Police and military uniforms have converged on a “special forces” look.

I’ve had this contingent of the language police show up in my replies a few times now over the word “cosplay,” and look…

OK, I get it, I get the instinct to say “Don’t drag me into this!” and I applaud the effort to push fascists out of communities, yes to all that…

…and also we need to recognize that what ICE is doing absolutely •is• cosplay. The word means “costume play.” It refers to assembling and wearing costumes that are not necessarily functional, but show affinity for a particular subculture by reproducing characters from that subculture’s popular narratives.

ICE are cosplaying Call of Duty. That is an accurate description of what’s happening. (Listen to “Gear.”)

I make software and I make music. I don’t think either one of those things •should• be about violence. I don’t •want• them to be about violence. But both are used in the service of violence, like it or not. I shout the violence out whenever it shows up. But would be ridiculous for me to point at what Palantir does and say “That’s not software!” Unfortunately, it •is• software. To deny that would be beyond self-defeating; it would be irresponsible.

ICE •is• doing cosplay, and we hate it. It’s an insult to the cosplay subculture. It is an insult to the whole of humanity. Fascism creeps into all of our spheres, into every beloved craft and community, and the response is never to pretend it’s not there. The response is to drive it out.

@wildrikku
https://mastodon.gamedev.place/@wildrikku/115956545807535535

@inthehands as a veteran, I find the appropriation of military motifs by civil law enforcement extremely offensive, but also incredibly dangerous.

A particularly egregious example, that I wish people would address more often, is the use of the word "civilians" to describe people that are not whatever strain of police is using the term. "Civilians" refers to people within the general civil populace, as opposed to the military. The police (in all their various forms) are members of the civil society, and as such, civilians themselves.

Words have meaning, and those meanings matter. When we allow these subtle shifts in language, we normalize the militarization of police forces nationwide, but more than that, we reinforce the self-image of the police as separate from the rest of civil society. And history shows that when people view themselves as apart from civil society, they often see themselves unbeholden to the norms and ethics that govern civil society.

One can draw a pretty straight line from that to these guys cosplaying soldier, wearing full tactical gear, riding on MRAPs and HMMWVs, assault rifles on their shoulders like the movies, belt-fed automatic weapons mounted on turrets in the background for Kristi Noem's photo-ops. We, collectively, should have never let anyone get away with normalizing this from the second it started. Yet how many articles does one read in the press where no one ever bothers challenging a cop when they refer to the people that they've supposedly sworn to protect and serve as "civilians", as if they, themselves, are not?

@inthehands as a veteran, I find the appropriation of military motifs by civil law enforcement extremely offensive, but also incredibly dangerous.

A particularly egregious example, that I wish people would address more often, is the use of the word "civilians" to describe people that are not whatever strain of police is using the term. "Civilians" refers to people within the general civil populace, as opposed to the military. The police (in all their various forms) are members of the civil society, and as such, civilians themselves.

Words have meaning, and those meanings matter. When we allow these subtle shifts in language, we normalize the militarization of police forces nationwide, but more than that, we reinforce the self-image of the police as separate from the rest of civil society. And history shows that when people view themselves as apart from civil society, they often see themselves unbeholden to the norms and ethics that govern civil society.

One can draw a pretty straight line from that to these guys cosplaying soldier, wearing full tactical gear, riding on MRAPs and HMMWVs, assault rifles on their shoulders like the movies, belt-fed automatic weapons mounted on turrets in the background for Kristi Noem's photo-ops. We, collectively, should have never let anyone get away with normalizing this from the second it started. Yet how many articles does one read in the press where no one ever bothers challenging a cop when they refer to the people that they've supposedly sworn to protect and serve as "civilians", as if they, themselves, are not?

RE: https://hachyderm.io/@rationaldoge/115953632587673647

Police and military uniforms have converged on a “special forces” look. SNL mocked ICE for wearing camo: “Where did you think Minnesota is??” But that’s the •look•: camo, tactical gear. It is the look ICE officers crave: “This is so cool, like Call of Duty” one said. And now you can’t tell all the militaries and militarized police forces apart, to the point where they have to wear safety vests over camo. High-vis! Over camo! The irony.

1/2

This is the SNL sketch I mentioned in the first post:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uA8Oury0a80

Right now, I’m finding this kind of “cringe-laugh” material therapeutic. To protect my own mental health, I’m having to pace my grieving — which sounds so strange, but that’s what’s going on. Laughter and critical analysis both are functioning as a kind of escape valve for me right now. So please, as someone from Minneapolis, please grieve and rage, yes, and also please give yourself permission to laugh.

RE: https://hachyderm.io/@rationaldoge/115953632587673647

Police and military uniforms have converged on a “special forces” look. SNL mocked ICE for wearing camo: “Where did you think Minnesota is??” But that’s the •look•: camo, tactical gear. It is the look ICE officers crave: “This is so cool, like Call of Duty” one said. And now you can’t tell all the militaries and militarized police forces apart, to the point where they have to wear safety vests over camo. High-vis! Over camo! The irony.

1/2

This is the SNL sketch I mentioned in the first post:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uA8Oury0a80

Right now, I’m finding this kind of “cringe-laugh” material therapeutic. To protect my own mental health, I’m having to pace my grieving — which sounds so strange, but that’s what’s going on. Laughter and critical analysis both are functioning as a kind of escape valve for me right now. So please, as someone from Minneapolis, please grieve and rage, yes, and also please give yourself permission to laugh.

@FinchHaven @inthehands This has nothing to do with LARP or cosplay. I see this pop up every now and then in discussions revolving around ICE, but it's just wrong. Both cosplay and LARP are about fandom and crafts, not violence. Violent forces will find no support in those communities, so please stop comparing.

@inthehands @Wyatt_H_Knott apparently it was cut from the live show ️

@inthehands @Wyatt_H_Knott apparently it was cut from the live show ️

@wildrikku @FinchHaven @inthehands This is really your first instinct and reaction? Maybe read the room a little.

@akamran @Wyatt_H_Knott
Ugh. I hope somebody out there captures the video before YouTube takes it down too.

RE: https://hachyderm.io/@rationaldoge/115953632587673647

Police and military uniforms have converged on a “special forces” look. SNL mocked ICE for wearing camo: “Where did you think Minnesota is??” But that’s the •look•: camo, tactical gear. It is the look ICE officers crave: “This is so cool, like Call of Duty” one said. And now you can’t tell all the militaries and militarized police forces apart, to the point where they have to wear safety vests over camo. High-vis! Over camo! The irony.

1/2

@schwa @inthehands what a rude thing to say.

Edit: they either blocked me or deleted their post, so just to clarify, this was directed at Schwa for their rude comment, not Paul (whom I wholeheartedly support)

@tiamat271 @inthehands

Yes, I have zero patience for useless snark right now.

@ShadSterling @colo_lee
I don’t think that distinction applies. They •are• expressing who they are: they are assembling the costumes of violence and of fascism. They sullying the beautiful practice of cosplay by using it to express something horrible. But the expression is •genuine•. If anything, I wish more people had taken it seriously sooner: through their fashion choices, through the self-expression of costume, they are sincerely telling us who they are.

@inthehands @colo_lee that’s true, and that’s something many of them were doing before they were hired into ICE. But they are also pretending to be something they’re not, in a way that seems related. They’re not soldiers with the skills to carry out military operations, the discipline to adhere to the rules of engagement, or the courage to engage a similarly armed opposition

@inthehands as a veteran, I find the appropriation of military motifs by civil law enforcement extremely offensive, but also incredibly dangerous.

A particularly egregious example, that I wish people would address more often, is the use of the word "civilians" to describe people that are not whatever strain of police is using the term. "Civilians" refers to people within the general civil populace, as opposed to the military. The police (in all their various forms) are members of the civil society, and as such, civilians themselves.

Words have meaning, and those meanings matter. When we allow these subtle shifts in language, we normalize the militarization of police forces nationwide, but more than that, we reinforce the self-image of the police as separate from the rest of civil society. And history shows that when people view themselves as apart from civil society, they often see themselves unbeholden to the norms and ethics that govern civil society.

One can draw a pretty straight line from that to these guys cosplaying soldier, wearing full tactical gear, riding on MRAPs and HMMWVs, assault rifles on their shoulders like the movies, belt-fed automatic weapons mounted on turrets in the background for Kristi Noem's photo-ops. We, collectively, should have never let anyone get away with normalizing this from the second it started. Yet how many articles does one read in the press where no one ever bothers challenging a cop when they refer to the people that they've supposedly sworn to protect and serve as "civilians", as if they, themselves, are not?

@inthehands as a veteran, I find the appropriation of military motifs by civil law enforcement extremely offensive, but also incredibly dangerous.

A particularly egregious example, that I wish people would address more often, is the use of the word "civilians" to describe people that are not whatever strain of police is using the term. "Civilians" refers to people within the general civil populace, as opposed to the military. The police (in all their various forms) are members of the civil society, and as such, civilians themselves.

Words have meaning, and those meanings matter. When we allow these subtle shifts in language, we normalize the militarization of police forces nationwide, but more than that, we reinforce the self-image of the police as separate from the rest of civil society. And history shows that when people view themselves as apart from civil society, they often see themselves unbeholden to the norms and ethics that govern civil society.

One can draw a pretty straight line from that to these guys cosplaying soldier, wearing full tactical gear, riding on MRAPs and HMMWVs, assault rifles on their shoulders like the movies, belt-fed automatic weapons mounted on turrets in the background for Kristi Noem's photo-ops. We, collectively, should have never let anyone get away with normalizing this from the second it started. Yet how many articles does one read in the press where no one ever bothers challenging a cop when they refer to the people that they've supposedly sworn to protect and serve as "civilians", as if they, themselves, are not?

@FinchHaven @inthehands This has nothing to do with LARP or cosplay. I see this pop up every now and then in discussions revolving around ICE, but it's just wrong. Both cosplay and LARP are about fandom and crafts, not violence. Violent forces will find no support in those communities, so please stop comparing.