view the rest of the comments
Unpopular Opinion
Welcome to the Unpopular Opinion community!
How voting works:
Vote the opposite of the norm.
If you agree that the opinion is unpopular give it an arrow up. If it's something that's widely accepted, give it an arrow down.
Guidelines:
Tag your post, if possible (not required)
- If your post is a "General" unpopular opinion, start the subject with [GENERAL].
- If it is a Lemmy-specific unpopular opinion, start it with [LEMMY].
Rules:
1. NO POLITICS
Politics is everywhere. Let's make this about [general] and [lemmy] - specific topics, and keep politics out of it.
2. Be civil.
Disagreements happen, but that doesn’t provide the right to personally attack others. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Please also refrain from gatekeeping others' opinions.
3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.
Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.
4. Shitposts and memes are allowed but...
Only until they prove to be a problem. They can and will be removed at moderator discretion.
5. No trolling.
This shouldn't need an explanation. If your post or comment is made just to get a rise with no real value, it will be removed. You do this too often, you will get a vacation to touch grass, away from this community for 1 or more days. Repeat offenses will result in a perma-ban.
Instance-wide rules always apply. https://legal.lemmy.world/tos/
For future reference, here is a direct link to the comment on my instance, and here is the contents of the comment:
I'm purposefully not including their username here in case they want to delete their comments at a later date.
That's a pretty rough thread to read. It makes me feel pretty damn bummed out. The cop (who I will refer to as "they", "them", and "the commenter" from now on) clearly believes in their position, and like, I get it. I think everybody would be happy to live in a world where following the belief that "you have nothing to hide" truly resulted in universally positive outcomes. They mention that cops in some countries act like criminals, which is a true (if perhaps incomplete) statement. I think there may be some defensiveness in their comment, but that's pretty natural when commenting on an article that's written on the basis that everyone doing their job is bad and should not be trusted. They probably have a hard job, and I'm guessing that part of the way they (and many cops) get through the day is to view their role as a protector of the innocent. That's not a groundbreaking statement or anything, but I figured I should include it. I'll also say that they did a pretty good job of avoiding aggressive language. It's natural to want to fight when dearly held beliefs are attacked, and they did a good job of avoiding that.
However, I can also understand how that comment makes some people very, very angry. For example, it makes me feel frustrated because I feel like it is missing important context (e.g. roughly where they're from and how the police and community interact there), and I feel that it is presenting an argument that is problematic and evidently untrue in some contexts. I also feel like it's a potentially reckless comment. When I read that comment, I feel I'm being told that I may be less safe if I try to maintain my right to privacy. I personally disagree with that idea, and I'm guessing that the people who made very aggressive responses feel much more strongly about that than I do. I won't claim to understand all the reasons why people are so angry at the police, so all I can do is share my reasons for feeling upset when reading that comment.
I dunno. I'm torn about that whole thread. I think the commenter was arguing in good faith and was communicating somewhat effectively, but I also don't think they considered how hurt and angry people are. It's not their job to avoid provoking trauma responses and angering random people on the internet. I have had times where I had to say something that I knew would really upset and activate my partner. However, I have found that I have better outcomes when I take some time to empathize before saying something that I know will potentially activate someone. I can hear them out, show empathy (or compassion if I have the resources to express it and am comfortable giving it), help them come back to the here-and-now, and then continue the discussion. That wasn't done, and the folks who have a hard time regulating their emotions made aggressive comments.
I don't feel like they were expressing vulnerable feelings, so I'm hoping that they had an emotional shield up and didn't experience harm. I'm sure it was hurtful, but I hope it wasn't harmful. I hope that the people who clearly feel such deep rage are eventually able to find peace and a safe place to recover from whatever shit they went through, assuming they have unprocessed shit to deal with. I obviously hope that we'll someday look back at police brutality some day and be horrified that we ever lived like that, but that's a nothingburger of a statement in this context. The commenter has expressed their desire to move on from the topic so I won't leave a comment over there, but I figured I'd share my thoughts here. There's not really a point to what I'm saying beyond that.