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“It's a rich man's game no matter what they call it and you spend your life puttin' money in his wallet 9 to 5”
(lemmy.world)
Rip to a real one
this post was submitted on 25 Aug 2026
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Those flashlights mostly existed for beating black folk anyways
Could you elaborate?
I'm not OP, but the Maglite was originally developed for use by American police in the late 1970s. They made it long and heavy so that it could be used as a club (sorry, "impact tool"). Like most things that the police did during that time, these were mostly purchased with the intent of providing plausible deniability about racial profiling and police brutality (and if they weren't purchased with that intent, they were often used for that purpose anyway).
(You've gotten them conflated with Kel-lights; Maglites were a knockoff improvement of the kel lights, and were widely available to non-LEO buyers. They were also a good deal less effective as a bludgeon, but far superior flashlights, which is why they became popular. Plausible deniability isn't worth squat if you can't find what you want to hit)
Oh, interesting. I know that the Maglite was intentionally targeting law enforcement, but I didn't know that they were actually the second generation of club-flashlight. I just looked up the Kel-light and discovered that they were about a decade earlier, which frankly makes it even clearer what (or rather who) the "impact tool" was for.
"When Someone Beats You with a Flashlight You Make Light Shine in All Directions"
~Jenny Holzer
Whoa, that's good. She's got words.
They were very popular among security guards that weren't supposed to be carrying a weapon.
Large maglight-style flashlights like that were often carried by people who weren't permitted to carry a truncheon/nightstick, as a big stick full of D cell batteries is an extremely effective club (until it bends). While the idea that mostly people who owned them used them to beat black people is a bit hyperbolic (for a long time they were just the most reliable flashlight you could get) they definitely were also used as a bludgeon. Mostly that role has now been filled by telescoping batons though, just as effective but much less weight to carry around.
I used to carry a big 6D maglite when I delivered pizza for a living. I think there were at least a couple times when having that thing with me at night dissuaded some sketchy folks from trying anything.
Maglite flashlights are big, heavy and durable and are usually standard issue to police. They make for very effective bludgeons which cops have clearly rarely had qualms about beating black people.
Not so much standard issue anymore (they're usually more likely to be handed a flashlight closer to the size and weight of a Crayola marker these days), but definitely in the 80s the Maglite was the poster child for police brutality. Dang things looked like baseball bats.
Hexbear users would be upset if they could enjoy music!
They would be upset anyway.
Flashlights have come a long way since LEDs have become common
You can retrofit a led bulb into the big ass Maglite and enjoy seemingly unlimited battery capacity.
I have an old LED maglite (Maybe 4D? not sure) and I haven't replaced the batteries in probably almost 10 years and every time I come across it in storage I click it on just to see if it still works. Never fails
I really suggest pulling the batteries, if they leak and corrode the housing they are nearly impossible to remove.
And then get arrested for blinding astronauts on the ISS.
They are so mechanical, I wish they made something more human.
A fleshlight?
You might think 9-5 is more illuminating, but you can really club the shit out of the bourgeois with Marx.
RIP
RIP Dolly