Oh! “Shoot 'em” as in shoot the largely black protesters! Now I get it.
I automatically assumed that her statement was that corrupt violent cops should be taken out behind the woodshed and shot, which I kind of agree with (yadda yadda violence is never a solution etc…etc… etc…). #don’tflippingtakethispostseriously
There is a difference between “protesters” and “rioters”. Not sayin’ either should be shot, mind you, but it is getting tiring to keep seeing rioters and looters referred to as protesters. I don’t remember near as much similar behavior in the protest marches back in the 1960s led by civil rights activists. And when such violent behavior and looting did occur at least it was called rioting and looting; not “protesting”.
But it will be permitted to continue and THAT IS THE FUCKING POINT.
Maybe the media has something to do with it. They have you in the palm of their hands.
So I am watching the news in Baltimore and see large swarms of police murdering citizens who are fleeing from their assaults … 15 in the morgue already. Solution. Simple. Protest. Period. End of discussion. I don’t care what causes the police to turn violent…what the ‘they did it because’ reason is…no way is this acceptable. Flipping disgusting."
It's a pet peeve of mine when somebody says, 'Well, I know what they're feeling. Why don't they do this? Why doesn't somebody do that?' You have never been black, OK, so just slow down a little bit.
I feel exactly this way and practice it as best I can. Then people say I come off cold or indifferent, when really, I’m trying not to lie.
People are constantly saying things like “I know that feeling” or “I’ve been there man” or “I totally get what you’re going through” and it’s bullshit, and while I know people mean well when they say it, they are giving themselves permission to write people off without worrying about the important things like compassion and empathy.
I try to be very mindful of the limits of my experience and while I fail a lot, I think it’s at least positive that I try. I’ve never been black, I can’t possibly have a grasp on what growing up black is like. It’s something I’m not ever going to know from the inside. So I try to stay out of the discussion and listen instead.
If you think society’s ills can or will be solved without occasional mob action then you don’t understand societal power structures, oppression, or the history of any major social change. When a group is continuously oppressed by those with power, the only solution is to band together and demonstrate the counter power of a united group, i.e. mob action.
It’s well worth noticing that despite a lot of people looking primarily at the minority of rioters and not the cause of the wider protests, the protests are drawing more attention to what has been a serious issue for decades; i.e. cops keep killing black people and getting away with it.
This is basically what many Americans sound like to foreigners, all the time.
What a fucking idiot though. Violence perpetrated against minorities every day by authority doesn’t raise an eyebrow, but when the boot is on the other foot it’s suddenly ‘unacceptable’. This is relevant to the Sad Puppies thread, since it clearly indicates how you can be racist without identifying as racist. Just silently and continually subject different people to different standards.
I know as these post get longer its hard to read all the way through, but look up. said otherwise great minds think alike.
While the motivation behind the comment might be racist, there is nothing racist in her comment.
That isn’t to say that her comment wasn’t absolutely disgusting, especially so for who said it.
Watch the ad hominems, they don’t add anything.
While i don’t think I agree with him on the nuance of things, that one statement you quote does have some truth. I think the riots are, sadly, justified, but the tricky thing is that the victims in riots are generally not the people who caused the situations leading up to the riots. The people who suffer in riots aren’t the authorities, but other people within the community.
The problem is that there is no right answer, no good response.
Personally I think the rioters make their own situation worse, since people (the average american slob) can sit back and say crap like “see those people can’t even behave themselves, of course the police should be jerks”, which silences the rational voices with rational solutions.
I fully understand all that. However, my original comment was about what to do in the moment when riots are happening. Is the fact that there has been a long history of suppression of a people mean that it is ok for them to destroy other peoples homes and businesses? Many of you are arguing that, yes, transferring their anger at the system onto individuals is ok, and, in fact encouraged.
I think that the best response, again, is from Brainspore (via dacree) who stated that it would be best to do what is possible to restore law and order without doing things that degrade order, and in some cases, there is nothing to be done in the moment to restore order that doesn’t cause greater harm to law and order in the long run. Document, observe, and mete out consequences to the lawless (on all sides) later when passions have calmed.
Who said anything about it being “okay”? Your thinking is far too black and white. War is never “okay”. Sometimes it’s unavoidable or even necessary, however. That is not the same thing as “okay”.
@dacree 's response was specifically about what to do in the moment. No, you didn’t respond to it or to @Brainspore . You responded to @DocMelonhead about big picture this n that.
Your query has been answered, what is your reply to it?
You continue to have challenges with reading. To aid your in your ability to find it, below I am quoting my comment referencing Brainspore’s response to dacree’s comment.
Antagonizing? Really? Yikes. You do not know what that word means, clearly.
Perhaps the answer is simply, in riot-like situations, for law enforcement to observe and document the destruction of property, and intervene only when life or limb is threatened.
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.
Oh my. It’s clear you don’t really have a deep understanding of any of this.
After tempers calm, the video documentation can be used to go after those who used lawful protest as a cover for unlawful destruction.
ARE YOU SERIOUS? You are incredibly naive. Like. Shockingly so.
Jesus Christ, lay off. Antagonizing is exactly what is going on here. It’s turned into a witch hunt, and you all are convinced the army’s full of commonists. You (plural) are escalating the situation.
If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, I’m gonna call it a duck. If you’re gonna pontificate on the struggles of a community without being a part of that community, I’m gonna call you a privileged dimwit.
I’ll call back to the MLK quote mentioned by @Jim_Kirk up thread, “a riot is the language of the unheard”. The problem with your “rational voices with rational solutions” is that no one is fucking listening to them.
