#i am aware these types of shows are all copaganda

[terranceholdsapencil]

"Youre a leftist?"

"Yes!"

"So you understand why the police as an institution are inherently bad?"

"Yes! All cops are bastards."

"ALL cops are bastards?"

"All cops are bastards"

"And you wont fall for copaganda?"

"I will keep away from it and not fall for it, yes sir!"

"Whats this then?"

"Dont bring the boys into this"

[concerningwolves]

my sister's been watching S.W.A.T and this morning I was feeling so mentally fried I watched the first episode myself, because this stuff IS easy to watch. except I should know by now that I can't watch police procedurals because the copaganda starts driving me up the fucking walls. and S.W.A.T is of the particularly insidious type that works so so hard to gloss over the problems inherent in the police force by focusing on how this particular fictional police force is Actually Good (because Diversity).

I keep circling back to this bit of an episode my sister was watching where one of the team members is enthusiastically explaining to a civilian how S.W.A.T can use cameras across the city to find any vehicle's past & current locations within seconds, and it's framed as "isn't this piece of tech SO COOL". which it's not. it's horrifying – especially in the context of a bunch of people who are allowed to go out and commit lethal force against other people, legally, with government/state backing.

And then tonight mum and I were watching Silent Witness, and I was still ruminating over S.W.A.T, so when the armed police went into this suspect's house and started yelling at & manhandling him, even though he wasn't resisting at all, a little part of me just. snapped.

Mum often expresses sadness that I don't usually watch TV in the evenings with her anymore, but this is why. she enjoys police procedurals. i used to but now im sick of them. i'm sick of the constant portrayals of these people who can ruin and end lives as heroes who help put away the Scary Nasty Freaks. i can analyse and dissect them and poke at the nuts and bolts to see precisely how the copaganda functions, but Im. So tired of doing that. because we KNOW that policing as a system is inherently broken.

we're meant to watch a guy be screamed at, forced to turn with his face to the wall, practically be shoved and talked to like he's the scum of the earth – we're meant to watch all that, and still root for the pigs. because why? because this guy is weird? because there's cannibalism fantasies on his internet search history? surely it's obvious to anyone with half a brain what the writers are doing: they're setting up this character – who I am 99% sure is a red herring – to be so unlikeable and weird and wrong, that the audience will go "oh well even though he was innocent of [x] crime, they were right to treat him like that". it plays into this punitive mindset that only serves to justify the existence of the police.

Meanwhile our news is full of stuff about institutional abuse, systemic racism, members of the police who have committed heinous acts and gotten away with it. and like most UK news sources aren't exactly unbiased so if these stories get through, it's gotta be bad. it's gotta be big. and it's not just here, either – all over the world, as we see fascism and far right movements gaining traction, reports keep coming up about police who have done terrible things with their power. I think it's impossible for anyone with an internet connection or access to a TV or radio, or who just generally exists as part of society, to not be aware that this shit is happening. that it's costing people's lives and wrecking communities.

But there are still cop shows that are obsessed with making the police look good.