Do you know what “distinction without difference” means? It’s when you present two things as being entirely different when they function the same way. By treating what ICE is going right now as some new “distinct” thing and ignoring how it’s part of a broader issue you make it easier to ignore the whole issue.
Say we win and ICE vanished tomorrow. What is there to stop Red States from just weaponizing the regular old carceral system to effectively continue the same policy? How do you fight against it when you were so bent on saying “No, this is different,” and everyone just shrugs because “Oh they’re getting due process now. What more do you want? They’re criminals,”
You don’t have to say that this is some new horror we’ve never seen before to stress how bad what ICE is doing is. You’re actively working against yourself when you make ICE out to be some extraordinary aberration and not the natural progression of American policing.
Do you know what “distinction without difference” means? It’s when you present two things as being entirely different when they function the same way. By treating what ICE is going right now as some new “distinct” thing and ignoring how it’s part of a broader issue you make it easier to ignore the whole issue.
Say we win and ICE vanished tomorrow. What is there to stop Red States from just weaponizing the regular old carceral system to effectively continue the same policy? How do you fight against it when you were so bent on saying “No, this is different,” and everyone just shrugs because “Oh they’re getting due process now. What more do you want? They’re criminals,”
You don’t have to say that this is some new horror we’ve never seen before to stress how bad what ICE is doing is. You’re actively working against yourself when you make ICE out to be some extraordinary aberration and not the natural progression of American policing.