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Comment by testing22321 | Hacker News Reader

I have never in my life heard or read anyone, of any social standing, political affiliation, education or station of life discuss the abolition of police entirely.

Is this like “they’re eating dogs!”?

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>> I have never in my life heard or read anyone, of any social standing, political affiliation, education or station of life discuss the abolition of police entirely

"Yes, We Mean Literally Abolish the Police"

-- New York Times opinion headline, June 12, 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/12/opinion/sunday/floyd-abol...

I can remember things that happened 5 years ago.

I don’t read the NYT and likely I don’t live in the same country as you.

Then maybe stop commenting about contentious topics in US politics?

Why bring this pointless hostility to HN? Just disagree, rather than the petty internet-style sneering/gatekeeping.

testing22321 was positing theirself as an expert on US liberal protests, but then admitted they aren't regularly exposed to the same.

Seems relevant.

I did no such thing.

I just said I’ve never heard anyone say they want to abolish the police, which sounds absurd to me.

> I just said I’ve never heard anyone say they want to abolish the police, which sounds absurd to me.

Well, now you've heard it. And you're right, it sounds absurd. I wish it were satire, but there are people in positions of power here in the U.S. who think this is good policy.

> I have never in my life heard or read anyone, of any social standing, political affiliation, education or station of life discuss the abolition of police entirely.

It was quite literally a slogan and rallying cry.

> It was quite literally a slogan and rallying cry.

It quite literally wasn't. "Defund" is a different word from "abolish" and has a different meaning. Are you not aware of that difference?

Defund can mean both, many who chanted that clarified that they meant abolish. If you wanted people to not misunderstand then use a better word that is clear, since many who were on the pro "defund the police" meant abolish the police.

It is your own fault for using a bad slogan.

I did not choose the slogan, so you'll have to bring up your complaint with someone else :)

Do you have a proposal for an equally short slogan that cannot be misunderstood, especially by the right-wing media machine? I don't believe that such a slogan exists, as pretty much every sentence can be willfully misunderstood.

"You guys literally said abolish the police!"

"No, we said defund, which is more nuanced..."

"Nuance, schmuance, I'm moving the goalposts."

If someone in power said that they intended to defund this or that government department, most listeners would reasonably infer that the speaker's intention is to get rid of that department. You're accusing people of moving the goalposts when all they're doing is taking the most straightforward, plain language interpretation of the phrase, "defund the police". It was the activists who picked the slogan, not everyone else.

Well, today in fact a town in Wisconsin officially shut down their police department [1]. This area leans Republican, so it’s unlikely that the woke mob did it; probably just couldn’t afford the police anymore. But there you go: people discussed it and then did it.

[1] https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/southeastern-wisconsin...

I have, it’s an originally online meme that has been taken up by some of the people in my life, frankly as a shibboleth for the progressive values they want to be seen as holding. But anecdote aside, a search for "abolish policing slave patrols" will get you plenty of advocacy, e.g. [0] (as well as critique from the opposing end of the ideological spectrum).

[0] https://criticalresistance.org/abolish-policing/

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