago

                But you still think it’s a good idea to use MPs in civilian metropolitan areas?

                I’m not totally against the idea if only because there’s so much more training.

                Like you say, I’d be a little wary of retaliation with even more heavy-handed law enforcement.

                • Ð Greıt Þu̇mpkin@lemm.ee
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                  6 months ago

                  If it’s good enough to keep the racists rightfully terrified for their miserable lives, it’s good enough for the rest of us to have a law enforcement infrastructure that actually protects and serves us.

                  • Varyk@sh.itjust.works
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                    6 months ago

                    It’s at least worth looking into, although at this point I can’t say I trust the civic virtue of the military any more than I trust the civic virtue of the police.

        • Ookami38@sh.itjust.works
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          6 months ago

          Sure, let’s start with not making armed thugs the first line of defense. Your average traffic cop, contrary to what the bastards will say, doesn’t need a gun. The presence of one only intensifies the situation.

          Easy counterpoint: traffic stops are dangerous!

          Counter to the counterpoint: they’re only dangerous because cops are jumpy. A person being pulled over for a traffic stop is being interrupted - UNDER THREAT OF STATE SANCTIONED VIOLENCE for what most likely boils down to either a speeding ticket or an excuse to ID the driver. Naturally someone in that situation may do something rash.

          Wellness checks. Those are a big one, too. Glen’s suicidal, got his gun to his head? What should we do? Call 911 obviously! They’ll send out someone with some mental health training. A paramedic at least! What do you mean they sent out a jacked up jackboot who won’t stop shouting “drop your weapon”? He’s already got a gun pointing at his own head, what’s another gun do to help this situation?

          I’m not a legal scholar. I don’t claim to have all of the answers, and honestly yes - an armed protection force is probably a necessity, from a societal safety standpoint, but they absolutely do not need to be the first line.

          • Varyk@sh.itjust.works
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            6 months ago

            I’ve been arguing for reform and regulations being a better answer chanting taunts in the other comments.

            I agree with all of your proposals, especially the mental health suggestion.

            People desperately need mental health and well-being support in the states.

          • Varyk@sh.itjust.works
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            6 months ago

            Oh.

            I see

            If you think you can only come up with ax partial answer, it’s usually an indication you don’t understand the concept as well as you think and a good idea to just skip trying to come up with an answer.

            Your talk if you want to! I’m just saying it might confuse the situation unless you have a complete answer.

            I thought you did that deliberately so I was wondering why you were explaining what a slice was when I asked about making a pizza.

            • A_Very_Big_Fan@lemmy.world
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              6 months ago

              I’m not the same guy, it’s just obvious to everyone else here what he was saying since we don’t need our hands held through every implication.

              If bad cops can just get rid of others who call out bad behavior, what is left but the corrupt and the complicit? Hence, complacency is bad too so ACAB.

              First it was “tangent”, then it was, “ax partial answer”, so now what is your excuse?

              • Varyk@sh.itjust.works
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                6 months ago

                Making assumptions and looking for excuses is the reason you Don’t understand.

                “If bad cops can just get rid of others who call out bad behavior, what is left but the corrupt and the complicit…”

                If that were true, you would have a case.

                Since that is not true, you don’t.

                • areyouevenreal@lemm.ee
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                  6 months ago

                  Since that is not true, you don’t.

                  Except in America it seems that’s the exact case. Maybe not in other countries.

                  • Varyk@sh.itjust.works
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                    6 months ago

                    It seems like that’s the case to you because you’re surrounding yourself with an echo chamber instead of rationally thinking about the situation.

                    It makes no sense in any capacity to assume that any group of humans are all identical or behave identically.

        • Ookami38@sh.itjust.works
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          6 months ago

          Hardly a tangent. If a cop is otherwise good, his simple existence within the establishment of “cop” is enabling the continued existence of that establishment, while also providing obfuscation for the shitbags, letting people like you say not all cops are bastards. In the famous words of Tim minchin, “if you cover for another mother fucker who’s a kiddy fucker the fuck you mother fucker you’re no better than the rapist” - replace “kiddy fucker” with any of the atrocities police are regularly known for.

          The establishment is corrupt, you cannot be party to it and be innocent, period.

          • Varyk@sh.itjust.works
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            6 months ago

            That’s such a limited and flawed perspective.

            Literally any example of a whistleblower destroys your client.

            The evolution of civil rights proves you wrong.

            Of course you can make change from the inside, of course it’s easier to pretend you can’t. That’s a scary job.

            If you condemn everybody trying to make a positive change within a dangerous environment at personal risk, then you don’t have to question why you aren’t putting yourself at risk trying to make a change yourself.

            • Ookami38@sh.itjust.works
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              6 months ago

              The institution that is The Police is too large to change with any action other than collectively deciding it’s not one we need. Other industries, I’ll give you. That’s why, for instance, not all, idk… dentists? Are bastards.

              Cops have one thing that other industries do not - the explicit right by the state to use violent force against its citizens with no, or next to no, legal repercussions. This closeness and uniqueness means that we can’t really CHANGE them, the state is too invested in their continuation. The only thing to do is to seek to eliminate it.

              As far as whistleblowers, they’re whistleblowers, not cops. They put the badge down (most likely, you don’t often get to continue serving after blowing the whistle), and they did something good. They were still a bastard before tho.

              • Varyk@sh.itjust.works
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                6 months ago

                Some states are already switching out police for mental health professionals and civilian law enforcement.

                That shows that you can change the system.

                It’s difficult, but with as giant an institution as law enforcement already having been changed fairly rapidly just in the last hundred years, it doesn’t make any sense not to expect further change.

                Especially when so many legal groups and victim advocacy groups are demanding change and changes are literally occurring currently.

                And yea, saying all dentists are bad is about as absurd as saying all cops are bad.

                As far as whistleblowers go, I was referring to all whistleblowers anywhere, but yes whistleblowers are cops and that’s a good point.

                You can pretend that a cop who reports or fights against corruption or supports the rights of minorities isn’t a cop, but that’s factually and objectively inaccurate.

                Is a cop marching in BLM rallies a bastard? Is a cop getting a rape victim, proper health and mental support even if it isn’t warranted by their department a bastard?

                Of course not, you have to ridiculous myopic mental gymnastics to come to the conclusion that acab when it’s clearly not true.

                • Ookami38@sh.itjust.works
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                  6 months ago

                  The institution is being changed, by us. By people forcing changes. The police didn’t just decide to include mental health professionals randomly, we put pressure on them and our elected officials.

                  I can get behind someone saying that some form of policing may be necessary. This is where I cut out caveats for things such as the idealized version of a sheriff. Someone elected by the community they’re policing, who is a member of the community they’re policing, and with rather limited power in excess of the average citizen.

                  As far as the BLM protests go, honestly yeah - if they’re marching in uniform they’re bastards. Most likely their MO is to show some of these people that “not all cops!”. If they want to support the cause, they can, not as cops though. That’s tone deaf at best.

                  Is a cop getting a rape victim help a bastard? Yup. They’re doing a good thing, as a bastard. The two aren’t mutually exclusive. Maybe they should change their career into something a bit more geared towards helping people, like social worker or similar.

                  • Varyk@sh.itjust.works
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                    6 months ago

                    You’re taking personal credit for the changes I was talking about after agreeing with me.

                    Strange opening.

                    Okay so you define good and people as bastards, so for you, APAB. All people are bastards.

                    You think everybody is a bastard. That’s your own problem, and further clear evidence that people who use the phrase acab don’t understand the world around them

                    Because if you look at the legal experts, the cops, the civil Rights groups making those changes? They aren’t screaming illogical, false slogans across the table at police unions without understanding what they’re saying.

                    They know that doesn’t effect change.

                    They’re negotiating changes within a flawed system.

                    And they’re changing the system from within and without successfully whether or not you hurl inaccurate epithets into the void of the internet or scrunch your eyes up tight so you can’t see what’s going on around you.

    • Ð Greıt Þu̇mpkin@lemm.ee
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      6 months ago

      People always try to invoke “just a few bad apples” forgetting the rest of that phrase.

      One bad apple spoils the bunch. Doesn’t matter if you’ve got a squad of Clark Kent boyscout types, the fact remains that if they can deal with even one Lex Luthor being a shitass in their uniform without actively trying to put a stop to that situation, they’re all suspect.

      Normally it’s unreasonable to expect someone to stick their neck out just for the sake of doing the right thing alone, but these people menace society with military kit and weaponry under the premise that they’re the exception to that. They tell us all the time that it is their job to risk their lives to stop people from getting victimized, so it’s more than fair to judge them when they don’t hold themselves to the same standard when dealing with their own.

      • Varyk@sh.itjust.works
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        6 months ago

        Sure, let me know if you see someone using that phrase.

        I don’t follow your ensuing logic that because a cop could be corrupt you should treat them like they are corrupt.

        “They’re all suspect”? Okay. So is everybody else.

        But the presumption that they’re all corrupt or acab is silly and unrealistic.

          • Varyk@sh.itjust.works
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            6 months ago

            My case in point. Only the dumbiest dummies that have ever dummied say that

            Nobody here is saying that.

              • Varyk@sh.itjust.works
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                6 months ago

                You’re using those words wrong.

                You equivocated my argument that it’s unrealistic to assume that acab with The first half of a phrase “a few bad apples”, and argued against that phrase even though nobody had used it.

                I asked you to let me know if you saw anyone using that phrase, since nobody had used that phrase except for you.

                Those goal posts are pretty firm.

                I understand how you would see my speaking accurately as “bad faith” given your way with words.

    • brbposting@sh.itjust.works
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      6 months ago

      PEB: Policing Enables Bastards

      1. Shorter
      2. Not literally wrong in case there’s a mountain town of thirty people with two cops on the force that have never covered for a corrupt cop
      • Varyk@sh.itjust.works
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        6 months ago

        Sure, works fine.

        And yes, it’s not literally wrong, haha

        One would think being not literally being wrong would be fundamental to the developing and adoption of a slogan.

        Further evidence acab is a taunt rather than a serious slogan.

    • remer@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      These people have such an oversimplified view of the world that there’s no reasoning with them. They can’t comprehend that people would join law enforcement for any other reason than denying people civil rights.

      • TachyonTele@lemm.ee
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        6 months ago

        There’s nothing wrong with wanting to be a police officer out of truly caring about and wanting to improve your community. Sadly what happens is those good meaning people are the minority and there are countless cases of them being harassed and outed, sometimes even assassinated, by the bad cops who are the majority.

        When you have an entire occupation, in every state, doing shady shit, killing bystanders, killing innocents, even killing the people they were sent to help, it is a huge problem that can not be ignored. They act without consequences and it needs to stop.

        Good cops are awesome. I love good cops. I wish them the best and hope they make it home safe.

        • Ookami38@sh.itjust.works
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          6 months ago

          If you want to truly care and help people, be a firefighter. Be a medic. Get into the mental health industry. Feed people. Teach. Build. There are near infinite ways to help people, that don’t involve walking around the city dressed, literally, to kill.

          Violent crimes consistently trend down. We actually don’t have too many people randomly killing others. When we do, it’s a big fucking event, that could have probably been avoided entirely with some more of those mental health people I mentioned before. BEST case, a cop does something after blood has been spilled.

          At best a cop thinks they want to help people, and thinks the best way to do that is with violence.

      • Varyk@sh.itjust.works
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        6 months ago

        Bizarre.

        The fact that anyone can say “all” this is that speaks to such a misunderstanding of their reality.

        It’s like choosing to refuse certain lengths of the spectrum. How many years are they going to force themselves to live colorblind?

          • Varyk@sh.itjust.works
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            6 months ago

            anyone that can say “all” this is that about a non- identical group of anything “all” of them obviously cannot be the same.

            “All dogs are dangerous”

            “All houses are safe”

            “All birds are real”

            Using “all blah are bloo” to describe a complex group of anything and their necessarily complex associations between and outside of each other belies such a fundamental misunderstanding and incomprehension of the world you live in and the topic you’re talking about.

            • Ookami38@sh.itjust.works
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              6 months ago

              An important thing to remember with something like ACAB is, even if it’s not literally ALL cops are bastards, it loses its bite if it’s anything else. When we say ALL cops are bastards, we serve to remind the people who already at least partially buy into this belief that it doesn’t really matter about the individual. It’s about the institution. Anyone party to that institution is part of the problem, even if they’re a generally decent person who, in a particular situation, did something commendable.

              As far as getting the people who don’t already buy in to buy in? Well,that’s what these kinds of discussions are for. No motto easy to turn into a soundbyte is going to change too many minds, they’re more rallying calls.

              Further, unlike the other examples, “cop” isn’t a fundamental aspect of their existence. Any cop, right now, can stop being a cop. I have no problem throwing shade at something someone can change. Dogs can’t not be dogs. Birds can’t not be birds. Houses… well, they could be something else with a lot of effort, but it’s fundamentally different.

              • Varyk@sh.itjust.works
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                6 months ago

                Interesting that at the exact point your examples break down, the contradicting evidence to your point becomes fundamentally “different” and you just dismiss it.

                Besides, don’t you know the animorphs? Birds can change into humans, andalites, tons of stuff.

                Back to your point: a slogan does not gain validity or credibility by being false; it loses its validity and credibility by being fundamentally false.

                You see that slogan as particularly important because you’ve used it before and because it’s popular.

                That does not make it a good or correct slogan.

                It just makes the person saying it look like they’re spouting gibberish since there are so many simple examples that prove it incorrect, many of those examples displayed in these threads given by the people myopically chanting that acab is valid.

                I agree these discussions are important, but what hope do you have of influencing other perspective when your argument is, at its foundation, flawed and clearly incorrect.

                Black Lives Matter? Undeniable.

                Of course they matter.

                All Cops Are Bastards?

                Objectively false schoolyard taunt.

                That backfiring banner is working against your point and against your credibility.

                • Ookami38@sh.itjust.works
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                  6 months ago

                  I dismissed houses because they’re inanimate objects that we can literally break down and turn into something else. That thing would no longer be a house. And, if I DID think all houses were inherently safe, then that change would mean that I no longer think it’s a fundamentally safe thing. There’s no gotcha here.

                  I’m tired of the rest of this conversation, we’re clearly at foundational differences in our world views.

                  • Varyk@sh.itjust.works
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                    6 months ago

                    Are you tired of thinking of all of the synonyms for a house that prove your first paragraph incorrect?

                    Our “foundational difference” relies on you actively ignoring the world around you and insisting that all humans are the same no matter what, and if they get a tattoo or hold open a door then they are no longer a human.

                    Not a strong or defensible foundation for your worldview.

    • Ookami38@sh.itjust.works
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      6 months ago

      ALL cops are bastards, yes. It’s in the title.

      Each and every cop could have chosen not to be a bastard. Some of them weren’t bastards when they started, but by the time they’ve been in it long enough to identify as a “cop” they’re a bastard. They are either actively participating in the system that the state uses to violently enforce their whims, or are complicit by virtue of continuing to perpetuate the establishment. Some of them, a vanishingly small minority, have the moral character to go back to not being a bastard, of they quit the police force, but until then, they cop, they bastard.

      • Varyk@sh.itjust.works
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        6 months ago

        So in your perspective not all cops are bastards.

        They may become bastards over time or may become a complicit part of the system, and if they decide not to be bastards, they may be kicked out, but at any time there are non-bastard cops

        I agree. That’s what’s so silly about this taunt.

        It is unproductive and exposes your unwillingness to deal with the complex reality.

        Chanting an obviously incorrect slogan backfires pretty hard upon every utterance.

        It sure is here.

        • Ookami38@sh.itjust.works
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          6 months ago

          Nope. The moment they’ve self identified as cop, they become bastard.

          The slogan isn’t incorrect, you simply choose to look at the individual actions, which yes, CAN be good actions, whereas others apply it to the institution that is the police force. If you are a part of that force, you are complicit in being a bastard.

          Were all the gestapo bastards? Or did some of them do a few good things while participating in MASSIVE amounts of state sanctioned violence?

          • Varyk@sh.itjust.works
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            6 months ago

            Nope, I’m looking at individual people, not actions.

            No, you don’t become complicit in being a bastard simply by becoming part of a corrupt institution.

            The Jewish sympathizers that were part of the Reich who saved Holocaust victims?

            HOA participants who change the laws to be more fair and beneficial to everyone?

            IRS agents offering free file programs and tax benefits for low-income individuals?

            You are blind to how systems of the world actually work and what creates change.

            You can keep throwing a tantrum and calling names, eventually you’ll realize you’re not changing anything.

            It’s just going to take a lot longer than if you open your eyes.

            By your logic, you are a rapist and a murderer because you live in a society within which rape and murder occurs.

            If that’s how you like to see yourself, that is your choice.

            It isba false, narcissistic and deluded perspective to ascribe total immutable personal responsibility for the actions of others by virtue of association.

            • Ookami38@sh.itjust.works
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              6 months ago

              You know what would be better in each of those situations? The offending party not existing in the first place.

              Don’t have to save the Jews if the Gestapo doesn’t exist.

              No need to change the HOA if you don’t have a HOA.

              I could tackle the IRS Example as well, except I actually believe in (some degree of) taxes. Good on the people for finally twisting the IRS’s arm on free file options though, they’ve been vastly limited until lately.

              • Varyk@sh.itjust.works
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                6 months ago

                Yes, if everything we’re talking about was different and behaved in a completely different manner than it does in the reality everybody lives in(that’s right, you too!), then there would be a way to support your worldview.

                  • Varyk@sh.itjust.works
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                    6 months ago

                    Way to pretend I don’t understand exactly what you’re saying and am effectively countering your avoidance techniques so that you can avoid addressing the flaws in your arguments I pointed out and don’t have to admit you don’t have a leg to stand on here.