this post was submitted on 11 Jan 2024
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While acab is probably too generalized a term to apply to ALL police forces in the world..... Interpreting acab in absolutes is also kinda silly and needlessly pedantic.
If I were to say all Nazi are bastards...... Would we be making the same arguments? Surely there were Nazi that were forced to join the party, surely there were Nazi giving years of their lives to serving their communities, risking their lives and health.
The point of ACAB is to highlight the inherent and institutional failures of policing actions native to the vast majority of western democracies. Where police are primarily utilized to protect property and institutional power, rather than protecting the most disadvantaged communities in our society.
Trouble with that theory is that I think regular people won’t hear something like ‘All Cops Are Bastards’ and immediately think ‘well they probably don’t mean all cops’. It literally says it there.
Maybe because I’m Scottish living in Scotland I’m separate from the US side of the movement/argument but knowing so many good people in the service who have probably done more for their communities than some people spray painting on walls it just sounds so blatant. If it was a different slogan then I doubt people would have an issue with it but not everyone hears all the details about what it apparently means online or whatnot, they just see the words.
No desire to be pedantic at all, just explaining why a lot of folk won’t get behind the message.
ACAISAETOSOOSBTNOTPI or All Cops Are Inherently Supporting And Enforcing The Opressive Systems Of Our Society By The Nature Of The Policing Institution doesn't quite have the same ring to it though.
I mean I get it, "ACAB" sounds a bit like an over-reaction and I wouldn't use that term to talk about Belgian cops, but within leftist circles like lemmy I think it's an acceptable shorthand since 90+ percent of people already understand The Discourse™ on some level.
Haha that acronym gave me a chuckle.
Yeah I get it, I just don’t like when things are reduced to all x’s are y’s, think that kind of polarised thinking isn’t helpful when the world has a whole lot of grey in it. Equally if someone is happy to post a comment like that online I don’t think there is anything bad about chatting it through like reasonable humans.
Social meanings of words out weigh dictionary definitions, that’s just how being social works
I'm very left wing and I hate the ACAB slogan.
I’ve never heard a progressive, liberal or democrat call themselves “left wing” before
Thanks for expanding my world view!
I'm not American so labels like democrat and liberal mean nothing to me. Consequently I have no idea what you're trying to insinuate
It was a legitimate thanks for being you
I'm sorry - I'm a bit dense sometimes when it comes to interpreting comments on the net.
Follow up question: is left wing a loaded term in US politics? It doesn't seem to me that US conservatives mind being called right wing?
No need to apologize haha
And I don’t think so, it’s just another word for progressive or any other number of synonymous words which equate to “we want to push society out of stale behaviors and encourage constant reevaluation and adjustment.
Some people just can’t handle that sort of thing for one reason or another
PEB
Policing Enables Bastards
Meanwhile, “ACAB” is obviously wrong and disrespect to anyone who signs up to get fired for being a good cop.
Don’t need to say literally wrong things that have to be re-explained, even if it is catchy. Be The Change!
AACABAL! (All ACAB’rs Are Lazy!) :)
See, that expresses that it's a systemic issue and that consequently some cops are bastards without damning everyone who is part of a large diverse group. It's even a simpler acronym. Brilliant
Must be the third time I’ve shared it in the past year or two… first compliment! :)
I mean how about instead of hyperbolizing, we actually find a good acronym that does less to push people away from our world-view? If the problem is the system, find an acronym about the system. It doesn't have to be perfect, but if we don't genuinely think every single cop is bad, we should stop saying it, no?
As a New Zealander, I feel the same way about ACAB as you. I definitely have issues with the Police and I definitely think they're a racist institution (NZ stats back that up) but ACAB is a shitty slogan IMO
All Carsalesmen Are Bastards.
I say defund the dealerships!