Mersey Police post Rainbow Fist on Twitter

[Dances]

mobile.twitter.com/MerpolLGBT/status/1182557324717768705

How is that not a threat?

Well this seems to be going down well:

twitter.com/MerpolLGBT/status/1182557324717768705

The police are a fucking joke.

If I was ever a victim of a crime, I would be keeping as far away from the police as possible in an effort to avoid compounding the trauma.

Wow, well that went down like a shit storm

And this is why crime against women isnt reported 🤷‍♀️ I tried recently 6 months later my call back hasnt happened

It’s a bit weird that this tweet is 4 months old but now it’s being called out though.

Oh for crying out loud.

This is not helping. Yes, that's a stupid thing for the police to tweet, but it was in October, and suddenly there is an outraged pile on.

Not buying this. Twitter is a tool that is being used to stoke up anger and frustration, manipulating people from every persuasion into the tribal polarisation that anger creates. NOTHING is ever resolved there constructively. It's a political agitation and anarchy became a website.

More than once I've wished it could be vaporized from existence. Nothing ever changes my mind - everything about this, from the stupid, craven idiocy of the police tweet, to the ranting anger stoked up four months afterwards looks like fools being manipulated.

We're all being played, people. Focus your energies on anything but Twitter - campaign, write emails and letters, have conversations, make real world decisions that make women's lives better, take safeguarding seriously for everyone who is vulnerable, but for fuck's sake stay away from that godawful outrage machine of a website. It's poison.

^^ Just what I came on to say. Might it have been retweeted yesterday? Although normally it says retweeted above it.

I may be in the minority on here, but is there anyone else who doesn't automatically think that the fist means violence, threat?
The first thing I thought of is like a sort of fist bump, solidarity, we stand with you type of gesture.

Didn't spot the date. But it's still grim

And actually, Twitter is a great source of information.

For example, this, from the womens conference today, is very instructive
mobile.twitter.com/hollysmithhere/status/1233774937879515136

Propaganda posters!
Get your actual real life propaganda posters rights here!

Soviet, People's Republic of China, Nazi, Deutsche Demokratische Republik, get them while they are hot!

All leftie media students will know the meaning of a text is dependent on the anchoring. There are plenty of examples of black and white fists held aloft as a symbol of anti-racism, or hands clenched together.

To show a fist-bump, you would, I would guess, show a fist bump.

A fist directed at your gaze would seem like a clear enough message.

...And a very male fist at that.

The first thing I thought of is like a sort of fist bump, solidarity, we stand with you type of gesture.

one unity under the fist!
The fist is caring!
Lenin would agree.

Yeah, so use it as a pin board for stuff like that and stop encouraging everyone to get sucked into a vortex of sound and fury. I'm not necessarily having a pop at you for linking to it, but I'm just fed up of seeing Twitter linked both here and elsewhere when it's not even slightly constructive most of the time, and the format of the bloody website is so conducive to miscommunication and rage.
And this kind of thing makes women and minorities feel more vulnerable because we might not be able to trust the police, the police are not doing what they should do, even though they might have good intentions, bad faith actors are happy to use it to stoke up genuine hatefulness and on and on it goes.

There are so many, better ways to help women and others.

But we can’t trust the police on this topic. Or on VAW. I’m glad to know this. I would have been very trusting otherwise.

this kind of thing makes women and minorities feel more vulnerable because we might not be able to trust the police, the police are not doing what they should do, even though they might have good intentions, bad faith actors are happy to use it to stoke up genuine hatefulness and on and on it goes.

That would be the fault of the police, not the fault of the person posting.

Yes it would. When they did it, four months ago.

Not doing this. You all can if you want to. I'm done with that stupid bloody website.

Yes and I have already said, I didn't spot the date.

I didn't realise you were in charge. Silly me.

Honestly, I am pretty new poster (long time lurker) here and I could do without a scolding.

Yes that last post was a bit passive aggressive but I was a bit taken aback, especially as I have seen similar police posts on here.

As someone who has been on the receiving end of male fists, I thought it was entirely relevant to womens rights that the police were posting this.

And I also have always liked your posts Flo, and am quite confused and upset about this.

It's not just you, is it? It's Glinner and lots of others on Twitter responding to it suddenly, months after it was posted. Which is exactly what I mean. Stupid little fury machine, rolling round and round feeding itself. I don't know why anyone thinks it's a good idea to bite. And there's no need to make this personal, I haven't made it personal to you.

Well you have actually.

Dances, I do get why a fist is an unpleasant image here, and I'm not absolving the police. But Twitter is designed for this kind of soundbite, image based vacuous shit, and encourages the police to interact in unthinking soundbite ways.

Tbh, I'm in a permanent state of crosspatch at the moment, the Morning Star cartoon debacle being the most recent, and that was all because of a manufactured bit of 'outrage' on Twitter, and I'm afraid you caught the sharp end of my frustration at the power Twitter has to stoke up situations which threaten women. Apologies.

I don't know why anyone thinks it's a good idea to bite.

People will always bite.

Twitter's algorithm has brought this back to the surface, that's why people are now seeing it. It would get comment regardless of what is posted here.