Why didn’t they tase him? Damn, they have tasers and they outnumbered him. I get it that they thought he might be going for a gun in the car, but tase him, tackle him, etc. Don’t shoot him seven times.
Timex
6767
Why on earth did the cop shoot him SEVEN times? I mean, what’s the goal there, other than to make sure he’s dead? (which amazingly failed)
You win. Shut down the internet.
Tman
6771
So in an article on the Milwaukee Journal on Jacob Blake being shot, the Milwaukee police union is quoted:
"Politicians need to remain calm until everything comes out. By rushing to judgement, without knowing all of the facts, this will only fuel the cause of others to protest in a manner that isn’t peaceful. Reckless comments, without all of the facts, can only lead someone to a rush of judgement which will result in emotions taking over.
Let me try my hand at editing that because Jacob Blake was just trying to help in calming down two women who were in a fender bender
"The Fucking Police need to remain calm until everything comes out. By rushing to judgement, without knowing all of the facts, this will only fuel the cause of others to protest in a manner that isn’t peaceful. Reckless actions, without all of the facts, can only lead The Fucking Police to a rush of judgement which will result in black people getting shot.
Maybe not at the root, per se, but I do think such things play a role in American police culture.
Because we have allowed law enforcement to create and perpetuate a culture that turns their role on its head. Instead of being there to “serve and protect” us, they are there to “serve and protect” themselves. That is, their single highest priority is making themselves safe, even if it makes everyone else much less safe. This idea has its roots in legitimate concern for officer safety, but because there has been no push to maintain focus on the mission, along with risk mitigation, the mission has warped to become risk mitigation. It’s an institutional, organizational behavior phenomenon that should surprise no one.It happens even in the military, when there are unclear goals and poor leadership.
CraigM
6774
Why were police even there in the first place?
Because that’s part of the problem. Not only using force, but why the police were involved in the first place. Its a sad state of affairs, but the reality is that bringing the police into situations can make things worse. So what justified bringing armed men with the power to kill into this situation?
We, as a society, beed to think on that too. Because often these armed cowboys should never have been involved.
ShivaX
6775
This plus a huge number of garbage people on the forces is the correct answer.
In somewhat related news, I was taking the dog out yesterday. Across the street we have a black family, they were having some outdoor gathering thing. I noticed the cops drive by. And then again. And then a Sheriff. And then the cops again. And then two cop cars pulled up to the church across the street and walked over (Sheriff left).
I got out my phone and started recording, which sucked because it was hot and humid as balls out there. The whole thing lasted 12 minutes and I have to say, my local PD did me proud. At no point were they aggressive or confrontational, one of the cops just chilled next to a lamp post and chatted with 12 people around him. None of that “fear for my life” bullshit. People walked behind him, they were right next to him, the whole time while he was talking with them. If they’d wanted to grab his gun he’d have been toast, but he lives in the real world so it didn’t even occur to him to think like that.
Other cop talked to one of the people across the street for 5-6 minutes while chill cop chatted with everyone. Then they got paperwork and handed it to some people and left.
Hard to tell what it was about, but from some of the yelling, I gather that someone pissed them off and vice versa and then that someone called the cops on them. But the cops, rather than rush in assuming the worst, circled the block, saw some people chilling and just talked to them to find out what was going on.
Like I said, proud of the local cops. Our Black population is like tiny, I think 1% if that. Yet they handled themselves like professionals the whole time and even hung out and shot the shit. I don’t think they even registered I was recording them, so that wasn’t part of the equation.
Yeah, there are some professions that attract the wrong sort of people, even when they also attract decent folk. But as someone once wisely said, 95% ice cream and 5% horseshit is still, well, horseshit.
If Trump wins reelection in November, remember this:
ShivaX
6780
Yeah, that’s not a productive methodology. Even the most progressive people I follow seem to agree on that point.
If fucking Otep Shamaya is saying, “Maybe bring it down a notch, you’re not helping,” you’re probably off the reservation.
Edit: Of course there is also the undercurrent of “obviously this is right-wingers pretending to be progressives to make us look bad” or whatever, but that’s the internet for you.
Timex
6781
I think i would refuse to do almost anything that a mob of people was trying to force me to do.
This tweet has been retweeted 11,000 times.
The video shown in it has been viewed nearly 3 million times.
It will be used in GOP attack ads for the next two months. It will be played again and again and again in battleground states.
Is it weird that all the protestors in that video appear to be white?
Dunno if it’s weird or not. I do know that it’ll be used to tell suburban and rural voters: “This is what’s coming.”
