Quote:
Originally Posted by 81MC
First, I didn't say any of that. You're preconceptions are clear, but don't project that onto me.
Spoiler!
Paraphrasing, and apologies in advance if this isn't accurate:
Locke: "The Us vs Them symbolism is problematic...We are the them and the police are us...its Police on one side and the public on the other".
Well, no, that's not what it means, and that's clear. The police force are the "thin blue line" while either side of the line is society, the 'us' Locke must be referring to. The other side of the 'thin blue line' is those that are a threat to our civilized society. It is in no way symbolic of the divide between the police force and law abiding citizens.
Sliver: "Cop wearing TBL badge in my shop...thinks he's Rambo...get real, its Calgary."
So what if the officer was doing exactly the same thing but without the TBL patch? Would he be a Rambo wannabe because he's wearing the police uniform? If that's the case, you're projecting your feelings about the management of the Police onto individual officers, which is whack. And if not, it's remarkable that you would be willing to condemn a person for displaying what was, until very very recently, an allowed symbol. One in which you have very limited personal investment, certainly less so than any officer. It's clear Sliver's position on the symbol is at odds with what an officers might be. Attacking en masse the character of anyone who
disagrees is deplorable.
Krovikan: "Its a racist flag". You can't just announce something and have it be fact. All the injustice carried out by police forces all over north america are not inextricably supported by this symbol.
Whoever the hell: "Desecration of the Fla
g!" K, than you must take issue with the City's latest decal campaign where they've taken the Flag, put the City logo in the middle and plastered some slogan on it? That's government issued man.
"Your boss tells you not to wear something, its that simple". We all know damn well if LGBTQ+ members wanted to wear a pride flag, these same posters would be arguing for their right to do so. Or BLM. Or Cancer Ribbons. #### man, we make exceptions all the time, including headwear.
It's a symbol that has a meaning that is apparently quite different for different people. That's not abnormal. The difference here is that people have a lot of distrust, hatred, or disdain for the police. Without meaningful consultation and discussions regarding what it actually represents to those who wear it, we've accomplished nothing but further discredit the police.
I'll fully admit my bias. I do not have the rosy coloured view of our society that apparently some here have. Calgary has ~20 000 violent crimes a year. Yeah, I value their service.
|
The Flag in itself is the thing invoking this us vs them mentality, we're just responding to it.
And the idea that any individual member or small cohort of a police force is making a substantial contribution to a thin blue line between us and total anarchy is a rather dim view of our polity, you said it yourself on any given day 0.003% of Calgarians might be involved in a violent interaction this ain't inner-Chicago.
Couple that with the relative safety of their job in comparison to other jobs that aren't afforded the respect they feel they deserve for putting themselves in "harms" way. for context
https://www.insurdinary.ca/what-are-...jobs-in-canada
The whole thing is just them liking the smell of their own #### a little too much and going out of their way to shove other peoples faces in it, in the most offensive way possible, while on our payroll. Everyone has a career, most people try to feel good about what they do, but don't expect that it will be packaged up with a special place in society to be held above others.
To not see why people would be offended by this thing is pretty obtuse, imo. And to not understand that public employees can be held to standards of speech by the government that private employees cannot, is an interesting take to say the least.