In the activist circles I follow, there are occasions when people advocate taking violent actions in public conversations. Doing so is a bad idea, even if you’re furious, even if you’re joking, don’t do it!
When you make incendiary posts advocating violent actions, especially any that target law enforcement, all you accomplish is reinforcing their notion that citizens are the enemy. You give them what they need to justify escalated violence in their policy and procedures. I am NOT a cop sympathizer, I think their conduct is routinely deplorable at best. (I find the fact that they often spew irrational bullshit at media outlets to be somewhat terrifying — no good can come of anyone losing sight of objectivity and reason.)
Obviously the NYPD wants to turn this into a 1st amendment bypass, a shunt, if you will. As if it is up to them to “permit” or not permit any protests? As if nation-wide activism is somehow linked to some asshole gangbanger? Are they really that oblivious to the message that’s driving the unrest? Of course their premise is utter bullshit… so I’m sure they’ll be cranking up this senseless narrative.
Retaliatory disrespect will escalate their tactics prematurely/unnecessarily. We must treat them with every bit of respect we would consider due, if we were in their shoes. Demonstrative lack of respect invites harsh responses, and begs them to see you as a threat. Of course due respect won’t help much with the routinely abusive ones, but it won’t hurt any either.
If you purposely, as a matter of course, go out of your way to start encounters with law enforcement on the wrong foot, then you become the reason a peaceful exchange is highly unlikely — you become a problem they successfully use violence to solve.
If your goal is to bring about change and restore justice, a campaign of disrespect is unlikely to be effective. If, conversely, your goal is to pick fights with cops and get the shit kicked out of you, treating every cop like a bad cop will tend to be self-fulfilling.