Cancelling my sub

@ape_dosmil:

Shit, you got me. I re-thought that post and already deleted it because it seemed too over the top.

I don't like to post on the forums but I just felt the need to say that Abby is right and justified in her words, and everyone should read Marx (and Engels, and look up the writings and speeches of black liberationists such as Huey P. Newton, Stokely Carmichael, Fred Hampton, and Malcolm X). Later, OP

@htr10: No worries, compared to some of the things that have been said it was pretty tame really. Emotions running high.

I definitely misinterpreted that last bit as "Abby read some Marx (past tense)"

Like OP was calling her a Communist.

That's really all I have to add. BLM ACAB

“Well they helped me that one time so all your problems aren’t valid” is just a hell of a statement.

Bye.

Abby right tho

When we say abolish the police we mean tear down the racist structure and build something that serves the community; not leave society to its own devices without any oversight.

And yeah it never ceases to amaze me how some wine liberals/conservatives interpret Marx so totally incorrectly. OP read Marx.

I don't feel anything for the smallish men who are too uncomfortable to deal with real adult issues and attempt to pull a faux intellectualism sick burn. Don't bother coming back.

@development: If you're going to build a police force that serves the community, then you might start by not branding all police officers bastards. It seems doomed to fail if you're going to assume that anyone who would want to be a police officer in the first place is subhuman scum.

@ape_dosmil: lol I think the qualifications for the new police would first and foremost include "have never been a police officer." They train them for 6 months and shove them onto our streets. They intentionally don't hire intelligent people so that they can be easily manipulated and are less likely to think for themselves and try to change the department. I don't think anyone's gonna miss them.

@development: Brilliant, well you're probably going to have to pay them a hell of a lot more then.

@ape_dosmil: If anyone right now is looking at current events and saying "That's me. That's what I wanna be" then I'm done with assuming I'm stating outright all of those people are fucked up.

@ape_dosmil: I'm sure subsidizing that cost with the ARSENAL of weapons and vehicles they currently have will end up as a significant pay raise.

Their tactical vests alone go for over $1,000 USD a piece.

I'm sure with some training they're able to merely show up with 2 officers to handle a small-time payment issue and not escalate it to a public murder situation.

@efesell: Right, but do you want good people to join the police in the future or not? Because branding all cops bastards isn't going to make that happen.

@ape_dosmil said:

If people want to be a cop right now then they either want to impose their will onto others or they are too stupid to know that "serve and protect" only applies to white and/or rich private property.

Lmao remember when we were kids and we though cops did actual investigative work? Oh no, some of you still think that...

To paraphrase someone on Twitter,

"All these people saying fuck the police, but what happens when they get robbed and want someone to show up 7 hours later and shrug their shoulders."

If a new improved organisation appears, these comments about the current faulty organisation don't apply to the new one by default. I'm sure the future good cops are able to identify the problems of the current organization and understand why people are being very tired, sad and angry at this organization. Otherwise they're not fit to be part of the new organization because they don't understand what was wrong in the first place.

1. Ok

2. Who cares

3. BLM

4. ACAB

I hardly ever post, been subbed for a few years now and thought I'd like to say keep it up GB, more respect for you lately and please dont hold back on your thoughts and feelings. Same for all the extended duders etc, looking at you @fobwashed much respect for your output on social media and I hope you lot get your country to where it should be.

Signed a depressed Welshman.

I came for the miusunderstanding of Marx and stayed for the ACAB discussion.

ACAB is never in good faith meant literally, it doesnt mean "every cop is a bad person" it simply means the position and systemic structure of the police gives leniency to those who abuse power and will weed out those to attempt to be "good cops" and expose the negative aspects of the force.

Its just too wordy to say

Any cop who misuses their power is a bastard as an individual; any cop who turns a blind eye or lies to defend them is also a bastard; any cop who does not turn a blind eye or lie will be forced out of their job and not remain a cop for long. So individually, over time, all police as individuals inevitably show themselves to be bastards, or stop being a cop.

ACWMTPIABANIACWTABEOLTDTISABACWDNTABEOLWBFOOTJ doesnt really roll off the tongue eh?

On the subject of her comments, it's not wrong to criticize Police. But what is wrong is to take a group of 36000 diverse individuals men, women, brown, black, yellow, white, mixed, etc. And call them all white supremacists. It's demeaning to the POC on the force who only want to improve their communities. They joined the force to show faces like theirs can be represented. And to call them the thing they have been fighting agents for 200 plus years is just plain wrong no matter how you look at it.

@xhunterpaul: Neither of her comments did that, by the way. Both of them were broad statements about the NYPD as as system and are accurate no matter how diverse it is in membership.

So no I will not feel bad for the hypothetical good guys within the corrupt system. They are aiding it of their own volition.

@xhunterpaul: There's a difference between calling out an institution that, whether by design or by default, advances white supremacy and calling each and every member of that institution a white supremacist. The fact is that those officers, regardless of their intentions or ethnic background, chose to join an organisation that systemically targets minorities, entertains a culture of silence that protects abusive cops and routinely elects fringe union leaders who reject reform at every step.

@methodman008: 5. CREAM

Ultimately ACAB offers no solutions. A functioning state needs to be capable of monopolising the use of violence within its borders. A police force is essential to achieving that.

Some actual practical solutions might be all police forces in America adopting de-escalation tactics and policies which require cops to use alternatives to force where available. Better psychological evaluation of recruits. Pay cops better.

Gun control. The state should be monopolising the means of violence. The proliferation of firearms ratchets up the levels of violence on all sides.

End the war on drugs. So many police interactions don't need to happen in the first place. Drug possession should be decriminalised and drug misuse should be treated as a health care issue.

Imagining a world where the police don't exist is not realistic. It's also not a popular idea with the general public. It is a minority position which appears to be widespread on Giant Bomb and Twitter.

Then again, this seems to be another issue on which America is massively polarised, nuanced takes are shouted down, and the sane voices in the centre are drowned out. I dread the political landscape of the US coming here.

@phished0ne: APUAB?

All Police Unions Are Bastaards? I think everyone can get behind that one. Way too difficult to get rid of actual garbage cops. Look at this, a fucking discussion and I haven't read the word bootlicker in... *counts* 1 page.

Police Unions, BeGone!

Agreed with almost all of that. I also don't support harming police officers. It is possible to simultaneously hold these two things in your head and not fall over. I almost never fall over.

I'm more than happy not to be in the same community as people who see the systemic brutalization and murder of minorities at the hands of police as no big deal. Byeeeeeeeeeeeeee

The vast majority of people who say "ACAB" arent literally ancoms or anarchists either. Most people realize you cant completely abolish police, this is why (even some borderline ancoms) say the answer isnt completely abolishing a police force but instead making sure the police forces that are used are more akin to local community watches with smaller forces. You are less likely to pull out your gun and shoot someone if your direct neighbors are holding you accountable. Its why a lot of these situations get so bad, there are tons of cops that get fired from one city then move to another, or live way outside the communities they police. Your suggestions are all good, but as long as police arent held accountable by their structure its useless.

Bye.

This is good, I always tend to explain ACAB as more anti thin blue line or "blue lives matter" attitudes vs purely anti-cop. Its a better way to explain.,

I love topics like these. You really get a chance to see the racists expose themselves.

I mean, this is really the ultimate comment. It has all the advantages of anonymity on the internet with the cowardice of not even confronting your actual target. Do you have a patreon where you let people who you're referring to?

I sat absolutely riveted by the Robert Evans periscope for like 5 hours last night(these ones: https://www.pscp.tv/IwriteOK/1OyKAYjnPgrKb ) and if that doesn't make you really understand why people would be very against cops, after watching portland police launch tear gas canisters into UNRELATED TRAFFIC THAT THEY FORCEFULLY DROVE THE PEACEFUL PROTESTERS INTO causing panic and multiple drivers to peel out and almost kill people, dropping tear gas from rooftops, having dudes in camo with rifles back them up as intimidation, etc, well, I don't think there's a better reason to reevaluate your position and privilege in life than now.

if you are someone who "comes to GB to get away from the world", you are PRECISELY the people who need to pay attention. if you did not realize the Duders's political leanings before now, you were never a fan.

OK. ACAB. How about that. Not even gonna bother with you. It's been known that white supremacists have been infiltrating the police force.

Im really sorry Abby was mean to the police who kill black people for no reason that helped you.

When I was held up at gunpoint in my own home and beaten severely about the head, before the police would let me get in the ambulance, they drilled me to ask how much I had been drinking. They thought I was drunken because I was "slurring my speech."

I have a speech impediment.

They also never took prints of the bloody hands on the walls and they never checked the security footage from the store where my stolen credit card was used. They never followed up on easy leads that could've pointed them in the right direction. They didn't care because we were poor 20 somethings in a bad neighborhood.

Happy the cops were nice to you. They're still tools of a racist regime, even if they gave you a cookie.

Black lives matter.

....

Cool. Bye. I shouldn't have to sit here and explain that good experiences don't just outweigh bad ones and injustice. I'm glad things worked out for you but that's sadly not the case for everyone. Look around the country/the world. It's not as if Abby just started saying inexplicable things. Get out.

I've been at this site for over 10 years and seen many different staff roll through. They're good people, all of them and their opinions have always been welcome to this site as far as I'm concerned and the community has largely been just as great. It doesn't need people like you. Bye bye.

@bta: I want to know which marx are we talking about. We talking some Althusser, Weisman, Hall, NEw LEfty types or the French brand? Which one?!

This spate of "I liked Giant Bomb until Abby was mean to cops" posts is genuinely puzzling to me. What site did you think you were on? Here's a post from 2014 in which the site's founder calls Ice Cube one of the best, most important rappers ever: https://jeff.zone/post/106389661636/was-ice-cube-a-good-rapper

Y'all know what Ice Cube said, right?

@hubie21: You can always voice your concerns to support@giantbomb.com and https://www.viacbs.com/contact-us

@stise: You better check yo self before you wreck yo self :)

@stise: It's really tiring. It's especially tiring considering I bet a lot of these older members raising a stink probably like Ice Cube but either never thought about what he stood for or believed in, or just never listened when say, Jeff on the podcast said the first time he heard NWA as a young one it was literally all he ever wanted to listen to ever again.

But yeah, the site definitely changed because of a few tweets by Abby!

If OP is still reading this thread, I really recommend reading some more recent Marxist literature, particularly those on race and class consciousness. For one, there remains tremendous academic debate about the racist elements that are in Marx and Engels' writings (for example, Engels' Völkerabfälle). More importantly, writers like Cedric Robinson have raised really important points about race and historical materialism that cannot be ignored. Finally, even if we accept that racism solely arises from capitalism (or more specifically the reproduction of capitalism), it just shows that we need to tackle racism to further the goal of a unified working class. I'm guessing the comment wasn't made in good faith, so I don't know why I'm even bothering.

Well then all cops shouldn't be bastards then. When we start to see large scale protests or opposition from within the police force in regards to racist and violent policies set up to help white supremacists in power, I'll change my tune. Until then, their silence is complicity and all cops are huge bastards.

Lock this thread.

@sethmode: And the departure of america-loving Dan Ryckert, who would never question the law.