At the George Floyd protests, there were plenty of signs reading “Defund the Police” and “Abolish the Police.” (The anarchists who’ve taken over several blocks in Seattle have “KILL THE POL(ICE)” spray-painted on one of their barriers.)
The thing is, these protesters were serious, and bodies like the Minneapolis City Council seem to be taking them at their word. The thing is, defunding the police isn’t polling well at all, not even among Democrats, and even Joe Biden’s camp put out a statement that Biden was not on board with defunding the police but wanted to pour $300 million into police departments for training.
A lot of Democrats, like Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Al Sharpton, have backpedaled and tried to explain that defunding the police doesn’t really mean defunding the police, which inspired Jesse Singal to come up with his own horrible slogan and defense for it.
Me: KICK PUPPIES!
Everyone: That's a horrible slogan! Why would you say that?
Me: Nononononono, the point isn't to 'kick' 'puppies' — it's far more subtle than that. Read these 10 links explaining what the phrase REALLY means. This will get you on my side, I'm sure
— Jesse Singal (@jessesingal) June 10, 2020
The thing is, half of those links are to Vox’s “explainer” on how abolishing the police doesn’t really mean abolishing the police.
I'm completely befuddled how they go from the simple and evil brilliance of BLM, which requires no explanation and instantly labels an opponent as a racist, to one that requires 30,000 words and instantly causes revulsion from most Americans.
— Archer Defiant (@ArcherMint) June 10, 2020
They’re winging it now. A rudderless ship.
— Denise (@neeceetx) June 10, 2020
It's so stupid, only an academic could have come up with it.
I cannot overstate how much this phrase has occurred to me lately.
— The Baron (@SF_Baron) June 10, 2020
John Oliver did a whole show on #KickPuppies, educate yourself, MAGAt, etc.
— I didn't vote for him, so think of a new retort (@jtLOL) June 10, 2020
As always Republicans finding ways to twist words. *Yawn*
To everyone who's acting in good faith it's trivial that Puppies are just a symbol of the patriarchy and white supremacy.
— Kind_of_forgot_about_it (@Stay_CCnC) June 10, 2020
Add that at least two of those links just say "Actually, no, we really do want to kick puppies"
— The Other Jeff Smith (@bureau_13) June 10, 2020
We didn’t see any question marks on the protesters’ signs. It sure sounded like a demand.
5 minutes later: “We at Doritos are proud to support KICK PUPPIES….”
— Dr Robot (@luxopolis157) June 10, 2020
Slogans are like jokes – if you need to explain them, they're not very good.
— Lars N. Andersen (@larsa314) June 10, 2020
On the contrary, the fewer the number of people who understand something the higher the status of those who pretend to.
— Dan Goorevitch (@DanGoorevitch) June 10, 2020
“But if you did want to kick puppies, I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with that either.”
— Roy Abrams (@RQA) June 10, 2020
Especially given the links pretty much amount to "do NOT kick puppies". Weird PR strategy – sacrifice clarity for impact, but where the kind of impact you desire can only be obtained by someone spending an hour doing research. Only to find out you meant the opposite.
— Patrick Daniel (@WiseHypocrite) June 10, 2020
When people say "Abolish ICE" they mean eliminate immigration enforcement. So when these same people say "Defund the Police" they mean eliminate law enforcement.
— Bob Hughes (@sogobob) June 10, 2020
You just aren't interested in doing "the work" necessary to bring about puppy kicking.
— Seymour Cup (@Seymour_Cup) June 10, 2020
CNN, WaPo, NYT by the end of the day:
Republicans pounce on Kick Puppies movement. Here’s what they don’t understand— Tony C (@tcat9999) June 10, 2020
When you need a secret decoder ring to explain your words ….. you have a problem.
Unless you are a liberal, then it is our fault, and we need to go educate ourselves until we agree with them.
The sad part is 90% of the media agree with the above absurd comment.
— Rick (@HeyJealously0) June 10, 2020
“Oh you think I am actually going to kick puppies? Apparently, you don’t understand what kick puppies means”
— A. Michael (@gusiscool19) June 10, 2020
If you read this headline you’ll see they ‘kicked’ puppies in Camden and it’s working great!
(But don’t read the article that shows they actually just changed the type of food the puppies were given – and increased the number of puppies.)— LowEnergyCal (@LowEnergyCal1) June 10, 2020
Now I'm confused: are we kicking puppies or not?
— Jay Besser (@bessertkj) June 10, 2020
There’s a lot of nuance around the phrase that needs to be worked out.
The most accurate tweet on this garbage site.
— Muscles Rothschild (@MusclesRoth) June 10, 2020
Related:
Backpedal in progress: Michigan Gov. Whitmer’s office clarifies support for ‘defund the police’ movement (Hint: RETREAT!) https://t.co/UzKo9r8vrc
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) June 10, 2020