To be fair, few people turn to VICE News for serious analysis, an adherence to facts, or even basic common sense. And those who do would likely recognize none of those.
But the fact that VICE is a left-wing propaganda rag filled with hyberbolic nonsense didn’t stop Twitter from dumping on the outlet after the idiots who run it published a story claiming that K-9 police dogs are actually rooted in…racism.
Because, of course.
In one of its latest displays of utter stupidity, VICE published on Twitter: “Police Dogs Were Invented by Slavers. Now They’re Used by Cops,” a piece that explored the “violent, racist history of K-9 units.”
“For more than 500 years, dogs have been used by the powerful as a tool to oppress minorities. We spoke to experts about how this age-old institution has evolved, and how its [sic] managed to persist into the present despite its depraved and racist origins.”
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(We’ll ignore the missing apostrophe – after all, when one has decided to throw any semblance of decency out the window, a few grammar rules are sure to get chucked along with it.)
The outlet goes on to describe the “barbaric” practice of law enforcement using dogs to detect and apprehend criminals, calling it one of “the most brutal atrocities that slavery wrought in the new world.”
Never mind dogs being used to sniff out bombs and other threats, locate missing persons, uncover dead bodies and other forensic evidence, sniff out drugs, or any of the other non-violent and invaluable uses for K-9 units - many of whom have lost their own lives in the process. VICE has a narrative to push here, so the mental image of the cops siccing slobbering, bared-toothed German Shepherds on innocent, unarmed black men as they flee for their lives down narrow, trash-strewn alleys is the only one we’re allowed to picture here.
And the internet had thoughts.
Shoes were once worn by slaveowners. Now, they're worn by cops.
— Brittany Hughes (@RealBrittHughes) September 7, 2022
Shoes were once worn by slaveowners. Now, they're worn by cops.
— Brittany Hughes (@RealBrittHughes) September 7, 2022
— Serotonin's Gone (@SerotoninsGone) September 7, 2022
I hadn't realized no one ever used dogs to track people before white racists.
— Forward (@Fordward14) September 7, 2022
Perhaps VICE should go the way of Buzzfeed and focus on running articles about celebrities' hair, or which Harry Potter character you are based on your favorite flavor of pie.
Even that would be less obnoxious.