https://twitter.com/ntkallday/status/1551475302362034176

  • 420blazeit69 [he/him]
    ·
    2 years ago

    It was more along the lines of:

    1. Being a cop is one of the last good jobs (in terms of pay, benefits, job security, etc.) you can get without tons of education or training.
    2. Because of 1, and because cops are the only thing resembling social services in many poor neighborhoods, a lot of those neighborhoods aren't universally opposed to cops.

    You can say a lot more about both of those points, but they're both basically true. That doesn't say anything good about cops -- it's about how people who lean left but aren't all the way there perceive cops.

    • CyborgMarx [any, any]
      hexagon
      ·
      edit-2
      2 years ago

      The whole "poor neighborhoods consider cops social workers" is a myth, there is no empirical study that supports that assertion, it originated from a series of polls five years ago that asked people whether they would like to have cops or no security in their neighborhood

      Somehow those polls were transmuted into "people support cops because they're social workers" which is not at all what the polls were asking, and hilariously enough despite the bullshit way the questions were set up a third of people still said they'd rather have no security then cops lol

      • 420blazeit69 [he/him]
        ·
        2 years ago

        People don't think cops are social workers, but some do see cops as social services, in the sense that calling the cops is basically the only way to handle social problems many people have. When they call the cops on a guy living on the street they don't think the cops will get him housing, but they know the cops will get him out of their sight.

        It's bad, but it's a real response plenty of people have to social problems. It's not purely manipulation of polls.

        • CyborgMarx [any, any]
          hexagon
          ·
          edit-2
          2 years ago

          That is not how the polls or the propaganda was presented, either by the media or Matt Taibbi

          They always gave it a positive bent, cops were "replacing" or "filling in" for social workers or as Taibbi put "In many poor neighborhoods, police ARE THE social workers" so no, there are many people who want to present or convince people that cops are social workers and that is a positive development. Or if they want to be "woke" about it; its "harm reduction"

          Copaganda comes in many forms but the easiest way to detect is to judge whether they deem modern policing as socially positive or negative

          Now we do have empirical studies showing policing even in moderate amounts is catastrophe for working class neighborhoods and local organizations, but despite that, people like Taibbi still peddle a fiction about poor people believing cops perform social work or valuable service to a community. When the only polls available either don't ask that question or it's a poll about policing in upper middle neighborhoods

          • 420blazeit69 [he/him]
            ·
            2 years ago

            I really don't think that was part of it. And I don't see the argument that cops are social workers from anyone who seems genuinely on the left.

            • CyborgMarx [any, any]
              hexagon
              ·
              2 years ago

              Thats literally what he said on 2020 chapo ep and the operative words there being "anyone who seems genuinely on the left"

              • 420blazeit69 [he/him]
                ·
                2 years ago

                I'm saying I don't think that's correct. I don't think that's what was actually said.

                  • 420blazeit69 [he/him]
                    ·
                    2 years ago

                    I don't think your recollection is correct. I remember having this same conversation two years ago, digging up a transcript, and seeing that they did not actually claim cops were social workers.

      • Bloobish [comrade/them]
        ·
        2 years ago

        This right here is a great example of biased polling, like asking someone whether they would like the locks on their front door removed. A better question would be should police funding be funded to community programs and then the answers are done on a likert scale based on how much funding someone would like shifted to community programs.