General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsNew Confederate Flag?
Popping up all over the area, and given out at our local year-round Repug office, are the "Back the Badge" signs. The people that put up these signs have had the traitor flag up before, "Hillary for Prison Signs" and, now, "Back the Badge". It's odd to me as, some are the same folks that hate the sheriff's department. Complain of them waiting outside the bar that still sells "Hillary for Prison" t-shirts, to arrest them for their third DUI. Got a ticket for disorderly conduct, arrested them when they punched their wives, pulled them over for blaring a car stereo at 3am... I feel I always backed the badge long before these folks did.
Isn't "BTB" in direct response to Black Lives Matter? By putting up BTB aren't they implying, "shoot 'em all" and Dump's idea we should bang heads on the door frame.
What would happen if I put up both BTB AND BLM? What if I put up a BTB with my " Trump for Prison" sticker on it? Would that insult BLM to be part of it?.
It does anger me that people can co-opt support of police for the greedy cons. It angers me that Black Lives Matter is an insult to folks around me. I'd like to mix it up a bit, but not by insulting or demeaning the groups I do support.
Any advice would be appreciated.
Proud liberal 80
(4,167 posts)They back the badge when it is the law enforcement against black people, but when it is law enforcement vs the likes of the Bundy Ranchers then law enforcement is evil
Ilsa
(61,675 posts)AJT
(5,240 posts)that elected sherrifs are the only legitimate form of law enforcement. The BLM movement is probablya big part of it.
TheBlackAdder
(28,076 posts).
Dang, they're all the same flag!
.
Pope George Ringo II
(1,896 posts)And I'm not philosophically opposed to law enforcement having a close relationship with the community. But if I've got my chronology right, BLM started as such in August 2014, and "Back the Badge" stuff predates that. I'd swear I've seen it for years, but "Back the Badge Bull Riding" started in 2013, so we should be able to say it doesn't trace its roots directly to BLM.
Now, the Blue Lives Matter stuff strikes me as an explicit reaction to BLM and a "Kill all the brown people you want" kind of thing. And if you want to say the huge uptick in BTB is a response to BLM, or that BTB may have started before BLM but it was always a racist dog whistle, I'm okay with that too.
But I really do think any public display of law enforcement support on a car is as much about trying to weasel out of tickets as anything else.
LakeArenal
(28,729 posts)Just the kind of information I was asking.
Crabby Appleton
(5,231 posts)In the late '80s, in a year 6 or 8 Dallas police officers were killed in the line of duty. Civic groups, stores, etc passed out bumper stickers reading "Back the Blue" (Dallas police wear dark blue uniforms). The stickers were quite widely seen on cars and I agree that many displayed them in the hopes of getting a break on traffic infractions.
Iggo
(47,489 posts)And it's in direct response to anyone who doesn't recognize the ultimate power of the police.
Wounded Bear
(58,440 posts)so now they need a new slogan, I guess.
Initech
(99,915 posts)Wounded Bear
(58,440 posts)underpants
(182,280 posts)LakeArenal
(28,729 posts)what do you think?
underpants
(182,280 posts)My two cents.
Nevernose
(13,081 posts)Not as in conservatives, but as in confidence men. Same with half the shot labeled with proceeds go to veterans.
And no, I dont think its necessarily the same as a new Confederate flag. Definitely indicating allegiance to the same tribe, but a different clan and family no pun on clan intended).
I also think 95% of the vehicle stickers/magnets are purchased with the promary and erroneous belief that the sticker will get them out of speeding tickets. The display of affiliation is secondary with this sticker.