#and are just fine with it

[yolkcheeks]

So here’s a take which I think is downright tepid yet still am deliberately putting here instead of FB on account of boomer relatives likely making themselves annoying!

If anyone actually believed that it is a few bad apples and cops as a whole are mostly good family men invested in protecting all citizens in the area they serve out of a sense of civic duty- you know, your basic copaganda fairytale- all you have to do is look at what the police themselves do to see it ain’t so.

like, ok, we know by now that Uncle Politics Guy and Karenus Bluelinea ignore any statistics which don’t suit them and will whip out special pleading every time there’s another incident where a cop brutalizes or murders someone unless there’s a oner showing the whole thing, in which case there’s one of the bad apples.

So in their view of the world, most cops are good guys with guns and a few totally different people slip through. They also can see that a huge swath of the population does not trust cops and judges the incidents they say are fine a lot more harshly. We know they know this due to the way such folks will bring up how hard it must be for heroic innocent good guy cops to be subject to such vitriol. So, to recap, cops are mostly good, and there’s a loud and growing public sentiment they are not, damaging their PR and morale.

What would be the logical response for the cops in such a scenario? Probably to take steps towards:

Removing the Bad Cops, not just when they do something egregious and the public outcry is so loud they are forced to act, but as a preventative measure because they are Good Cops who Want to Protect People Actually- it would really hurt morale even more to keep one of the guys ruining it for everyone else around!

Retraining the Kinda Bad Cops; to the degree that there might be some Bad Apples who Totally Still Deserve a Chance, it would also be in the interest of a culture predominantly populated by civic minded people to make sure all their members are upholding the law, not just because it is their job, but because they’re Good Cops who Care.

Of course sharing PR which directly addresses the people who are upset; whether the perceptions are reasonable and realistic or awful mean liberal bullying of the poor innocent cops, the public clearly no longer trusts the police. That’s a big issue for how police are supposed to function, so you would expect to see campaigns that directly address that loss of trust. Probably something that tells the public about the strides above, maybe even cite some sort of external oversight or study that shows their particular department is so full of very good cops who never get violent with the citizens they are sworn to protect.

But, I know this is not a shock to anyone who follows me, that is not what we seen happening with police departments across the US (in the specific only because I can’t speak to other countries’ cops). What do we see?

Cops who have been a repeated and expensive problem for their department get promotions and often their pattern of misconduct only comes to light when they finally are caught murdering or brutalizing someone and gain national attention.

Cops who have done things which would get them fired from any other job, who are not disciplined at all or who are put on desk duty until attention dies down.

Cops who show a clear disregard for human life, from laughing at the “low value” of a young woman brutally killed by an on-duty officer, to writing up reports in which a victim they judge as undesirable (usually sex workers, PoC, unhoused people, and other demographics who are overall subject to discrimination) as having “no human involved”

Cops making fun of, blowing off, and showing extreme resistance to any professional development which challenges bias or otherwise overlaps with DEAI training.

Cops who do try to bring attention to injustice within their department being stymied, intimidated, and (special shout-out to the NYPD) subject to involuntary commitment to shut them up which is subsequently memorialized as a full color enamel challenge coin showing a rat in a straight jacket. Oh and can’t forget the more recent incident where they beat one of their own to death “accidentally” during a “training exercises” like an extra fucked up sparagmos.

Cops who are high ranking within their hierarchy demonstrating the expectations of police culture by not just ignoring but engaging in all of the above.

Of course neither list is exhaustive, just taking a bird’s eye view of what you would expect from an organization which aims to protect and to serve, and what we actually see happening. These actions point to an organization that not only is refusing the judgement of a large fraction of the populace which the fairy tale claims they serve- and that they serve everyone is definitely part of Uncle Politics Guy’s perspective because folks who pity the poor wittle cops love to crow that the libs will be crying for police back if we actually defund/demolish/even slightly discipline the cops. “Who will you call when [racism, usually]?” they ask, implying that in their view, the good guys with guns cops would currently be useful to protect even you, callow cad that you are, from the very scary evil criminals.

These actions point to an organization which not only refuses that judgement, even if they are super sincerely sure it’s not accurate or merited, but rather than demonstrating a commitment to being the good guys with guns, they refuse to engage in anything which would prevent, counter, or clean up after their messes. Remember that reporter who lost her eye while covering a protest? Remember the cop spraying the seated college kids directly in the face with chemical “disincentives”? Rough rides ring a bell?

They get more violent when someone tries to hold them accountable or points out their actions. They insist on special treatment and the law can’t touch them. They use violence on and off the job as a first response to fear, anger, mild annoyance, and will swear up and down they “feared for their life” even when footage comes out showing that no rational person would believe they were in danger, never mind someone who is supposed to be trained in deescalation and non-lethal force.

Cops do not act like an organization of do-gooders with a few fellas who just were too jumpy for the job and made a mistake they feel just awful about. Cops act like an organization which knows it has power and feels entitled to wield it against anyone who opposes them, from protesters to their own men when they try to speak up. Cops behave consistently like they believe they are above the laws which they supposedly enforce despite not knowing them.

You know, when there’s one bad apple in actual apples, it spoils the whole barrel, and farmers don’t fuck around with letting their whole harvest turn. Not the first by far to point that out, but it merits saying. Cops don’t even turn the barrel over to salvage the good ones and the barrel itself is shot through with fungus. You can ignore everything other than what happens to be audio or video recorded and what police themselves say and it still paints the same picture.

[omegaverse-anesthesiologist]

why is ao3 is blocked on the hospital wifi????

[butchfalin]

the funniest meltdown ive ever had was in college when i got so overstimulated that i could Not speak, including over text. one of my friends was trying to talk me through it but i was solely using emojis because they were easier than trying to come up with words so he started using primarily emojis as well just to make things feel balanced. this was not the Most effective strategy... until. he tried to ask me "you okay?" but the way he chose to do that was by sending "👉🏼👌🏼❓" and i was so shocked by suddenly being asked if i was dtf that i was like WHAT???? WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY TO ME?????????? and thus was verbal again

[taffywabbit]

they should invent a new type of "staying in bed for 2-3 hours after you wake up repeatedly opening and closing apps on your phone" where it makes you feel awesome and energized and emotionally fulfilled

[january-summers]

"AO3 doesn't need a "dislike" button"

Um, actually, it already has one. Depending on your specs, it might look a little different but over all it looks kinda like this:

You can find it at the corner of your screen, which corner is dependent on your layout.

Anyway, if you dislike a fic, you can hit this Dislike Button until the fic goes away. It really is pretty amazing actually.

[anarchopuppy]

I, a hearing person who likes subtitles just as a preference, shouldn't have to read a subtitle that's obvious nonsense, go back a couple seconds, and listen again in order to figure out what's going on. An accessibility feature should not be the most half-assed part of a professionally made production. Scripted media has absolutely no excuse for not having subtitles or having subtitles that aren't perfectly verbatim. Professional captioning services should be ashamed of the shoddy work that they put out. Captions should be treated as a part of the production, just like filming, editing, audio balancing, etc - and anything that releases with missing or bad captions should be seen as unfinished

[mausolealdrift]

its baffling seeing people on here being all shocked about how other ppl didnt have sex or do drugs or drink or go to parties etc etc in high schools like. sorry i was too busy getting bullied to do all of that stuff i guess. why are you surprised that there’s losers on the cringe loser website

[nanaomei]

WHAT I GOTTA SAY TO GET A PIECE OF THAT?!

art by: mossmaybe1 on twt

[basshole-astard]

PSA: i keep seeing posts about staying cool in extreme heat that include advice like "gatorade is bad actually!" and "don't drink fruit juice it'll just dehydrate you!" and neither of these are true!

regarding fruit juice: there's apparently a misconception that Any Sugar At All will dehydrate you, and that's simply not true. yes, sugar will make you pee more when consumed in large amounts, but 1) the natural sugar in fruits won't do this to you 2) great news! a lot of fruit juices exist without any added sugar in them! 3) honestly even having a glass of the fruit juice with added sugar won't completely dehydrate you as long as you're also drinking water throughout the day. if its hot you deserve a cold treat of a drink!!! can't go wrong with fruit juice!!!

regarding gatorade: maybe this isn't an every day drink, but guess what: if it's 110F/40C or hotter outside, and you don't have AC, or you're moving around a lot outside of the AC, and you're sweating buckets: that's when you drink a gatorade.

gatorade exists to replenish all the electrolytes (salt) and glucose (sugar) that you sweat out. YES it is meant for athletes to drink during intensive work outs and not necessarily for people who aren't doing that kind of exercise. BUT GUESS WHAT! when you're sweating buckets because you had to walk to the bus in extreme heat, that's intensive exercise. please feel free to drink a gatorade after that! that's its intended use case!!!!

no: neither of these drinks should be a total replacement for water. but drinking a lot of water and then treating yourself to a fruit juice with lunch is a good idea!!! drinking a gatorade becuase you just had to walk for 20 minutes in the heat is a good idea!!!

Please Stop Spreading Misinformation About Drinks!!! It's fine if you drink things that aren't water!!!! Yes you should probably always be drinking water but drinking something else As Well isn't going to hurt you!!!! okay!!!! its fine!!!!!!

honestly so long as you are consistently getting Any (non-alcoholic) fluids in you, you're doing great!!!!!! okay!!!! i love you stay safe <3

[embraceyourdestiny]

to any americans who feel "paralyzed" and "dont know what to do" to help with gaza:

reading a fucking book. i beg of you.

in a time of knowledge suppression is it your duty to arm yourself with knowledge.

read about americas occupations in the middle east.

read about 9/11 from outside of america and see how they inflicted senseless harm and violence to countless amounts of people and have been suppressing your rights for the past 2 fucking decades.

read about any of the countless wars from the past 30 years. especially from a civilian's. and the victims and survivors' perspective. listen to the horror stories and do not plug your fucking ears as to what your country is doing.

and read about fucking gaza and palestine and keep up with what is happening no matter how "sad" or "uncountable" you might get.

dont look away from this.

you dont have the right to be comfortable during countless active genocides.

if you're knowledgeable, you're powerful, and our current state doesnt fucking want that.

you have the power to change things if you open your eyes and scream to the world.

wake the fuck up.

Edit: please check the reblogs there are readings and ways to help

[cemeterything]

i did actually attend a catholic school as a kid because it was the only school within walking distance and my parents worked all week so they couldn't drop me off elsewhere and while i was there one of the other kids stabbed me through the hand with a pencil during a fight so i guess i'm like. 1/5th stigmatic.

[protoctist]

i know ryoko kui is a real one because she wrote 97+ chapters of a manga about fantasy ecosystems and food chains and not once did she write the phrase "survival of the fittest" (it's a bad phrase) (it's a social darwinist phrase even) (hated amongst biologists) (doesn't make sense) (darwin didn't use it) (coined by an business major) (one of the worst phrases in pop science) (no good)

[lazylittledragon]

domesticating your vampire: a memoir

(beautiful high res version on patre0n)

[humanmaybe]

Some person in a plague mask handed me this… very professional business card. Idk guys think this is legit?

[batneko]

okay okay okay one more dungeon meshi thought

I keep seeing people saying Falin is "better at social cues" than Laios. Y'all she's just quiet. 😭 She just keeps her mouth shut. 😭😭 Girl was proposed to, said "let me think about it," and then did not even tell her own brother. She doesn't know what's going on either she's just quieter about it!!! 😭😭😭

[canisalbus]

Feeling compelled to take a moment to document this saddest looking little dog I saw today.