What do you guys make of current riots? The trigger event is really infuriating. That bonehead cop! But do you guys see any political angle to the riots? Like leftists/Democrats abetting the situation. Trump baiters getting something to beat him with and making most of it! OR is it the genuine anger spilling on the streets?
Don't get me started. 1. For too many years, we have militarized the police, criminalized stupidity instead of criminality, and excused criminality in the name of culture. 1A. For too many years, we have refused to actually punish and deter crime in the name of civility and "rehabilitation." 2. Police culture has become overly aggressively militarized without the accompanying professional gentleman/lady officer corp and professional NCO cadre to keep the muscle/meat warriors in check. You can't have a militarized police working against a civilian population. 2A. The bad guys have more sophisticated weaponry and the criminal justice system has become incapable of properly prosecuting and restraining actual criminals. 3. Go read anything about the anarchist movements of the 1900-1915 period. The Preacher was right... there is nothing new under the sun.
The trigger event was unacceptable without a doubt. Whatever that guy did or didn't do it doesn't justify a cop kneeling on his neck. That said it's hard to see how his memory is served by looting and destroying areas that will take an extended time to rebuild. It is interesting to see how COVID has disappeared from the front pages. The same media who condemned the peaceful anti-lockdown protestors who gathered, heavily armed, and somehow managed to to not throw rocks at officers or set fire to any businesses as being reckless seem remarkably quiet about the violent protestors who are destroying stuff.
It's interesting to see that the police can apparently prosecute people for the very serious crime of operating a business to feed their family but don't appear to be worried about the trivialities of those who loot and burn businesses.
I believe there is looting going on in name of protests and riots. Also, Things are being shown in White/Black context only. Nobody is showing a Police/Drug Dealer angle. You will not see a news where you hear them talking policeman using excessive force killing a criminal. They are just talking about aq white man killing a black man. They just want the society to burn. They are just interested in agenda even at the cost of lives and property. They want blood in the street. Has anybody cared to check whether the officer in concern has any racist history? Has anybody talked about police trying to restrain a drug dealer? The officer in concern seems to foolishly have just taken the criminal's cries as just melodrama of the criminal resulting in sad event. One more question I wonder is, If the drug dealer was white and police officer was black, what reaction would we have seen?
Nothing says you want justice like taking the opportunity to steal a few bottles of liquor. I agree that part of the problem is the media fanning flames of racial division. When a white cop kills a black person the media screams about it but you don't see the same issues when racial profiles are anything else. The media doesn't seem to care about the black people beaten in the riots, the black-owned businesses destroyed and the like. For a cop to kneel on someone's neck for an extended period is bad - it's hard to imagine any circumstance in which that would be acceptable. It's sad that reporting suggests it would be less of a problem if only it had been a black cop, or a white victim.
The militarization of the police. 1. Used to be, police officers (and yes, I have family members who are both in the city PD and in the FBI as field officers) looked like regular folks in society. Regular, although neat haircuts. Clearly identifiable blue uniforms with ties and regular shoes, just with the addition of a gunbelt. They walked, talked, and interacted with the community like humans. Today's civilian military, I mean police, all look like special forces. Camos, paratrooper boots, military styled insignia, stupid boot camp haircuts, and a belief that fear and intimidation are the keys to good policing. When you assert your constitutional rights, they push back, trying to get you to submit to unpredicated searches of your person and your vehicle. The culture in most PDs is now a culture of aggressiveness, violence, and intimidation. 2. As Tango mentioned, we criminalize mere stupidity. "Hate crimes" being the primary new weapon of choice. Racists have the right to be stupid and to have their stupidity displayed to the entire world. But saying stupid things and having stupid opinions is not a crime, and should never be a crime. My other new favorite is "lying to a federal officer" or "lying to the police." Since when did the identity of the person being spoken to require truthfulness. Perjury is the purview of the judiciary, not the executive. 3. We have allowed crimes such as illegal drug use, violence against both men and women, petty larceny, vandalism, and similar actions to be excused in the name of "well, that's my culture and if you oppose it you are racist" to go unfettered and unchecked. As to 1A: Incarceration is not about rehabilitation. That philosophy is a flawed paradigm. If there are going to be retraining/job skills programs, they need to be outside of incarceration. Jail and prison are for punishment. They should be stark, spartan, difficult places to live. The fear of going back into prison should be the primary motivator for not committing crime. No TV, no air conditioning, no movies, no "free time." Either working for the essential services of maintaining the prison existence, or making big rocks into little rocks and then selling the little rocks to buy more big rocks to break. Punishment that is swift, sure, and difficult is a great motivator. The rehabilitation/support needs to happen on the outside, not the inside.
It's hard to argue that they shouldn't be protesting violently when non-violent protests seemingly haven't produced any recent results, been mocked, etc. I would hope that it wouldn't need to be the case, but I agree with RK's views re: militarisation of police forces in the US, so I don't see what other choices there are, especially when the police continue to act like thugs during the protests (kneeling on knecks, shooting people in the face/head with rubber bullets, etc.). On the other hand, US media seems to enjoy the idea of inciting a race war, and there are a few 'inconvenient' statistics that are played off as 'systemic racism' and used as an excuse, so while "it's hard to argue", I wouldn't actually argue for it. Although you know, there are a lot of Christians who like Francis Schaeffer and I do wonder what he'd have to say, as he was pretty set on opposing tyranny, and US police forces are increasingly looking the part.
The amazing part is the US electorate writ large, and it's inability to connect the dots. All one needs to do is read Alec D'Toqueville from the early 1800's, and even then less than 25 years into the "noble experiment"... which, BTW, Jefferson did not believe would survive 50 years.... D'Toqueville realized that as soon as politicians learned that they could buy their positions using public funds, the end would be beginning. The current 2 party system in the US has turned voters into commodities. Just promise enough of the country's largesse in terms of either direct hand outs, or preferences on government contracts, or corporate cronyism, or pure racial enslavement through government subsidy, and the battle becomes one of marketing and not of statesmanship or small "r" republican ideals. All it would take is one election to clean all of this up; however, as long as people are defrauded by politicians and the media into thinking that (a) any government service is "free", and (b) their personal socio-economic situation is "someone else's fault/responsibility/duty", then we will continue to have the great divide. The problem with the "protestors" is this. Protest does nothing. It is an act of emotion, not of logic or effect. You cannot have a revolution by halves. You either engage in armed civil war, and put your life on the line, or you engage in the political process and bear the consequences of the people you elect. The problem with "protest" is that it attempts to put others' lives and property at risk for the benefit of the protestor, with the protestor having no skin in the game. Live free or die. There is no middle ground.
He's not a "bonehead," he's a power hungry, brutal murderer who forgot his oath to protect and to serve, and needs to suffer the full penalty of the law.
It is curious to see how much black lives matter when they are ended by a white cop, while apparently the black lives snuffed out by the dozen by other black people in the inner cities (you know, the utopian paradises resulting from decades of Democrat governance) apparently don't count for anything.
Apparently the cop has been charged with second degree murder. I'm not sufficiently familiar with US legal terminology to know the difference between degrees of murder, but the word "murder" in the charge is encouraging.
I got the impression that BLM is more tied to the relationship between law enforcement and not citizens in general.
1st degree is premeditated.... requires planning... and "malice aforethought" 2nd degree is just not premeditated Below that are manslaughter and involuntary manslaughter
1st degree is premeditated.... requires planning... and "malice aforethought" 2nd degree is just not premeditated Below that are manslaughter and involuntary manslaughter
1st degree is premeditated.... requires planning... and "malice aforethought" 2nd degree is just not premeditated Below that are manslaughter and involuntary manslaughter