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comment by johnnyFive
johnnyFive  ·  1692 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Confessions of a Former Bastard Cop

This has been making the rounds, but why is no one willing to wonder whether it's true? This is just some person posting on the internet. We really need to be careful reading too much into it without actual, y'know, vetting and/or proof.





goobster  ·  1692 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Those of us who know cops when they are out of uniform do not see anything unusual or out of character in his blog post. It passes the sniff test. And he does speak of specific precinct-internal processes and procedures that are everyday workplace things, that don't generally get seen by civilians outside the office.

Two ex-cops I know have nodded sadly at this post. "Yep."

ilex  ·  1692 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I'm inclined to believe it because it lines up with what I see on the news, what black/queer/homeless folks have been saying for a while, what I know from the cops I've interacted with, and what other cops are saying. I will see if I can turn up some other sources; I haven't been trying to keep a comprehensive list, but here's one:

You're welcome to not give this 100% credibility; I don't know either of these guys from Adam and can't vouch for their authenticity.

johnnyFive  ·  1692 days ago  ·  link  ·  

In a way that's the problem, though, in that it lines up very well with a given movement. Even if I largely agree with that movement, it doesn't mean I'm going to accept something as fact just because I like what it says.

ilex  ·  1692 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Right; I don't disagree with you there. But my point was more that people have been talking about this exact issue for years beforehand and their factual claims line up with the ones made here.

b_b  ·  1692 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Same thing went through my head. Would have been nice if the person would have used a real name so that fact checking would be possible. The thing that gives me pause to some extent is when the author gets preachy about living in a capitalist system, as if that has anything to do with the rest of the essay. Sounds more like someone with a pov trying to use the moment. Even if it's BS the person makes some good points though, so I'm not sure it matters a ton.

johnnyFive  ·  1692 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I agree that it makes good points, but it's hypocritical IMO to complain about conservative media bias and the like while being perfectly okay with it when it supports what I believe.

b_b  ·  1692 days ago  ·  link  ·  

But this isn't the media; it's a blog, basically a long form Facebook post.

johnnyFive  ·  1692 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Right, but I guess what I mean is that we shouldn't stop being appropriately skeptical just because we like the message.

b_b  ·  1692 days ago  ·  link  ·  

My perspective is that if you imagine this as a work of fiction, can you still learn something interesting? If the answer is yes, then it has value. If the answer is no, then it doesn't. I think we have to assume that many things posted on Medium that lack any ability to be fact checked should not be taken completely literally unless there's a compelling reason to believe so.