“Fuck The Police”

Now, you might think this means I hate every single individual that has ever been employed as a police officer. If that is the case: fuck off.
That isn’t how words work. If I meant “fuck every person who has ever been a police officer” I would have said “fuck every person who has ever been a police officer”.

I’m a writer. I know how words work. When I say “fuck the police”, I mean “fuck the police”. Fuck a system of governing that has forever been used as a means of oppression.
When I say “fuck America”, I mean “fuck America”. Fuck a country that my ancestors built, but don’t have equal treatment in.

Words have meanings, and so does the context in which I put those words.
If you read those words and think I’m saying “fuck every police officer and every single american and everything america has ever done” then you are shoving words in my mouth. A LOT of words.

My mouth honestly isn’t big enough for all those words; you’re going to need to take a few back and try again later.

Here are a few combinations of words and what people misunderstand them as:

“Black Lives Matter” — “Black lives are the only things that matter, please die.”
“White privilege” — “White people are the devil, please die.”
“Police brutality is bad” — “Hello? 911? Please die.”
“Blue lives aren’t a thing. You can take off your uniform.” — “So you’re saying cop lives don’t matter?”

People. Navigating power structures that we had no part in creating is hard enough, the least we can do is understand the English language.

It makes it easier on all of us if we actually read what other people are saying instead of just looking at buzzwords and throwing a tantrum about it. Words have meaning; context has meaning; exercise that big muscle in your skull and try to understand.

If you ever find yourself about to say “Not all cops”, make sure the person you’re talking to actually said something about all cops.

If you ever say “Not all men”, ask yourself if the person you’re arguing with is talking about all men.

If you’re ever thinking about saying “All lives matter”, reread that Facebook post to see if they ever said anything about certain lives not mattering.

It’s not hard.

(Unless you’re not fluent in English, then you get a pass.)