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He may be right that cops basically can't get fired but he's getting downvoted because he pivots to complaining that have adopted a particular branding he doesn

He may be right that cops basically can't get fired but he's getting downvoted because he pivots to complaining that have adopted a particular branding he doesn't like. Of course that goes over like a lead balloon on a site where many people's day jobs includes thinking about the difference between specific cases and a general case. Replacing punisher skulls with rainbows and monster trucks with Teslas isn't going to change the fact that the police are capricious, unaccountable and feel enabled to rule with an iron fist.

pessimizer 5y ago
If they were covered in Nazi tattoos, would you be saying the same thing? Tattoos don't make you into a bad person; bad people get bad tattoos, like ones glorifying ruthless comic book vigilantes specifically designed to appeal to the 70s law-and-order Dirty Harry audience.
jeffbee 5y ago
"Branding he doesn't like" is a whole thing, though. Showing contempt for the norms of society by getting a bunch of obscene tattoos and driving a vehicle that violates every relevant stanza of the vehicle code is not a healthy behavior for individuals and organizations who are granted the exclusive franchise on violence.
- throwaway0a5e 5y ago
  >Showing contempt for the norms of society... Oh please, punisher skulls and lifted trucks are the white dude equivalent of pumpkin spice "outside the betlway". It's no surprise that a "nice suburb" is serviced by garbage collectors and landscapers from the hood. Why is it a surprise that they have to hire hicks to be their jackboot?
  - dragontamer 5y ago
    The Punisher is not a good mindset for cops to follow. It's vigilantism of the worst kind. He works as a comic book character, a character with deep flaws. But the Punisher is not a figure to look up to at all.
craftinator 5y ago
I'd argue that it's less an issue of branding, and more an issue of credibility. If you were about to get surgery, and the surgeon came in and started talking about how the lastest InfoWars really nailed it, and how the US government was being manipulated by space lizards and CERN was just about to open a black hole, would you let him take you under the knife? If these police are flagrantly ignoring the law, and are getting their news media from conspiracy theorists, they lose the credibility to be trusted in making rational decisions. You don't put people who aren't critical thinkers in positions of extreme power and responsibility.

pessimizer 5y ago

If they were covered in Nazi tattoos, would you be saying the same thing? Tattoos don't make you into a bad person; bad people get bad tattoos, like ones glorifying ruthless comic book vigilantes specifically designed to appeal to the 70s law-and-order Dirty Harry audience.

jeffbee 5y ago

"Branding he doesn't like" is a whole thing, though. Showing contempt for the norms of society by getting a bunch of obscene tattoos and driving a vehicle that violates every relevant stanza of the vehicle code is not a healthy behavior for individuals and organizations who are granted the exclusive franchise on violence.

throwaway0a5e 5y ago
>Showing contempt for the norms of society... Oh please, punisher skulls and lifted trucks are the white dude equivalent of pumpkin spice "outside the betlway". It's no surprise that a "nice suburb" is serviced by garbage collectors and landscapers from the hood. Why is it a surprise that they have to hire hicks to be their jackboot?
- dragontamer 5y ago
  The Punisher is not a good mindset for cops to follow. It's vigilantism of the worst kind. He works as a comic book character, a character with deep flaws. But the Punisher is not a figure to look up to at all.

craftinator 5y ago

I'd argue that it's less an issue of branding, and more an issue of credibility. If you were about to get surgery, and the surgeon came in and started talking about how the lastest InfoWars really nailed it, and how the US government was being manipulated by space lizards and CERN was just about to open a black hole, would you let him take you under the knife? If these police are flagrantly ignoring the law, and are getting their news media from conspiracy theorists, they lose the credibility to be trusted in making rational decisions. You don't put people who aren't critical thinkers in positions of extreme power and responsibility.