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[parent] [thread] 31 comments
1. komali+(OP)[view] [source] 2020-06-02 02:35:56
Could we please not waste a second of thought on the relatively minor issue of broken store windows until we sort the issue of cops indiscriminately killing black people?

If you care so much, how about petition your local police force to dump their tear gas at the range and stop firing on peaceful protesters, turning a lot of sitting people into a riot.

replies(8): >>bluGil+C >>ineeda+k1 >>Themal+p2 >>autoka+D7 >>SpicyL+98 >>proc0+la >>mr_spo+jc >>mydong+oc
2. bluGil+C[view] [source] 2020-06-02 02:41:28
>>komali+(OP)
I care about both. Two wrongs are two wrongs.
replies(2): >>komali+m1
3. ineeda+k1[view] [source] 2020-06-02 02:48:26
>>komali+(OP)
It's not a minor issue. It detracts significantly from the really issue at hand, making it nearly impossible to engage with protestors in a dialog as the small number of folks intent on violence and looting take all of the resources and attention, severely undermining the point of the protests, especially because it provides those disinclined to sympathy for the real issue to paint all with the same brush and so dismiss them.
replies(1): >>komali+C5
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4. komali+m1[view] [source] [discussion] 2020-06-02 02:48:56
>>bluGil+C
Is it? Is it wrong to remove someone's freedom of movement... After they assault someone? Removing someone's freedom of movement (jailing them) is Wrong, after all.
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5. jaas+I1[view] [source] [discussion] 2020-06-02 02:51:33
>>bluGil+C
But hopefully you care about one much, much more than the other. They are not comparable in terms of needing discussion at this moment in history.

(Edit: In the event that you honestly don't know which one is the more important topic, right now or pretty much any other time - police frequently murdering black people or some store windows getting smashed and merch stolen - it's the police murdering black people.)

replies(2): >>Anthon+83 >>bluGil+zs1
6. Themal+p2[view] [source] 2020-06-02 02:56:14
>>komali+(OP)
I agree and I'm sorry that the empathy needed to understand is sorely lacking here. Lives over property always.
replies(1): >>efnx+B5
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7. Anthon+83[view] [source] [discussion] 2020-06-02 03:02:01
>>jaas+I1
I can't actually tell which one you're trying to say is more important right now. The case for "riots are the bigger problem right now" being that there is a whole lot more rioting and looting happening right now than there usually is, whereas the amount of police violence is currently significantly below the typical level (as a result of the coronavirus and everyone staying inside, but still).
replies(2): >>komali+o4 >>silver+P4
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8. komali+o4[view] [source] [discussion] 2020-06-02 03:12:46
>>Anthon+83
We gotta make up lost time for when we made the mistake of thinking kneeling at football games was enough :)
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9. silver+P4[view] [source] [discussion] 2020-06-02 03:16:40
>>Anthon+83
11,000 claims of abuse in the last 3 days just in seattle is low?
replies(1): >>Anthon+47
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10. efnx+B5[view] [source] [discussion] 2020-06-02 03:23:42
>>Themal+p2
Sadly it’s expected here. We all know PoC are sorely underrepresented in tech. We are a reflection of the problem at hand - the result of years and years of systemic racism and sexism.
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11. komali+C5[view] [source] [discussion] 2020-06-02 03:23:47
>>ineeda+k1
Before it was looting, it was that kneeling at a football game distracts from the game. Before that, it was "no, no, protest will never work, you need to get more black people elected! Try to get a black president maybe!" Before that, it something else equally absurd.

No matter how black people try to get their voices heard about police violence, there will be people who doggedly tear those voices down by any means necessary.

We're talking about the fact that 14% of the US population can't call the cops for fear of dying.

It's NEVER good enough for white america. NEVER.

replies(1): >>endogu+oj
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12. Anthon+47[view] [source] [discussion] 2020-06-02 03:37:42
>>silver+P4
You can't retroactively justify a riot based on police conflicts with rioters. It violates causality.
replies(2): >>komali+C8 >>runarb+lh
13. autoka+D7[view] [source] 2020-06-02 03:44:14
>>komali+(OP)
> "until we sort the issue of cops indiscriminately killing black people?"

Can we please stop making this just about race and recognize we have a general police brutality issue? You do realize cops kill just as many whites as they do blacks. The same police that killed George Floyd also killed Justine Damond.

When you rationalize away the white people who also have been killed, you polarize the issue and give justification to those who are committing violence and looting.

replies(1): >>robotr+S8
14. SpicyL+98[view] [source] 2020-06-02 03:50:25
>>komali+(OP)
No, we can't. There's simply no stable state where cities are abandoned to looters for weeks. Someone will inevitably deploy force to reestablish control, and if that someone isn't the government then there's gonna be a lot more indiscriminate killing.
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15. komali+C8[view] [source] [discussion] 2020-06-02 03:54:48
>>Anthon+47
But as the article says - why were there riots at all? Because the cops were firing on peaceful protesters!

Evidence abounds.

They committed police brutality, at the protests against police brutality. It genuinely boggles the mind.

replies(1): >>Anthon+T9
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16. robotr+S8[view] [source] [discussion] 2020-06-02 03:57:41
>>autoka+D7
> You do realize cops kill just as many whites as they do blacks

Normalized for population, in the US the rate is 3X for black people, and a white person's expectation to be killed by police is less than the average.

https://www.citylab.com/equity/2019/08/police-officer-shooti...

replies(1): >>autoka+29
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17. autoka+29[view] [source] [discussion] 2020-06-02 03:59:17
>>robotr+S8
and you could do the SAME thing with black people and homicide and aggravated assault rates. Then you would go on to say those particular rates are racist to say. Are you ready to stop rationalizing away the deaths that everyone is facing and stop arguing over skin color and start talking about police brutality?

or do you want to keep arguing about something besides the point? if so, why?

replies(3): >>robotr+u9 >>komali+ca >>yters+fa
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18. robotr+u9[view] [source] [discussion] 2020-06-02 04:04:19
>>autoka+29
No one is arguing we don't have a police brutality problem. I'm not sure why you hear that.

I think a large rate difference between white and black is meaningful information. Why do you prefer that information not be added?

> Then you would go on to say those particular rates are racist to say.

That didn't happen either. Your expectations are off.

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19. Anthon+T9[view] [source] [discussion] 2020-06-02 04:09:25
>>komali+C8
The premise "many assholes are cops" doesn't need a lot of new evidence. There is more than enough existing evidence.

But what do you honestly expect riots to lead to? Concessions? Or loss of the moral high ground and even more riot gear and tear gas and escalation?

It's just handing the cops a free pass to justify arresting you. And not just arresting you, but charging you with something that could actually stick. Its hard to advocate policy when you're serving a decade in prison for arson and conspiracy.

replies(1): >>silver+Ab
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20. komali+ca[view] [source] [discussion] 2020-06-02 04:13:41
>>autoka+29
> aggravated assault rates.

You actually can't, because such studies are based on arrest rates, not the unstudied "amount it actually happens."

Furthermore, something like that can't be pinned on "race," which is already a nebulous concept that exists only as an ill-defined cultural construct, whereas "cop" is a defined entity.

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21. yters+fa[view] [source] [discussion] 2020-06-02 04:13:52
>>autoka+29
i think the cop issue is a higher standard

cops have a lawful monopoly on force, and if you cannot trust that will be used justly, then we lose the whole basis of rule by law

22. proc0+la[view] [source] 2020-06-02 04:14:33
>>komali+(OP)
How are you going to fix police brutality with more brutality? What is the end goal anyway, the state won't be defeated and the #1 group suffering are the people who lost jobs, homes, and loved ones.

Is the idea to make a mess and then police will be "ok guys, we get it now, we will be nice". Obviously you will have to change the laws and this could have been the initial objective through peaceful protests only.

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23. silver+Ab[view] [source] [discussion] 2020-06-02 04:25:52
>>Anthon+T9
The bail funds have tens of millions now.
replies(1): >>Anthon+5c
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24. Anthon+5c[view] [source] [discussion] 2020-06-02 04:30:53
>>silver+Ab
Bail doesn't help after you're convicted.
25. mr_spo+jc[view] [source] 2020-06-02 04:34:52
>>komali+(OP)
> Could we please not waste a second of thought on the relatively minor issue of broken store windows until we sort the issue of cops indiscriminately killing black people?

Seconds of thought aren't wasted. Stay in the present. It's only an emergency if you make it one.

26. mydong+oc[view] [source] 2020-06-02 04:36:28
>>komali+(OP)
https://imgur.com/FsgRSJb

Minor issue huh? Video is from the LA riots in the 90s.

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27. runarb+lh[view] [source] [discussion] 2020-06-02 05:31:42
>>Anthon+47
I’m not so sure you can pin causality here. Anecdotally, the protests I’ve visited in the past have always been exactly as violent as the police initiates. A peaceful police usually means a peaceful protest in my experience. A violent police—on the other hand—can sometimes cause a violent protest, and even a riot.

Crowd control is a science. And you are sort of ignoring the science by claiming that rioters are the cause of the conflict.

replies(1): >>Anthon+ir
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28. endogu+oj[view] [source] [discussion] 2020-06-02 05:51:13
>>komali+C5
Kneeling during the national anthem at football games should have been an issue between the players and the NFL, but the kind of people who attend football games disapproved of it.

In Minneapolis today due to the videos which were captured even those anti-kneeling americans largely recognize the problem and support solutions. But by allowing the rump to be violent (or equivalently, serruptitiously distribute bricks and gasoline) the activists are losing public support.

Roughly 200 mostly commercial buildings burned in the main shopping area for (working class) Minneapolis over the weekend. The food and pharmaceutical desert is going to kill far more of the poor and marginalized than police violence would have, in a city that already votes D up and down the ticket.

The violence is not necessary, nor productive, nor are the situations comparable.

replies(1): >>komali+Xx1
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29. Anthon+ir[view] [source] [discussion] 2020-06-02 07:00:06
>>runarb+lh
> Anecdotally, the protests I’ve visited in the past have always been exactly as violent as the police initiates.

Things escalate when someone escalates them. Sometimes that's the police. Sometimes it isn't. And even when it is, you still have to be willing to be provoked. Don't.

We have people in this thread justifying riots as "we tried kneeling at football games" as if there is some kind of reasonable progression from there to looting and burning down churches.

replies(1): >>runarb+4r1
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30. runarb+4r1[view] [source] [discussion] 2020-06-02 15:42:49
>>Anthon+ir
Like I said, crowd control is a science. Even if you have violent actors at the protest, it is still a failure of crowd control if the whole protest turns violent.

Reacting when violated is a natural reaction. With a group this big you cannot think in individual terms. If provoked there and there is a non-zero chance you’ll see a reaction, you will see a reaction. And now you have a positive feedback loop between the police and protestors that may escalate into riots.

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31. bluGil+zs1[view] [source] [discussion] 2020-06-02 15:48:46
>>jaas+I1
Riots have a history of escalating (often by someone with an agenda), my family and town was worried last night that they would come here (several arrests were made), and do real harm. That is they might be less now but from store windows to killing people is not that big a stretch.

I'm not convinced the rioters care about police violence either. From what I ca see the riots are outside groups with riot and anarchy as an agenda. My right wing friends are blaming George Soros, my left wing friends some nameless white supremacist group. I have no idea what the truth is, and don't expect to find out for months if ever.

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32. komali+Xx1[view] [source] [discussion] 2020-06-02 16:14:13
>>endogu+oj
> But by allowing the rump to be violent

Expecting the protesters to somehow control everyone in the protest, when the cops fire indiscriminately on people whether they're peaceful or otherwise, doesn't seem like a working system.

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