No interest?

All the shit that doesn't fit!
If it doesn't go into the other forums, stick it in here.
A general free for all
User avatar
Sue U
Posts: 8545
Joined: Thu Apr 15, 2010 4:59 pm
Location: Eastern Megalopolis, North America (Midtown)

Re: No interest?

Post by Sue U »

Gob wrote:
Thu Feb 02, 2023 1:28 pm
Sue U wrote:
Wed Feb 01, 2023 3:44 pm

Don't be a dick. Just because the cops are black doesn't mean that they haven't bought into the underlying biases inherent in American policing (I blame Hill Street Blues), and overt racism isn't the only factor making cop culture particularly dangerous to minorities. To a very significant degree, cops are just another street gang, although one heavily armed at taxpayer expense and given license to do violence largely with impunity.
So these black cops are being racist against a black kid, because TV and gang culture forced them into kicking him to death? They had no personal choice, morals or control in the matter. So you're accusing them of being mindless drones controlled by external influences.
Of course the officers had "personal choice, morals [and] control," which is why they have been charged with murder. The disparate impact that "policing" has on the lifespan of black people -- whether "policed" by white or black officers -- is a function of the systemic racism built into policing and cop culture. If you think the American criminal justice system -- especially the street-level business end -- is color-blind and race-neutral, there's just nothing else to say to you.

And in case you didn't understand, "I blame Hill Street Blues" was jokey shorthand for illustrating what have become (or perhaps always were) the socially acceptable prejudices of policing for the dominant culture. Every non-cop -- especially the poor and the marginalized -- is presumed to be a "dirtbag" and/or a threat to police.
GAH!

User avatar
Econoline
Posts: 9555
Joined: Sun Apr 18, 2010 6:25 pm
Location: DeKalb, Illinois...out amidst the corn, soybeans, and Republicans

Re: No interest?

Post by Econoline »

Wonkette does a 'splainer:
Race is a rigid form of classism, and the police consider themselves a separate class. "We all bleed blue" is a popular slogan, meant to suggest there is no racial prejudice among the ranks. However, that lovely homily serves only to distance police officers from the people they supposedly protect and serve. Once they put on the uniform, they are no longer "one of them."
People who are wrong are just as sure they're right as people who are right. The only difference is, they're wrong.
God @The Tweet of God

User avatar
BoSoxGal
Posts: 18297
Joined: Tue Apr 06, 2010 10:36 pm
Location: The Heart of Red Sox Nation

Re: No interest?

Post by BoSoxGal »

It’s all about the gang colors. If you ain’t wearing them, you fucked.

Black St Louis police officer shot by white colleague ‘fearing for his safety’
For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.
~ Carl Sagan

User avatar
Econoline
Posts: 9555
Joined: Sun Apr 18, 2010 6:25 pm
Location: DeKalb, Illinois...out amidst the corn, soybeans, and Republicans

Re: No interest?

Post by Econoline »

I came across a pretty good comment on this subject while perusing some of the comments on Andrew Sullivan's "Dishcast" podcast:
It’s an interesting idea that Black officers killing unarmed Black men are acting as agents of racism. After all, people can be bigoted against their own identities. How many women were leaders of the anti-woman’s suffrage movement? How many closeted Republican politicians opposed gay rights? The number is relatively high in both cases, and numerous examples exist. While these are less extreme actions than murder, people acting as agents of their own oppression is not an idea to be dismissed out of hand as a modern, woke excess.
I remember when one of the most important (if not *THE* most important) anti-feminist voices against the Equal Rights Amendment was Phyllis Schlafly. :evil:
People who are wrong are just as sure they're right as people who are right. The only difference is, they're wrong.
God @The Tweet of God

Post Reply