one of the interesting things about the shield is how easy it is to become lesser-than. everyone who's a cop thinks of themself as fundamentally a cop and therefore situationally different to the people out on the street. which, if you're a white straight guy so far that's been easier to maintain (although one man has committed suicide for accidentally causing the death of his ex-wife and child and ofc our lead character is constantly losing his relationship with his own children, but these aren't because of being white straight men), but every character who's not within that specific demographic has in some way suffered for the traits that they pretend that they're somehow above (although also occasionally invoking commonality when it suits them to do so)
julien was beaten for being gay by other cops. danny has faced misogyny on the job by other cops. aceveda was sexually assaulted and then his wife (and cousin) react like everyone else would, like he's lost his masculinity and so he can't tell anyone else and actually get help (im not far enough in yet to say if he eventually does or not) and claudette is constantly undermined/loses out on her promotion and it's not quite as directly tied to her being a black woman within the but it certainly happens more to her than to others and i think that's very intentional
but. buuuut they all still hold onto the privilege of being a cop. being a cop is a way of life. everything else doesn't matter because of the brotherhood of cops or some such culty verbiage. they repress all the parts of themselves with as much violence as is required to become a part of the "in-crowd" (except for claudette and aceveda to an extent, they do try to marry these ideas within themselves by representing the "good" black/latino communities, altho especially aceveda stumbles more often than not)
the precariousness of thinking that being a cop makes you immune from bigotry, because you're first and foremost a cop, right? and your fellow cops see you that way too... right? and it's possible to stamp down any similarities you see between yourself and the people you arrest/look down on/at best see as weak civilians, until whatever element of you that would also be targeted by systemic violence is wholly eradicated and this is definitely good for the soul and doesn't cause irreconcilable paradoxes within your sense of self......... right?
the ease with which one can be un-personed and the lack of protection, ultimately, being "one of the good ones that plays ball and enforces these systems" affords you. at best the death of the soul through escalating violence
