f1m2pete:

ayydeology:

alvarezes:

actualmermaid:

roseblsh:

anitas:

tiny brain: brooklyn nine nine isnt cop propaganda

average brain: brooklyn nine nine IS cop propaganda and that means u cant watch it

giant brain: brooklyn nine nine is absolutely cop propaganda and 1 episode about the treatment of black people by cops in no way fixes that, however i still watch and enjoy it because i am a mature person with critical thinking skills who understands that boycotting every problematic piece of media is a fruitless endeavor. especially because boycotting b99 specifically would mean sacrificing the many other great things it brings to tv, including its humor, its diversity, its strong & well-rounded female characters, its presentation of healthy friendships & relationships, its subversion of harmful stereotypes, and its constant social commentary on political issues such as transphobia, gun control, flaws in the prison system etc which other shows wouldnt DARE touch

galaxy brain: BOOOooooOOoooNE!!

Interdimensional Brain: B99 has had plots and subplots about the problems with the police as an institution since it started. The episode that was specifically about racial profiling wasn’t anything new for the show, which has consistently featured “good guys who are cops” as its protagonists instead of a simplistic “cops are the good guys” narrative, making it very much not propaganda. It isn’t “cop propaganda” any more than The Office is “capitalist propaganda” or Parks and Recreation is “state propaganda.” Let’s realize that a workplace comedy being set in an institution you disagree with doesn’t make it propaganda.

All encompassing brain: The reason people call B99 cop propaganda is not because they think it sells being a cop as inherently good but rather because it presents cops as capable of being individually good or bad, therefore placing the onus of the problems with police as problems with individual cops rather than the police as an institution. This ignores the fact that all cops participate in an unjust system whether they are “good people” or not. The fact that they criticise said system while electing to participate in it does not absolve them of blame. Giant brain is completely correct ¯_(ツ)_/¯

This is just “yet you participate in society” but longer

It really is. The solution to problems in institutions is NOT to just shrug and say “ well the system’s bad so everybody in it is bad so screw them all anyway there’s obviously no hope of reform so let’s just accept it and see the corruption as inevitable.”

If your “wokeness” about the police makes you just shrug cynically and say “that’s just how they are, they’re awful” and not expect better of them then it’s goddamn worthless.

Reforming something requires hope that it can be fixed, not arrogant pessimism that you rub in the face of people who dare to expect institutions to live up to their professed ideals.