If cops in real life acted like cops in fiction, people wouldn't hate them as much
this post was submitted on 11 Feb 2024
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That’s because most fictional cops have ethics, empathy, and a conscience.
Lmao idk if "most" even holds up in fiction. Even the "good" cops in fiction tend to perform illegal searches, abuse suspects, break the law in countless ways to get the bad guys. How many times have we seen the "good guys" stymied by their inability to search a home but one turns to the other and sarcastically says "oh I think I heard someone scream for help lol" kicks down the door?
Sometimes they have a conscience but I'd call very few fictional cops "good"
That’s “okay”, though, because we, the viewers, often know that the suspect is guilty. The cops still come off as good (and smart, with good intuition as well) because we know for certain that they’re doing the “right” thing.
That is the exact problem.
As a society, we don't want to teach people that it is EVER acceptable for the authorities to break rules/laws. They already have power. Why should they go free after breaking the rules meant to control their reach? At the least, they should get charged and go to trial by jury. Ideally, those juries should then convict in all but the most benign cases.
I remember at least a couple old shows had the good old 'sheriff' or whatever break some rule and then had to pay for it. And they did, and good guys accept that despite meaning well, they had done wrong and should have followed the law.
If you ask society at large to accept that breaking the rules is ok THIS time because this time is special and our guy is working for Team Good, then our society starts to allow that in all kinds of stupid real-life situations and you end up with criminal cops, politicians, and all manner of officials. Worse, you might end up with random citizens who think it is ok to break the law just because their leader tells them to.
You nailed it. That’s why I put “okay” in quotes. Those laws exist for a reason, and lionizing cops who break the law only teaches the public to accept that lawbreakers are okay if they’re on Team Good.
Unfortunately, what the government calls “good” and what you and I call “good” are often different things.
Hear, hear.
This is why I loved the Nero Wolfe tv show so much; they taught valuable lessons (like don’t let a cop in without a warrant and be wary of the FBI) and the cops were much more realistic, even if still more or less good guys.
I'm pretty sure they shoot innocents a lot less. But I'm in it for the entertainment, not because they follow the law.
Interestingly, in Elementary they call out your issue of always finding probable cause to enter a home. They end up in court over it. It's still basically hand waved off with them asking if they are being called liars and if they have proof. But they aren't even cops, they are consultants, so I'm not sure probable cause even applies. Seems more likely they shouldn't be able to do shit unless they suspicion of imminent danger.
Fictional cops rarely have any ethics. Quite famously, they ignore people civil rights or liberties when they "know" that person is guilty.
It's like the male lead of a shitty romance novel acting super creepy, abusive, and rapey, but it's okay because it's fiction and they always luck out and the woman is into it.
Columbo comes to mind, he refuses to carry a gun and goes after the wealthy and powerful, including other cops. If only real cops were so chill.
I love Brooklyn 99, i wish cops were humans l'île that
Which is why most cop shows function as authoritarian propaganda. They show an idealist fairy tale version that nonetheless creates this aspirational image of cops in mainstream culture. It gives cover to the true cop culture. Just like villains in movies are always just a bad apple that is corrupt and once eliminated all is well, when in real world the rules of the system is what breeds corruption. It's not meant to be, but it acts as authoritarian propaganda.
I love cop shows, they are my guilty pleasure, but one needs to be aware that this is fairy tale.
Which is why most cop shows function as authoritarian propaganda.
Exactly!! I mean why else do you think Law & Order:SVU has been on the air for like fucking 30 seasons? Its not because of Ice-T's incredible acting ability, thats for sure...
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You just need to mix sometimes the other extreme in to balance it out: Training Day, Leon The Professional, Kiss Of The Dragon and so on.
Often such movies and military movies must be approved by the government and get funded by them so the military gets to co-write the propaganda
cant read acab without thinking "assigned cop at birth"
There’s always a brief moment moment of deep confusing when I read AFAB
NCIS is legitimately one of the stupidest shows in the history of television.
I simply do not understand the appeal
"NCIS is a horrible show" links to one of the only bad scenes in the show
I choose to believe that the NCIS has developed a technique with which two users can controll a computer at the same time through the same keyboard. And that they are using an advanced operating system which UI is based solely on the technique pop-up ads in the 2000s used.
They are simply thát good at computers.
My friend, my dad used to watch that show all the time, so I have seen a lot of it.
The 2 idiots 1 keyboard scene isn't "one of the only bad scenes in the show," it's literally one of the single most entertaining moments of the show.
And that's not retroactively calling that scene entertaining, it is meant as a scathing insult to the abysmal quality of the rest of the show.
I loved my father, but I constantly questioned his intelligence being able to sit through that drivel.
If you disagree with my opinion, that is okay, but I promise you are not going to be able to change it
Same appeal as all the other decent hospital/cop shows of the time. Just because some of the tech scenes were did poorly on purpose doesn't mean the rest of it is equally bad. The cast, dialogue and plot were fine. Not sopranos or whatever, but definitely not "drivel". Not everything needs to be super serious all the time.
Edit: lul, the guy actually questioned his father's intelligence because they enjoyed NCIS. What sort of person judges others for their taste in art/hobbies? Jfc.
I had a girlfriend that was really into anything Hitler... Rest assured I judged.
Was it like those people that enjoy watching interviews/documentaries with serial killers or was it more like those people that write them love letters?
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Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
NCIS is legitimately one of the stupidest shows in the history of television.
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I'm open-source; check me out at GitHub.
Without even clicking the link, I'm going to bet it's the stupid fucking double hack scene.
It's a show for basic dads to feel smart watching.
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Unpopular opinion: the show was kinda cool. Not because it's very realistic, but because it had really good writing. Well except for the computer science, but that much is obvious.
I remember reading somewhere that TV show writers/producers are well aware of this and it’s kind of a sport to get the most ridiculous hacking scene in.
Real hacking would be kind of boring to show, it would just be a guy staring at a screen for hours on end and occasionally typing something.
The show that does it best is Mr robot, at least as far as I am aware it has the most realistic hacking scenes.
Four handed counter hacking on the same keyboard was peak TV.
It really was
Well except for the computer science, but that much is obvious.
And that's never good. But as a computer scientist, I am of the opinion that the real thing is rarely as compelling as The Imitation Game, and even that was about people more than math/science. I'm on board with writers having fun with this stuff because it sort of challenges us to do better out in the world.
For instance, Hackers was not a wildly-off-target take on what computing was like. Rather it's what we wanted computing to look like.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. But that scene where her and McGee were fighting against a hacker in real time using the same keyboard at the same time...
chef's kiss
Exactly. Everyone involved understood the assignment.
Mr Robot was very accurate
If you like that character just go watch some Nina Hagen music videos instead.
She was the inspiration for the character, she's the original punk opera prodigy, she's crazy and she was once a strong contender to be the german voice of marge simpson.
Smack Jack, So Bad, Naturträne, Imma Lauter are all tracks I still listen to a lot. Her recent cover of 16 Tons is great too.
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Hey now, let’s not be totally hasty here
In the show, Abby is not a cop.
She works in "criminal justice" for the U.S. military.
You can be pedantic about the 'C' in ACAB applying, but the Bastard bit inescapably applies.
Juniors still got a lot to learn from the Intimidator
No but she's so quirky!
Nigel Mansel and Fergie
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