This is a perfect example of how much current law goes against “common sense” to such an egregious degree. A typical person’s everyday understanding of the words used to create the laws is wholly insufficient to operating in this milieu, and puts them at a HUGE disadvantage. Once you subtract white privilege, a halfways decent education, and any functional level of socio-economic stability; people in this situation might as well be dealing with alien overlords. Well, that’s a stretch - but not much.
It has led us to the place where this is the law:
“Actual proof of innocence is not a sufficient reason to overturn a death penalty conviction”
Antonin Scalia (paraphrased)
Hmm. I wonder what would happen if the person started calling the officer by their name? “Hey, Fuck You! Fuck You, I’ve got a question here.” I’m thinking it wouldn’t end well.
I thought we had a professional police force? I get copping is hard, but so are a lot of jobs. If told someone via email or in a meeting my name was “Fuck You” I’d be written up.
When Stephen Sondheim was writing the lyrics for “Gee, Officer Krupke,” to be sung in the 1957 musical West Side Story , he was hoping to be the first person to use a serious four-letter obscenity in a Broadway show: “Gee, Officer Krupke—Fuck you!” This did not come to pass. Columbia records balked because obscenity laws would prohibit the recording from being shipped over state lines. In the end, the line was changed to “Krup you!”—Sondheim has since maintained that it may be the best lyric line in the show. Is there any doubt what the lyric would be if it were written today? In the 50-plus years since West Side Story , the expletive is not only fully accepted in the theater, but roundly applauded.
As much as I’m totally a natural born smartass who would usually take an opening like that and just run with it, if it was anyone but a cop who said it… I’d still be far more concerned about keeping all my teeth in my mouth and his bullets out of my body.
As much as I’ve personally helped usher it in, I do lament that we live in an age where obscenities have lost their place of privilege, and this is a great example of what we’ve given up.
I’m sort of picturing what a poliece accademy would look like if they officially taught the range of things bad cops do (and “good cops” line up with their union to prevent from being investigated or prosecuted). There would be a class beating up dummies which have their hands up while the trainee yells “Stop Resisting!” as loud as they can. And there would be uniform inspections where trainees would be berated for failing to cover their name and badge number with electrical tape… And later they would train for traffic stops using the Family Guy-style “good guy/bad guy” color chip chart.
Meanwhile, a teen saying oink oink to a cop will get them body-slammed and then prosecuted by a corrupt public prosecutor such as Theo Stamos who has no qualms about lying to court on behalf of lying cops.
Oh, without a doubt, a take coming from a very privileged POV - hetero-white-cis-male, the privilege quadfecta there. And honestly, I doubt I’d really have the cahones to go through with that - but I’d sure as hell think about it.
However, if anything went to trial or otherwise required legal paperwork, I’d at least ask my lawyer to refer to the officer as “Officer Fuck You” at least once, or until the officer admits, in writing or on the record, that that is indeed not his real, given name.
