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I was in a relationship with a police officer for three years of my life.
I am an abolitionist.
You really sure you wanna go there, Lee? https://twitter.com/lhfang/status/1334276442796957696
I am an abolitionist.
You really sure you wanna go there, Lee? https://twitter.com/lhfang/status/1334276442796957696
The fucked up thing about it is, Lee isn’t that ignorant. He knows exactly how terrible and ineffectual the police are. He knows they are a violent, dangerous power structure.
He just also perceives them to be personally beneficial.
This isn’t ignorance, it’s glib deception.
He just also perceives them to be personally beneficial.
This isn’t ignorance, it’s glib deception.
There is no doubt in my mind that Lee Fang knows exactly how monstrously abusive the institution of policing is. There is no doubt in my mind that he is not ignorant of how detrimental the police are to disenfranchised communities.
He just isn’t impacted, so why care?
He just isn’t impacted, so why care?
Coming back to this, this also plays into a broad trope that radical politics are something you do as a rebellious youth and then outgrow.
The trope that as we grow older, we become more conservative.
There’s this idea that anarchism is a silly thing people grow out of by 25.
The trope that as we grow older, we become more conservative.
There’s this idea that anarchism is a silly thing people grow out of by 25.
Most of the radicals I know are in their 30s and 40s, and many of them are systems thinkers who realized our society doesn’t scale.
We don’t become less radical over time, we just become more strategic. And tired.
Lee knows all this, too. And he’s invoking the trope anyway.
We don’t become less radical over time, we just become more strategic. And tired.
Lee knows all this, too. And he’s invoking the trope anyway.
The situation is not, and never has been, “we don’t know what the police do or how they operate, we just hate cops.”
The reality is, we know exactly what they do, and how they operate, and this is exactly why they must be defunded.
Or better, abolished altogether.
The reality is, we know exactly what they do, and how they operate, and this is exactly why they must be defunded.
Or better, abolished altogether.
The narrative that “people who hate the police are simply ignorant of the police” also serves to gaslight every person who has been abused by the state-sanctioned brute squad.
The argument Lee is making is the same argument mediocre men everywhere make over and over again:
The argument Lee is making is the same argument mediocre men everywhere make over and over again:
Lee’s stance on the police boils down to,
“Sure they’re abusive and violent. But they do good work, and they’ve never abused me.”
If you genuinely believe they do good work, maybe it’s time to familiarize yourself with reality.
“Sure they’re abusive and violent. But they do good work, and they’ve never abused me.”
If you genuinely believe they do good work, maybe it’s time to familiarize yourself with reality.
