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> “Abolish the police” is a scale Words have meaning though. No one on the political board is against reforms but “abolish”, “defund”, or “shut down” mean what
by hartator 6y ago
> “Abolish the police” is a scale
Words have meaning though. No one on the political board is against reforms but “abolish”, “defund”, or “shut down” mean what it means.
- dorian-graph 6y agoWell, yes, duh? In what movements are there not scales attached to pithy lines? I even said: > Maybe "abolish" was a poor choice of a word.
- DHPersonal 6y agoI don’t think it necessarily is a bad choice for some: many people who do use that word want what we call “policing” to be abandoned completely and replaced with something far less punitive in its reactions to emergencies.
- capableweb 6y agoSure, and sometimes different people have different understandings of the meaning of a particular word. Someone can say "abolish the police" and mean that there should be no one with monopoly on violence. Another one can say "abolish the police" and refer the to current state/situation with the police in the US, and simply want the police to stop shooting people at sight and instead act like police in other countries, where they try to de-escalate instead of using their guns. So while it's easy to try to put everyone in one bucket, it's hardy useful to do so in reality.
- NovemberWhiskey 6y agoRight. Compare "Occupy Wall Street". Snappy slogan; lots of public visibility; many groups coming together under that umbrella; no coherent policy agenda; no lasting impact.
- jkingsbery 6y ago> "When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less." > "The question is," said Alice, "whether you can make words mean so many different things." From https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/abolish https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/abolish : > to end the observance or effect of (something, such as a law) : to completely do away with (something)
- badRNG 6y ago"Let's move funds from police departments to public health infrastructure, and additionally, use remaining funding on accountability mechanisms" doesn't exactly roll off the tongue at a protest.
- goda90 6y ago"Reform public safety" works though
- shadowgovt 6y agoHas less punch, and we're not talking about restructuring fire departments.
- basch 6y agoIs the goal to be as polarizing as possible, or to persuade people on the fence to come over to the party?
- shadowgovt 6y agoHow many people, at this point in the first four years of the Trump administration, are still on the fence?
- tarboreus 6y agoPretty much everyone who matters if you're trying to convince people of something.
- shadowgovt 6y agoI suspect we're well past the time of convincing and into the time of doing.
- 6y ago
- moomin 6y agoYes, defunding means literally that, take money away. The way that governments keep doing to health care and schooling. However, typically you'll find that unlike those cases, the people advocating defunding have very good ideas of what to do with that money to help the communities better than the current arrangements. (Which... isn't hard. US policing is almost uniquely expensive and ineffective in the western world.) "Shut down" means something too. The Royal Ulster Constabulary got shut down. Does it mean Northern Ireland doesn't have police? No, but it means it's got far fewer bad cops. Abolish means something different again. Trying to pretend these are the same proposals is nonsense.