06-07-2024, 12:59 PM
(06-07-2024, 08:50 AM)Belsnickel Wrote: I mean, the defund thing has been mentioned, but I also strongly believe that there is a lot of misunderstanding with that movement in general on both sides of the discussion. People calling for it have a wide variety of views on what needs to happen but they have rallied around this one message that makes them seem monolithic to the other side. On the same token, most of them don't really understand what they are asking for, either. But this is what we get with democracy, people who have no idea what the **** they are talking about talking about it. It sucks sometimes, but it is a necessity.
Which I'd have zero issue accepting if the media was at all even handed in covering this topic.
Quote:As for the racism narratives, I think we see here again some misunderstandings. I also believe the criminal justice system is inherently racist and it is true that police in some areas were created with the purpose of stopping runaway slaves. However, on the one side people are using that to attack individuals who just want to serve their communities and on the other side, it is being taken as a personal offense when it isn't always intended to be (like how I am discussing the systemic issues, not the ones related to individuals).
I think the criminal justice system was inherently racist. I do not believe it continues to be in the vast majority of this country. That some police departments were created to stop runaway slaves was never in dispute. What was in dispute, correctly, is the assertion, made quite often, that THE police were created for that purpose. Which, of course, ignores the long history of policing in western nations that never had slaves in the modern era. I disagree with your last sentence, I have never heard the argument made without an intent to impugn the profession in modern day. I'm certainly not going to say that's never happened, but that's definitely the intent for the vast majority of people who raise this point.
Quote:I think the thin blue line thing has been coopted to a point of no return, at least around here. You don't see it unless it is with "MOLON LABE", III, a Punisher skull, or a Gadsden flag. I don't know what to do with these people.
I know what to do with them, stop giving them oxygen by continued attempts at infringement. Every idiotic lawmakers looking to ban "full semi-automatic" weapons or claiming that "assault rifles" literally vaporize a body throws more fuel on that fire. Colorado just tried to pass a ban on all semi-automatic weapons, a blatantly unconstitutional act. As long as these attempts to continue to be made you're going to get more of these dudes.
Quote:The difference between the two is that Trump runs the GOP. Those who fall in line with the GOP platform -- which in 2020 was no platform, just Trump -- are complicit with Trump. When it comes to the Democrats, the platform is not about defunding the police. It is about working on evidence-based reforms to improve community policing that works to reduce our prison populations and treat everyone equitably. That is providing resources to law enforcement, not taking them away.
This needs more clarification. It's not about defunding everywhere. But it definitely is in some areas, and the west coast is chocked full of them. So I am very comfortable asserting that defunding the police is absolutely a goal for the Dems in major areas of this nation because I see it literally every day I'm at work.
Quote:Now, in neither party is it required that a member hold to the platform, one of the problems with our system to be honest. It's hard to really define anyone based on party when neither party requires upholding the platform. However, given these two things and our discussion here, the resistance to Trump in the GOP is the exception and the defund the police movement is also the exception. Both are not holding to the party platforms in their positions.
It may be hard at the national level, it's much easier at the local, which is what concerns me far more. So when I say the Democratic Party is fully deserving of ridicule and scorn for their take on the criminal justice system I mean it. As you say, they don't police their own members, and neither does the GOP so you're getting lumped together.
I'll end by reiterating one of the reasons I posted in here to begin with. The Dems pathetically transparent embracing of the Capitol Hill officers is as patronizing as it is offensive. They saw a chance to push back against their anti-law enforcement image, richly deserved though it is. Trust me when I ay no law enforcement officer is buying it, at all.
