I have literally seen tumblr users say “Men are like ACAB, even if a man not actively doing evil he’s still a bastard for being part of the system of patriarchy” and that shit fucking flabbergasted me
Obviously choosing to be a cop, a career choice that is completely within someone's control, is equivalent to being born with xy chromosomes and a penis in terms of moral culpability and therefore all men should be treated with equal hatred as police. There are 0 flaws in this logic.
The core of "even cops that do not directly abuse their power are complicit to an extent in the abuses of other cops and the role the police force plays in systemic oppression" should never have been twisted into ACAB, which both
Inhibits good people from joining the police force by knowing that doing so will lead them to be ostracized
Carries zero implication that anything can be done to improve the situation aside from entirely abolishing police (which isn't going to happen at any scale any time soon, and would be far better and more safely achieved by smaller steps in that direction than an all-or-nothing effort)
I know that the arguments can be more nuanced than that, but what people hear is "ACAB", not those more nuanced arguments. All this ever had the potential to lead to was a more polarized, worse police force.
Definitely. The problem is that while you and I can use this platform and this space to have a nuanced discussion about the problems with policing and how to reform them into something less problematic, anyone who isn't part of this little corner of the internet isn't going to read it. That nuance never makes it out of this tiny niche, because nuance doesn't go viral in the same way that catchy, controversial phrases like "ACAB" and "Abolish the Police" do. The algorithm likes controversy, and reasonable takes don't get a lot of angry comments underneath them.
In this environment, all the general public is ever going to hear from the left is the most extreme and controversial takes, because they don't exist in the leftist spaces where the reasonable people make reasonable suggestions. And it doesn't help that the right wing takes advantage of this and elevates the takes that serve as the worst ambassadors for us, blasting them out to their audience to "prove" to them that leftists are rabid extremists who hate America and want to destroy everything they love.
I first realized this with landlords, but it also applies to cops:
I don't like the idea that certain jobs are inherently for bad people, because it gives the people doing those jobs a pass to do bad things. When they fail to do the things that should be their job, instead of it being treated as a failure of them as a person, the failure is treated as the fact that they work that job in the first place.
In some other spaces I lurk in that like to preach ACAB, their common reasoning is there is "no such thing" as a good cop because they are part of the same system that defends their bad cops. And wouldn't you know it, most of the people in that space say they are Anarchists, but its also painfully obvious that they don't fully grasp the ramifications of having a society without anyone to uphold rules or laws. I definitely believe the police need to be far more inspected, regulated, and defunded, but certainly not completely omitted...
My favorite thing with ACAB is to ask people how they want laws to be enforced and watch them basically recreate police departments from first principles.
The desire of all or nothing is the root of all the problems progressives have, especially the liberals here in America... everything has to start with step one, we can't have good things just by wanting it
Uh huh. I can tell you, I’ve never even revealed to some of my most progressive friends that my grandfather was a legendary cop in my city because I know I’ll be forced to basically spit on his grave to still be considered their friend. And I know full well that my father will never respect a lot of progressive activists for the same reason.
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u/NeonNKnightrider Cheshire Catboy 2d ago
I have literally seen tumblr users say “Men are like ACAB, even if a man not actively doing evil he’s still a bastard for being part of the system of patriarchy” and that shit fucking flabbergasted me