No big. No one seemed to have cared back when it was first reported by the ACLU. Maybe it will get traction now.
I hope so. There will never been enough legislation and punishment in the world to keep bad people from doing bad things. The complete lack of trust in the system is what really hurts here. If the public doesn’t believe that a bad shooting or a bad cop will go through a fair process… what is left to do but riot and rebel? I’d say peaceful protest right… but the same group angry about the rioting seems just as angry about that too.
When you have a poll, this week, listing Colin Kapernick as the most hated player in the NFL, not people who used steroids, beat spouses, raped and assaulted people, or injured people while drinking and driving, then it is transparently clear that the line between peaceful protest and riot is simply what invective they scream at you.
Just this week we had a prominent libertarian pundit declaring that people should ‘run them all down’ when protesters were blocking a stretch of highway. Here they were, peacefully protesting, and the fact that their anger causes some people mild inconvenience was apparently enough to wish violence upon them.
It’s why when you see stories of riots I get it now. Didn’t always, but it no longer seems the irrational and counter productive situation I once thought it was.
The Onion is always on point.
How do you know they only cause “mild inconvenience” upon traffic? What about ambulances or other emergency vehicles? I don’t wish the protestors any violence, but I also think their blocking freeways is an insane and inherently dangerous tactic that could easily backfire on them.
Yeah I’m all for peaceful protests and demonstrations but blocking traffic is bullshit in my book. It fucks with everyone’s daily lives at that point, makes people miss interviews, doctor appointment, picking up kids, etc.
I don’t disagree, but at the same point the frequent refrain I hear is ‘run them down’.
That’s the issue I have. And it is a frequent response.
But protests are inherently disruptive. And when looking at things I’m sorry, but being upset that the legal arm of the state can kill you with no recourse is far more important than any inconvenience blocking traffic has.
Police coming and breaking up the protestors so traffic can resume is fine. Arresting them even. But advocating for people to be run over? Nah, not cool with that.
Yeah, no one should be run over, definitely. But you’re not going to win any hearts and minds by pissing huge swathes of people off. Block the police station, block city hall, etc. Block the things you’re protesting. I understand your view but I’d be out for murder if protestors blocked emergency medical access for a loved one, etc.
That’s my opinion as well. You don’t win over the hearts and minds of the public by blocking the freeway. Block access to city hall, the police station or some other government office instead. Making people hate you is never a good tactic. And don’t tell me MLK’s marches blocked traffic, those were often on small country roads and many times were permitted.
Today’s protests happen in 2 hours after someone sends out a tweet with a location and a time.
You know what else messes up with daily life, interviews, doctor appointments and being with your kids… being killed.
I’m honestly confused how it helps people from being killed if you block a highway. Pissing off a lot of people is going to magically cure things? Protest at the police station, you know, the place where the people that killed the victim are working. Protest at the local government buildings. Protest somewhere that matters and you’ll get the population behind you.
Yeah, sorry, you have a right to peaceful protest, you don’t have a right to violate laws.
It hasn’t happened has it? This has been a problem going on decades. What you’ve suggested does not work.
I really wish I had the answer but obviously I don’t. I do hope the overwhelming pressure & lives lost finally result in a country-wide solution though.
Peaceful protest doesn’t work. If you do that in a public sphere apparently you become the most hated man in America. Rioting doesn’t work because it inconveniences people with problems they’d rather not be bothered with. Asking to be heard doesn’t work because the conversation is had and nothing changes. Waiting doesn’t work either because society doesn’t change due to time alone. You actually have to put effort into. If you talk about these primarily in an academic environment then that just leads to a bunch of accusations of liberal education and elitist behavior followed by some sort of social agenda.
So i think the answer everyone wants to give is to continue to do nothing because that’s comfortable. No one really feels comfortable telling everyone to go home and just hope it happens but no other solution is given.
It’s obvious by now this problem didn’t develop at night, and if I thought my son, my daughter, my brother and my sister will be the next trending hashtag but forgive me for saying so, fuck anyone inconvenience and laws. These people perceive their children and their family are going to be mowed down by the cops with no consequences. As for using the system, you mean that system that is also stacked against them and with the police unions choosing to back one of the candidates with the lowest support in recent history from African Americans.
I think the alternative of doing nothing is not a valid option. And the more it is suggested as a solution the worse it will get.
This is not historically accurate.
So the killing of African Americans by police has stopped and I missed it?
By this criterion, medicine is a failure because people still die.
No, that’s a much broader statement. I am very specific with who is killing and who is dying. What exactly has changed after a few decades of talking about this issue?
… Do you have any notion what the world was like before the Civil Rights Movement?