Thread by @Quinnae_Moon

I have to appreciate the author's commitment to the word "bullshit" here, but it's simply honest when talking about the issue of curfews.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: the point of a curfew is to remove even the pretence of restraint on police power. That's it. Curfews are The Purge, as run by cops. They serve no practical or moral purpose otherwise.

The logic of their use amid the pandemic is that they reduce movement and provide another mechanism for punishing non-essential travel. But they create "bunching" effects at the beginning and end of the curfew, causing crowding where there might otherwise be less.

Trying to prevent house parties at night? They'll be moved to the daytime. Trying to reduce movement? Curfews are at night time; this is *already* the time of day when movement decreases dramatically, even in 'normal' times. Most of the population is sleeping.

The only "upside," then, is giving police more power to fine, detain, and arrest people (or worse). Which is something none of us should want. Even from a public health perspective it's a net loss (close physical contact, unmasked cops, crowded & unhygienic jails, etc.)

Thus all you're doing is expanding the power of police to punish everyone from low-wage workers with late shifts to homeless people to essential workers to POC. And we all know police are famous for their good judgement: theguardian.com/australia-news…