There is something delicious about the St. Louis Cardinals, a fine, no-nonsense baseball club, having a cheesy mascot, but that is a story for another day. Because the Cardinals do have a mascot and that mascot attended a St. Louis Police Department function and posed for the photograph you see above. As the folks at Deadspin rightly point out, it is possible to find the denotation of the statement "Police lives matter" perfectly acceptable while also finding the connotation flat-out offensive.Because it is offensive, and small, and anyone who tries to draw a comparison between "police lives matter" and "black lives matter" is either an imbecile, or intellectually dishonest. "Black lives matter" is a slogan that resonates because of how outrageous it is that it even needs to be said. That someone, somewhere had to say "hey, black lives actually matter, guys" is as thorough an indictment of the group of people it's directed at as you will find. The police flipping the script and using it for their own purposes in response is no different than the clowns asking "what about men's rights, huh?"So sure, police lives matter, and as soon as civilians start butchering them en masse, we'll have a reason to marvel at how amazing it is we even have to say it. Until then, let's just remember that it is in fact possible for a mascot to look even more embarrassing than it normally does.h/t DeadspinWell played @Cardinals & @TeamFredbird. #PoliceLivesMatter #Ferguson @stlcountypd @FPD_PUBLIC_INFO @StlPoliceWives pic.twitter.com/MfGByL26qs
— Fiery Mad Redhead (@fierymadredhead) May 18, 2015