Defund, Reform, or Abolish
Or, how I stopped worrying and learned to love the message.
In the middle of all the protests in 2020, there was a lot of energy devoted to analyzing the messages of the protestors.
Defund the police. Reform the police. Abolish the police. Fuck the police.
The most popular, and therefore the most criticized, was “Defund the Police”. Even President Obama attacked it, saying that activists lost their audience when they used the term. He suggested focusing on reform.
Now, I am not a political strategist, but it is difficult to listen earnestly to people complaining about how a message is delivered when that message has been delivered in countless ways, and is always ignored by the same people. Silently kneeling at a sports game? Attacked for being anti-American. Peacefully marching in protest? Blamed for rioters. Progressive messages are criticized for how they are delivered, with the implicit promise being that if the delivery was just slightly different, then everyone would take the message to heart and change would occur.
Call me cynical, but at this point if someone is complaining about phrasing, then I no longer believe they actually want meaningful change to occur. People attack the phrase “Defund the police” because they don’t want significant changes to…
