Actually hard to explain to kids
this post was submitted on 05 Apr 2026
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Kids have a simplistic worldview. "They catch bad guys" is probably enough.
The truth of course is pretty different... But I don't think they have the context needed to understand that.
But then again if you just say that then you won't have a kid this cool:
It's simple enough unless you have brown skin. Then unfortunately you need to have a deeper conversation from a much younger age.
Or even if your kid is white but goes to school with black kids. I don't want him living in a different reality than them. He's going to have to know cops aren't always good, and we've started explaining already. He's 3 and they have already sent copaganda coloring books home, really alarming shit.
I have been toying with the idea of writing a children's book about this, and one about comparative religion for toddlers (your grandmother's Jesus stories are just stories, kiddo) but publishing children's books is hard even if they're not controversial, so, no that won't be happening.
publishing children's books is hard even if they're not controversial, so, no that won't be happening.
The absolute glut of ai slop books on Amazon would seem to indicate otherwise
He's 3 and they have already sent copaganda coloring books home, really alarming shit.
What were they about
Teaching kids words like "suspect" and "officer" and "stun device" (not kidding). Meant to teach kids that cops are friendly.
His mom looked it up, and the cop who "wrote" the book has been charged with spousal rape, so, yeah.
I’ve been having more nuanced discussions with my white kid since he’s been asking too (8 yo) It’s important for everyone to know.
Then again my dad taught me the same, he got tear gassed protesting Vietnam and was harassed for having long hair in the 70s.
I mean, we don't want to lie to kids.
True. I don't have kids. What's the best way?
I mean in an emergency not caused by the police, they're probably who you want kids to turn to.
In other situations not so much.
If I had a little girl, I would absolutely not be teaching her to trust cops
"So there's this political concept called 'a monopoly on violence'..."
They are here to enforce the rules.
When they grow up, you can explain how rules are made to fuck the poor.
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What blows me away is that this tweet was written in 2017.
Its completely unnatural to be a cop...
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