Context: 3 :thumb-cop: go into the restaurant strapped (never know when you might need to extrajudicially murder your sandwich), staff asks them to please leave since firearms are not allowed inside, thin blue skin gets feelings hurt, there is a backlash from our brain poisoned reactionary public, restaurant forced to apologize.
NICE FUCKIN’ COUNTRY
I don’t think this is anything new, or at least from my own experience it at least goes back well into the 90s. Back then if a local restaurant had asked cops to leave like this then not a single person in our church would have been caught dead there.
I was repeatedly taught growing up that enjoying superheroes too much was bad because it distracted from worshipping cops. “Real heroes don’t wear capes” and all that. I was taught never to talk to strangers, unless they were a cop. And never to let an adult see me naked or touch me, unless they were a doctor or a cop. Don’t underestimate how much middle-class America loves their police, it’s the only thing keeping them safe from the homeless and “urban thugs” that they’re terrified of.
:what-the-hell:
Right!? It was just assumed that if a cop ever wanted to it would be for a good reason, like to strip search us to make sure we weren't hiding weapons or drugs. Because of course that's reasonable, hiding drugs and guns in a kid's underwear is exactly the kind of thing that gangbangers would do! And we all know that cops have the hardest job in the world, so it's ok if they need to do things that make us uncomfortable to keep themselves safe so they can protect us from all the dangerous thugs just itching to invade our home.
It's was basically just fascist thinking applied at the family level: we had to be prepared to give up our rights and autonomy to the Good authority figures because they are the only ones who can protect us from the Bad people who only want chaos and destruction. Fun stuff.