
Why Are NYPD Cruisers Playing the Ice Cream Truck Jingle? - bryanrasmussen
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/nypd-ice-cream-truck-jingle
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devenblake
It's interesting that anti-fascists (the demonized "antifa" whose beliefs boil
down to "Fascism has caused millions of innocent deaths and violent force is
sometimes necessary to prevent its rise again") are labelled terrorists in
America, whereas the police, who often employ what can only be described as
actual domestic terrorism (unless you think playing a song associated with
blackface in black neighborhoods at 4:00AM is entertaining), are labelled
heroes.

~~~
saagarjha
Without commenting on the groups themselves, I think it's important to note
that the name a group gives themselves frequently has nothing to do with their
activities. See Democratic People's Republic of Korea, etc.

~~~
devenblake
You are entirely correct! It just strikes me as a bit, well, fascist to dub
people who are (at least claiming to be) in opposition to fascism fascists.
Especially considering most "Antifa" in practice are exactly what they profess
to be. These aren't some big mean ol' terrorists, these are often young people
who play video games on the weekends and talk to their friends on Instagram.

~~~
thinkingemote
You are correct, in Europe where there are literal fascists, antifa fights
them. In the USA antifa is mainly a protest group against the republican
party.

These are not the same class of target although they share the same name by
those in the group. The definition of fascism is key to the identity of
antifa.

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woodruffw
For those who might be inclined to give the NYPD the benefit of the doubt:

There are two major ice cream truck companies in NYC: Mr. Softee and New York
Ice Cream. Mr. Softee uses their own (extremely recognizable) jingle, and New
York Ice Cream uses a version of "Pop Goes the Weasel."

Neither uses this song; the NYPD's usage of it is _intended_ to convey the
racist subtext.

~~~
ipnon
The only thing I can think to add to the discussion here is to say that this
behavior by the police force of New York City is simply intolerable.

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et1337
Am I the only one surprised at how calm this article seems to be about this?
Is there any reasonable doubt that this is racism? Shouldn't we be rioting in
the streets about this? Oh wait...

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ipnon
The ice cream truck jingle has been sampled in popular music.[0] The article
suggests in a correction that the song should never be played.

[0]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SBN_ikibtg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SBN_ikibtg)

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gnusty_gnurc
Incredibly dumb that they're arguing we need to dump the ubiquitous ice cream
truck jingle. Leave it to an outlet called "obscura" to find reasons to
jettison innocent, enjoyable, commonplace aspects of childhood for _all_ kids.

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njharman
That is fucked.

That makes me believe scrap the whole organization and start over, aka a
version of refund the police, is the only way to fix in short time. Years
instead of multiple generations.

But clean slate scrapping seems impossible.

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close04
The article keeps calling what's obviously institutional racism and aggression
as "NYPD’s historic sense of humor". It gives a few examples of such "jokes"
that just appear to be very public displays of racism and bad taste, like
"wearing blackface while tossing fried chicken and watermelon into a crowd
from a Labor Day Parade float in 1998".

It's not "sense of humor" if it was never meant as a joke. Just because a
racist hick with a badge thinks it's a joke doesn't make it one.

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jquery
I’ve been on a news diet for a couple months. Kind of a relief to see this at
the top of HN after hearing someone in one of my classes talk about how it
felt like the world was ending, because if this is what Hacker News is worried
about, the world is probably gonna be fine.

Btw, try doing a news diet. I highly recommend it.

~~~
happytoexplain
This seems like some pretty shaky logic, to put it mildly.

~~~
jquery
You’re right, it’s not logic. I would classify it as wisdom.

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salawat
If that's actually going on, that is horrifying.

Like it'd be one thing if squad cars had seen heavy vandalism, sirens were
damaged across the board, they can't get new ones shipped in/repaired units so
they're using the closest damn thing that makes a loud noise.

They can't exactly borrow from ambulances and fire trucks because each of
those is specifically designed to _not_ interfere with each other to make it
possible for uninvolved people to know where they are coming from in
acoustically complicated areas, and I wouldn't be surprised if the demand for
new units weren't that elastic.

Then again, you'd think there would be international suppliers to buy from.
Though I could totally understand if only the French had extra stock. Better
to sound like an Ice Cream truck than a French Police car. (Sorry guys, I just
can't stand that sound).

If it is intentionally being done as some sort of psychological warfare
tactic. What in the hell is with reaching back so far for a reference? Short
of stumbling across this article in particular, or having a Gran around with
primary insight of the time... It just seems like a stretch to me that a whole
precinct of cops would be huddled together plotting to unleash an entire
police force's worth of Ice Cream Truck siren equipped psychological warfare
mobiles intended to strike fear into the hearts of 19th century black folk.

Then again, maybe there's a lot of history majors on the force? Bloody world
is gone mad, and I'm not certain anyone is worth taking seriously anymore.

EDIT: I quit. I just can't even reasonably process the simultaneous horror
/absurdity factor with this. Absolute madness.

~~~
weaksauce
Unless there’s a simple answer like a supply chain issue and defective
sirens(not very believable tbh) all these coincidences sure do add up to smell
like systemic racism.

~~~
ipnon
The police cars of the NYPD have a little microphone attached to a loudspeaker
that officers can speak into to project their voice clearly to people outside
the vehicle on the street. It is loud enough to be heard over midtown traffic
on a busy day.

