Maybe we’re trying to let you know you’re missing the HUMAN point of it?
By all means, be fascinated by the gear. Here, have some extra kleenex for wiping off when you’re done.
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Maybe they won’t even ask about it?
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I didn’t bring up anything about guns, gun rights, or the NRA in this thread.
Someone hypothesized that the armor that some were calling “over the top” was in response to the Dallas shootings.
But they are wearing RIOT armor, which is made to keep them protected in melee attacks from people throwing rocks or using bats or impromptu clubs. If it was in response to the Dallas Shooting it would have been pointless because it doesn’t stop bullets. If they wanted to stop bullets they would be wearing kevlar and ballistics plates, which you can’t see under all that riot gear.
So no, the cops were armored up like that because they expected protestors could get violent and were prepared for it. Which only made them look like that guy who is wearing a snow suit fit for Mt Everest on a sunny day at a bunny slope when they are arresting a women in a semi-formal dress.
ETA - and informing one on the PURPOSE of their attire should also help inform one on their MINDSETS for that event.
Black and Proud
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You do seem to be splitting hairs on the hardware, and that rather misses the point in EVERY SINGLE BLM THREAD YOU DO SO IN.
I will take you at your word that you do not do so to be hurtful, please take others at their word that it is offensive.
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nor the impact of treating police as non-civilians.
They’re civilians, too, after all. Until they’re troops that is.
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funny, because I thought the citizenry deserved to have protectors.
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I didn’t say YOU did on this thread. However, you have on other threads on this set of topics. It really pains me that BLM and racism in American discussions is constantly being derailed by yet another gun debate. I have no problem with yet another gun debate on threads about the 2nd amendment, the NRA, or gun rights/gun control. I mentioned you specifically because it is one of your pet issues, same with @anon15383236 as you guys will inevitably get into it on these yet another gun debate. But we all end up on a carnival ride to nowhere land and the systemic racism that this image represents gets ignored by all us smarty pants folks yet again…
I do see racism as a key issue that if we can’t fix it, will tear this country apart - more than the issue of guns. We’re still living with WEB DuBois’ color line and if we can’t actually talk about it, we’re really doomed here. To think that a group of black people will inevitably end up in a riot is, actually kind of racist, and that’s what the cops are assuming. But from your last comment, I think you kind of agree on that point, yeah?
Anyway… so my point is that we all need to stop derailing into yet another gun debate when guns aren’t the issue. We, as a country are having a moment, and maybe we can make something positive out of it, yeah?
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Yep, and they assume it so strongly that they often do what they can to speed up the process, with other protesters too, like they’re almost anxious to get the action going. A commenter at Naked Capitalism shared this experience. Anecdotal, but completely plausible:
I was working in a government building during the 2012 Republican convention–and it just so happened that the myriad police forces that had assembled for it from across America had their operations headquartered there.
Long story short. These people were nuts. Extreme paranoia combined with extreme self righteousness. I sat and listened to the guy in charge of the police operations with open-mouthed astonishment as he explained to me why it was necessary for his officers to knock down and injure old ladies who flashed their undergarments.
There were about 4,000 police brought in for it altogether, according to him. The most protesters I saw at one time were about 20. He was pointing out to me via the secrity monitors the whole while which of the protesters were his men, about 1/4 of the total number. Meanwhile those protesters were entirely surrounded by police in riot gear.
Of course, not being crazy myself I had to seriously go along with everything this guy was saying and doing. But my God you have no idea just how out there and warped these people are until you’ve spent some time around them.
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That was why I replied to the guy in the first place. Because one might cut the cops some slack about gearing up because the Dallas Shooting just happened and they were gearing up to stop another similar situation. But their gear isn’t made to combat something like the Dallas Shooting. So they were gearing up in riot gear in anticipation of needing it for physical confrontations. They would probably have had this gear whether the Dallas shooting happened or not. I guess it is weapons related, but I related it so that one would be more informed.
What makes that photo “legendary” is the completely disproportionate response.
Secondly, it isn’t like I reply to every single comment; usually it is when there is outright misinformation that prompts me. But why is it saying “guns are the problem” not derailing, but saying “guns aren’t the problem” is derailing? Because the anti-gun snark accounts for many, many more posts than my defenses. If I had a dollar for every snarky or sarcastic variation of “…good guy with a gun” comment I could probably quit my job.
Seriously, I grew up in the south, in a small town, and I saw both the insidious, subtle racism, along with it’s more open, ugly twin and it’s time to deal with this shit and find a way to move forward. But we can’t do that until white America deals with it’s shit, and that means us as individuals doing so. And if we can’t hash it out here on a damn message board of somewhat like minded folks, without derailing into a knee jerk defense an unrelated topic, how are we supposed to do that in a broader sense? I like it here and think we are generally speaking a smart (and international) group, but damn, if we can’t than what does that say for the rest of America?
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And her utter bravery in the face of such a disproportionate response.
Then next time you see that, why not fork it immediately? I know this issue is important to you and I certainly respect that, but these topics do tend to get bogged down with this particular topic, and I find it deeply frustrating given the importance of the issue right now? Do you understand what I’m getting at here?
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If I may (since I may have been the one who started the complaints about this kind of derailing?), I agree. It’s not the select comments or two, it’s how the threads that aren’t on guns n gear often or even usually get bogged down with that topic. Forking off the topic of guns n gear whenever it appears (and thus threatens to derail) strikes me as a great idea.
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It seems to me that LEOs in this country already have way more “slack” than they deserve; especially when it comes to any accountability or repercussion when they abuse their positions of power, or commit outright crimes.
“With great power comes great responsibility”; yet I’ve seen a LOT of the former and very little of the latter from the authorities, throughout the entirety of my adult life.
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I miss understood what you meant at first. I thought you meant “put a fork in it”, like flag it and kill the post. Now I see its separating it into a new topic. I can look into how to do that.
Though many times its a quick correction. In this example my first post was two sentences that the armor was for riots, not to stop bullets, thus his theory didn’t hold water. It grew from there because other people had questions.
But yes, if it looks like it requires more than a quick clarification, I will try to fork things in the future. Though again, I ignore most things, especially the “jokey” comments.
Certainly they get some slack. But it isn’t deserved in this case, I don’t think.
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I understand that. I don’t think you’re sitting around, waiting to pounce on a BLM topic in a dastardly attempt to derail (though if I did imagine that, you’d be in that costume you made recently!) Rather I think you see something that irritates you, put in a quick reply and the thing snowballs into yet another gun thread. It kind of just happens organically, because this is obviously a topic that gets people angry.
I think that will help! Thanks!
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I also support this, and made a thread for such forks.
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