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24

Downtime, p12

February 21, 2024 by Tim


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Darkhorse
Darkhorse
5 months ago

Not sure why he’s reaction is like that. He’s shown to work together with the cops multiple times, seemingly with no problem. That they are hunted by them as unregistered superheroes is a calculated move. It seems petty to then see the cops as bastards.

Amarant
Amarant
5 months ago
Reply to  Darkhorse

I think he’s just trying to mask the actual reason he had a reaction in the first place, and in his effort to hide his secret identity he didn’t look where his tongue was running, and that ended much the same way it did for me when my brother convinced me that running with your eyes closed was a fun idea as a kid….

7eggert
7eggert
5 months ago
Reply to  Amarant

So you kicked a cabinet, that caused you to kiss a wall thereby destroying a mirror and then you fell on some LEGO?

Kevin Greenbaum
Kevin Greenbaum
5 months ago
Reply to  7eggert

He didn’t just kick that cabinet, he full on crippled his baby toe on it.

Scortch
Scortch
5 months ago
Reply to  Darkhorse

That’s why I think. Now he’s fumbling trying to cover his having worked with them. Also he’s technically a vigilante. I’m not quite sure of the legality of unregistered superheros here. It seems somewhere between you are breaking the law and if you damage anything you are responsible

The Legacy
The Legacy
5 months ago
Reply to  Scortch

From how they spoke of it previously, it sounds like you can get arrested for it. It looks like the only time they let it slide was when the troll basically forced the police’s hand.

Paradox
Paradox
5 months ago
Reply to  Scortch

It was previously mentioned that there are (some) laws protecting vigilantes from repercussions, but they barely cover anything

I feel like vigilantism in this world is viewed as a necessary evil by the government, they don’t like it, they’d prefer it not exist, but the official heroes can’t be everywhere, so they allow it as long as they don’t cause collateral damage

GeorgeV
GeorgeV
5 months ago
Reply to  Darkhorse

He doesn’t really seem to think (all) cops are bastards. That point only come up because Ben mentioned it a typical response, and then Lucas picked a rather unfortunate word choice phrasing it.

His initial reaction was (presumably) from the obvious issues dating a cop whilst keeping a secret identity, and now he’s foot-in-mouthing trying to find an explanation that simultaneously.

A – Doesn’t offend Ben (further)
B – Explains his reactions
C – Doesn’t give away his identity
D – Doesn’t invalidate his actual concerns around cops.

We’ll see if he can do it.

deep
deep
5 months ago
Reply to  GeorgeV

He’s just trying to follow his own ACAB rule

A – All
C – Cops
A – Aren’t
B – Bastards

He can do it.

ears
ears
5 months ago

I actually feel bad for what’s his name… Ben.

Eldest Gruff
Eldest Gruff
5 months ago

People who live in glass kettles shouldn’t stone pot.

Or something like that.

Hyshi
Hyshi
5 months ago
Reply to  Eldest Gruff

Yeah, it’s just like the call throwing the house black!

Kazuma Taichi
Kazuma Taichi
5 months ago
Reply to  Eldest Gruff

hmm, that does feel off, I’m pretty sure people pull stones out of the pot

Groober
Groober
5 months ago
Reply to  Kazuma Taichi

A stoney bush is two hands the wiser.

Dagroth
Dagroth
5 months ago
Reply to  Eldest Gruff

Isn’t it the other way around, the pot stones you?

Eldest Gruff
Eldest Gruff
5 months ago
Reply to  Dagroth

That’s only in Soviet Russia.

Dagroth
Dagroth
5 months ago
Reply to  Eldest Gruff

I was making a pun on cannabis being called pot, but I guess the SR thing is true, too. 😉

Last edited 5 months ago by Dagroth
austindorf
austindorf
5 months ago

He asked Ethan to not involve with lilah because she’s a journalist, it’s logical that a policeman is even more dangerous for an illegal vigilante.

Eldest Gruff
Eldest Gruff
5 months ago
Reply to  austindorf

He’s not an illegal vigilante. There’s laws that extend some protections to caped vigilantes, which is why charmers like Deathblood exist.

But Deathblood is a perfect example of why it might not be fair, or correct, to go all ACAB on the police force. Because if ACAB is correct, then by that extension, Emily was correct when she shared with Ethan just how much of a problem that superheroes were and why they shouldn’t exist. In fact – supers should be far WORSE, being less regulated and ‘policed’ than the actual police, with very little able to check them.

Last edited 5 months ago by Eldest Gruff
Techbender
Techbender
5 months ago

It’s not so much that all cops are bastards as it is that all humans are bastards. The stanford prison experiment has shown us this. Just because cops can bastards doesn’t mean they also can’t be nice too. No one is all good or all evil. Except the troll, fuck that guy.

wkz
wkz
5 months ago
Reply to  Techbender

The stanford prison experiment did not pass scientific rigor; the study is not performed correctly in the interest of proving or denying something.

But ironically, that makes the experiment even more of a supporting argument for “Humans are bastards” (just not a science-paper-admissible study). As what happened over the course of the experiment shows the lengths a supposed scientists will go to just to make others BE bastards to their fellow man, just so they can prove their own pre-biased conclusion that humans are indeed bastards…

Techbender
Techbender
5 months ago
Reply to  wkz

I think you’ll find that was my point. Give people a position of power over other humans and remove accountability from the equation and you will have cases where “good people” do bad things to other humans. It’s not just limited to police or any specific occupation. You see it with preachers, you see it with bosses, you see it with politicians regardless of affiliation. I’m not sure why we have a tendency to fall into such black and white thinking.

Gabartas
Gabartas
5 months ago
Reply to  Techbender

The Stanford experiment was a deeply flawed experiment made with non randomly selected persons and a direct involvement of the experimenter, some tries at replicating it have shown widely variating results, some even with everyone being friends despite the experimenter trying to foster hatred. The vast majority of the scientific field reject it today. You are entitled to thinking that human are naturally bastards, but please don’t base your view of humanity on a bogus experiment.

James
James
5 months ago
Reply to  Techbender

The Stanford prison experiment was faked. The guards were coached on what to do and the prisoners were told to fake thier distress. It was basically a skit.

Steve
Steve
5 months ago
Reply to  Techbender

There’s also the Stanley Milgram experiment, where 70% of people blindly follow orders from an authority figure, even if it (seems like it) has them kill someone.

(although to be fair, I think some group has been looking at a reinterpretation of that one recently).

7eggert
7eggert
5 months ago
Reply to  Techbender

Some jobs have the benefit of you-can-be-a-bastard-and-the-other-person-will-be-punished-for-that.

Helldemon
Helldemon
5 months ago

I mean 70%+ of cops in a relationship beat their spouse, so close enough?

playing it safe
playing it safe
5 months ago
Reply to  Helldemon

The statistic is closer to “cops are 70% more likely to beat their spouse than non-cops”.

Important distinction, because it means only about 28% of cops beat their spouse.

Dr. Doobiedoo
Dr. Doobiedoo
5 months ago

Only 28%? Well that’s a hell of a lot better than 70%, what’s everyone worried about? 😛

Vedrit
Vedrit
5 months ago
Reply to  Dr. Doobiedoo

Considering that, according to the World Health Organization:

 Worldwide, almost one third (27%) of women aged 15-49 years who have been in a relationship report that they have been subjected to some form of physical and/or sexual violence by their intimate partner.

I’m not sure where 28% came from, but considering how high the global average rate is, yeah, 28% isn’t very significant.

Dorander
Dorander
5 months ago
Reply to  Vedrit

One would imagine that the baseline figure was local (to the US I’m going to guess) and it was multiplied by 1.7 to end up at or around 28%. Which means the local figure was actually below average for worldwide, something that makes sense in societies that have made more progress on equal rights and treatment.

Of course I could look it up and see if my theory is correct… but I’m on holiday and feeling lazy :P.

playing it safe
playing it safe
5 months ago
Reply to  Vedrit

Vedrit, you’re not comparing apples to apples.

27% of people committing abuse and 27% of people experience abuse are not the same. One person can abuse more than one person. While a person can experience abuse from more than one person, the statistic that you cited would count someone abused by 5 people that same as someone abused by 1.

In the USA, 16% of people in the general population are reported to commit domestic violence, while 28% of police do, which is a 70% increase.

playing it safe
playing it safe
5 months ago
Reply to  Dr. Doobiedoo

I forgot the </s> with my only 28% comment..I though it was obvious.

Helldemon
Helldemon
5 months ago

Yet so many upvoted you haha. Also, roughly half of domestic abuse(44%) isn’t reported, so that number needs to be nearly doubled to be closer to accurate.

7eggert
7eggert
5 months ago

Even 0.028 % of cops beating anyone is too many.

Zharael
Zharael
5 months ago

Brah, you’re a vigilante. Aka, a self-declared cop with no supervision who does whatever he damn well wants and without any fear of repercussions or even accountability if caught (because of the mask). Others have the right to criticize the him, especially due to recent events in USA, but not a vigilante.

Arcatus
Arcatus
5 months ago

A.C.A.B?

Jaysburn
Jaysburn
5 months ago
Reply to  Arcatus

The thing he said right before it: All cops are bastards.

Misty Jean
Misty Jean
5 months ago
Reply to  Arcatus

ACAB = “All Cops Are Bastards” =/= “Every cop is evil” It means that since police have been used, both historically and currently, as tools of oppression; no person subject to oppression can trust ANY cop. Even if you are both queer. Cops are not safe.

Brendan
Brendan
5 months ago
Reply to  Arcatus

Hi! In liberal and far left viewpoints, there is a prevailing sentiment that our legal system is fundamentally unfair and unjust, and is one of the foundational stones of injustice against oppressed populations. In addition, with the recent highlighted disparity in minority treatment, there has been a strong demand for a reprioritization of budgeting towards different crisis response departments, and away from the increasingly militarized police, which is the actual goal of “defund the police”. People in or close to that camp think that anyone would have to have made at least a few unacceptable compromises to become and remain… Read more »

Last edited 5 months ago by Brendan
Pyre
Pyre
5 months ago
Reply to  Brendan

What Liberal protest groups ACTUALLY need to do is realize that the cops enforce the laws that these same Liberals often vote for. For example, after the Freddie Gray riots, there was a movement to remove some of the Broken Windows laws that are more likely to target minorities. Every attempt to remove the or lessen their impact were thwarted by the very people who support “Defund the police”. So, if you really want to change the system, you have to change the root causes that force the police into numerous unnecessary confrontations with the aforementioned minority population. This will,… Read more »

Kazuma Taichi
Kazuma Taichi
5 months ago
Reply to  Pyre

well, the thing is that addressing the root causes that force confrontations do go hand in hand with redistributing the funds that go to police, since the funds could be instead allocated to social worker programs and the like

in addition, from what I’ve been hearing, a lot of the issue stems from the way that cops are trained to treat their jobs like they’re at war, so defunding that kind of training is absolutely a root cause

leduk
leduk
5 months ago
Reply to  Pyre

The root cause being late stage capitalism, systemic racism and stuff, good luck.

Dorander
Dorander
5 months ago
Reply to  Pyre

That’s an oversimplification of the election process, when in reality voters don’t choose their candidates, candidates choose their voters. Candidates are people interested in politics, frequently run unopposed in the election let alone compete with other candidates from their own party. Once in power, voters don’t get to choose which laws they do and do not support. Even if there is an alternative, that alternative may come with other political perspectives that are dealbreakers for the electorate. I do agree broadly with the notion of having to change the root causes by reducing unnecessary confrontations. Police are not required in… Read more »

Pyre
Pyre
5 months ago
Reply to  Dorander

It is not. A lot of laws at the state and local level are voted directly on by the voters. An example that comes to mind was an incident in Sacramento, CA. The voters directly voted on a law that makes having slot machines in internet cafes or, in the case that I’m thinking of, a 7-11. As you can guess, the 7-11 got raided and the community got up in arms about the cops raiding a 7-11 over a slot machine in the back room. As usual, the focus was on the cops enforcing a law that the people… Read more »

Kazuma Taichi
Kazuma Taichi
5 months ago
Reply to  Brendan

As a follow-up to People in or close to that camp think that anyone would have to have made at least a few unacceptable compromises to become and remain a police officer, there’s been a handful of whistleblowers from several jurisdictions wherein ex-cops have gone into detail of how they’ve noticed corruption in their ranks, and tried to make things better, just for them to be harrassed, ignored, or even dismissed for doing so. While there’s likely some precincts out there without this issue, once people’ve seen enough of these, they can’t help but find themselves thinking that any good… Read more »

Groober
Groober
5 months ago
Reply to  Arcatus

Assigned Cop At Briefing.

Shinji Schneider
Shinji Schneider
5 months ago

I mean. Lucas has at least several reasons not to date the guy.

  1. The police doesn’t really have a great track record when it comes to treating minorities fairly. This also includes queer people. Even if the cops themselves are part of a minority.
  2. As a superhero he’s taking a huge risk dating a cop, considering he and Ethan aren’t probably registered as heroes.
  3. Cops also have a reputation for being abusive partners and especially abusive ex-partners (stalking, murder etc.)
  4. He’s got a moustache and the start of a goatee. He’s clearly evil. Didn’t you learn anything from Star Trek?!
leduk
leduk
5 months ago

Exactly!

Thomas
Thomas
5 months ago

I’ll have the foot, please. Just put it straight in my mouth with the one that’s already there, thanks

Crestlinger
Crestlinger
5 months ago
Reply to  Thomas

Best save he could make.

Joe
Joe
5 months ago

What we have here kids, is a very rare, precious type of person: the waiter who knows when to interrupt. They’re essential to the environment and pretty much extinct, so if you ever see one, make sure to tip accordingly to the service rendered.

Jay
Jay
5 months ago
Reply to  Joe

If America paid hospitality staff a proper wage, it wouldn’t be necessary to supplement their income with tips so help them survive.

Ben
Ben
5 months ago

I realize that this has more to do with the fact that he’s a superhero with an identity to protect, but man, this hit. It’s that awkward moment when you realize that what might be a reasonable grievance against a particular group doesn’t always apply to each of its individual members.

Chris
Chris
5 months ago
Reply to  Ben

Nah, ACAB. Sooner or later it will be proven true of all cops.

leduk
leduk
5 months ago
Reply to  Chris

the system is shitty, injust, violent, racist, classist, ableist, (etc)
all cops enforce the system
so all cops are bastards.
Pretty simple indeed.

VibrantEvolution
VibrantEvolution
5 months ago
Reply to  Chris

if you say it still has to be proven that A.C.A.B. then you’re saying that at this moment maybe not A.C.A.B. so you’re statement of A.C.A.B. is not correct.

LCRC
LCRC
5 months ago

A pretty decent demonstration of how, if it would be incredibly uncomfortable to discuss a “classification” you have assigned to someone to their face when you actually recognize their personhood, that is a good sign that your classification needs to be rethought.

Willess12
Willess12
5 months ago

He’s right though, all cops are bastards. In fact, when you apply for the job, they do a background check just to make sure you were born out of wedlock.

Dumb jokes are my favorite type.

Last edited 5 months ago by Willess12
CTOWNS
CTOWNS
5 months ago

I didn’t take Lucas for a copcist

VibrantEvolution
VibrantEvolution
5 months ago

It appears “the mood” was also wearing a red tshirt…

King Arthur, King of the Britons
King Arthur, King of the Britons
5 months ago

Comments section is exactly as radioactive as you’d expect.