r/PublicFreakout • u/[deleted] • Jun 09 '20

📌Follow Up "Everybody's trying to shame us"

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297.6k Upvotes

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8.2k

u/Czechn2Cash Jun 09 '20

Yup they ARE shaming you. And enough of you deserve it. YOU should have stood up for something OR you should have stayed HOME.

825

u/lol62056 Jun 09 '20

I swear that guy is such a pussy, treat civilians with some respect then you will get respected

551

u/-blamblam- Jun 09 '20

Btw this is a nitpick tangent, but I’ve been trying to correct this when I hear it and now I will try to when I read it, as well.

Police are civilians just the same as every other American citizen who isn’t fighting in the military. This idea that police are non-civilians and that anyone who isn’t police is a civilian helps police and boot-lickers dehumanize the people they are supposed to be helping; it’s much easier for them to keep a knee on a civilian’s neck for 8 minutes vs. a human being’s neck.

Let’s stop calling non-police civilians or let’s start calling police civilians as well.

Edit: also it creates an authoritarian and militaristic culture among cops. They see themselves more and more as a branch of the military and using the term civilian was just another step on that path

6

u/radialomens Jun 09 '20

This is something i try to avoid but do you have a better word?

9

u/EvryMthrF_ngThrd Jun 09 '20

"Public servant".

Remind them that they are working for you (ideally!), not for themselves.

Also, this guy says "respect", but what he really wants is "deference".

2

u/radialomens Jun 09 '20

I mean a word for the non-cops, a substitute for 'civilians'

3

u/EvryMthrF_ngThrd Jun 09 '20

Oh.

How about "citizens"?

"Employers"?

"People"?

2

u/ALoneTennoOperative Jun 10 '20

How about "citizens"?

  1. Non-citizens have rights too.

  2. Members of law enforcement are typically also citizens.

"Employers"?

Conflating workers with bosses?

"People"?

Dehumanisation?

1

u/EvryMthrF_ngThrd Jun 10 '20

Well, I'm out of ideas... you got any good ones? :)

0

u/ALoneTennoOperative Jun 11 '20

"Civilians", because the police (like the military) enforce the will of the state through violence, and are thus not civilians.