Protests following the killing of George Floyd

Abizzz

Full Member
Joined
Mar 28, 2014
Messages
7,722
Doesn't burning shit down(as run over police) justify the forceful police response during these days ?, or how should the police act to take control of the situation
It doesn't really matter if the previous level of forcefulness was already killing you.
 

Cascarino

Magnum Poopus
Joined
Jul 17, 2014
Messages
7,616
Location
Wales
Supports
Swansea
I don't see the necessity for sarcasm. The guy asked what I had done, I answered that I have educated myself of the situation, citing an example.
What have you done to stop racism?
Well I made a thread on a football forum

it’s at least a little funny, and I couldn’t resist, sorry man.

It’s not that I don’t see your point. It’s important that people do have a grasp on why these protests are happening. But at the same time people on social media tweeting about this are at least raising awareness. There’ll be a lot of people who wouldn’t have know about the scale and the depth of the problem. They’ll have spent the last few days educating themselves and listening to the stories of those who are directly affected. It can be a powerful motivator and even if it’s someone who up until this point has been oblivious to the extent of the problem (which they shouldn’t have been) seeing the movement now may be the point in which they wake up.
 

VeevaVee

The worst "V"
Scout
Joined
Jan 3, 2009
Messages
46,268
Location
Manchester
I’m seeing people slating blackouttuesday but in my opinion it is bring awareness to more people outside of America. There were plenty of people not really paying attention and they might, maybe, realise it’s a worldwide issue now.

Even though it’s such a small, perhaps insignificant thing people are doing, and certainly isn’t enough on its own, it might just show to those who can really affect change that plenty of people are thinking about it.

Last but not least it seems counter productive to start dividing people who are the same side.
 

villain

Hates Beyoncé
Joined
Apr 22, 2014
Messages
14,974
My understanding of it is if someone posts something once during this situation and doesn't follow through on that 'one' post compared to people that use this moment to push for long term commitment and change.
Surely that's arbitrary?
By the same token, there are thousands of black people who are exhausted by racism and will avoid posting anything, or avoid watching the news for fear of being triggered. I avoided posting anything for the first 3/4 days for this very reason, and I still haven't watched the video of them killing George.
Also there's probably people who simply know they can't educate & then articulate themselves on racism within the span of 1 week, so posting something to show solidarity is the best they can do in a short time. I'm failing to see the harm in any of it.

Sure there are people who are only involved because it's trending & don't really care - but quite frankly, I want to see as many posts on social media as possible. I want this to disrupt, interrupt & inconvenience as many people's lives as possible.
 

Silva

Full Member
Joined
Apr 2, 2010
Messages
30,756
Location
Smoke crack like Isaac Asimov
The whole social media blackout for today is a psyop. None of the official BLM pages are asking for this. Many of the reposts ask for people to only post a black square tagged #blacklivesmatter and to subsequently leave all social media for the day. It is a way to not only silence everyone for an entire day but also spam the entire feed of anything tagged #blacklivesmatter or #blm with images of black screens so people can't see what is going on.
A peak into what it looks like
 

Sigma

Full Member
Joined
Mar 6, 2015
Messages
10,428
What have you done to stop racism?
Well I made a thread on a football forum

it’s at least a little funny, and I couldn’t resist, sorry man.

It’s not that I don’t see your point. It’s important that people do have a grasp on why these protests are happening. But at the same time people on social media tweeting about this are at least raising awareness. There’ll be a lot of people who wouldn’t have know about the scale and the depth of the problem. They’ll have spent the last few days educating themselves and listening to the stories of those who are directly affected. It can be a powerful motivator and even if it’s someone who up until this point has been oblivious to the extent of the problem (which they shouldn’t have been) seeing the movement now may be the point in which they wake up.
Yeah I totally understand and agree with what you said, all I was saying was that however irrational my sentiment is, I find it slightly annoying that some are posting just because it the thing everyone is doing without critically thinking about the situation.
 

VeevaVee

The worst "V"
Scout
Joined
Jan 3, 2009
Messages
46,268
Location
Manchester
Surely that's arbitrary?
By the same token, there are thousands of black people who are exhausted by racism and will avoid posting anything, or avoid watching the news for fear of being triggered. I avoided posting anything for the first 3/4 days for this very reason, and I still haven't watched the video of them killing George.
Also there's probably people who simply know they can't educate & then articulate themselves on racism within the span of 1 week, so posting something to show solidarity is the best they can do in a short time. I'm failing to see the harm in any of it.

Sure there are people who are only involved because it's trending & don't really care - but quite frankly, I want to see as many posts on social media as possible. I want this to disrupt, interrupt & inconvenience as many people's lives as possible.
A friend of mine, who is black, had to make a post explaining why he hadn’t posted anything because he’d been getting shit for it. That doesn’t seem right to me.

Also agree massively on the social media trend. Awareness that people are paying attention and not just in America is surely huge right now.
 

Sigma

Full Member
Joined
Mar 6, 2015
Messages
10,428
I'm failing to see how there's a difference in awareness raised when one person posts something on social media who doesn't the situation (your interpretation) vs awareness raised when someone who apparently does understand the situation, does it.

If i'm being honest, I don't think anyone understands the situation.
I think black & ethnic minorities know what it's like to live with racism, I think white people know that racism is wrong, and I think an increasing portion of people are beginning to bear witness to the scale of police brutality - however that last group of people are learning this primarily through social media.

There's probably dozens of people in this thread alone who are seeing treatment of black people at the hands of police that they otherwise wouldn't have been exposed to, if it wasn't for social media.

Beyond that, nobody knows whats going to happen next, nobody knows to what extent this will reach, nobody knows when it stops - none of that seems like having an understanding of a situation to me.
My understanding of it is if someone posts something once during this situation and doesn't follow through on that 'one' post compared to people that use this moment to push for long term commitment and change i.e make sure that this moment, even if it is the first time they have spoken up about it, it isn't the last time either.
Yeah that's what I was trying to get across (or at the very least just critically evaluate themselves to see if they can improve in situations like these and act upon that evaluation).

The crux of my point in sincerity. Without sincerity, things wont change. Now of course not everyone has to be sincere, but if you aren't being sincere you could become more sincere and thus help the situation the world finds itself in further.
 
Last edited:

Carolina Red

Moderator
Staff
Joined
Nov 7, 2015
Messages
36,774
Location
South Carolina
Doesn't burning shit down(as run over police) justify the forceful police response during these days ?, or how should the police act to take control of the situation
You’re basically saying that since escalation didn’t work, they should escalate more.
 

SteveJ

all-round nice guy, aka Uncle Joe Kardashian
Scout
Joined
Oct 22, 2010
Messages
62,851
Twitter said:
The USA is cursed...almost like it was built on a Native American burial ground
 

villain

Hates Beyoncé
Joined
Apr 22, 2014
Messages
14,974
A friend of mine, who is black, had to make a post explaining why he hadn’t posted anything because he’d been getting shit for it. That doesn’t seem right to me.

Also agree massively on the social media trend. Awareness that people are paying attention and not just in America is surely huge right now.
There's an incredible amount of nuance on this entire topic, there's too much to unpack or discuss without derailing the thread - but I empathise with your friend entirely, i've been there and it's fecking shit. Nobody is an accurate representation of who they portray on social media, and they shouldn't be judged for that.

As long as awareness is being raised i'm all for it.
 

Smores

Full Member
Joined
May 18, 2011
Messages
25,721

Without even looking I bet that guy has a long history of brexit posts. I looked at similar responses to one of Gary Linekers tweets and i went through around 20 odd and each one was a raving Brexiteer with scum media hashtags. Funny because i keep getting told they're not just like Trump fanatics but seems like it to me.
 

SilentWitness

ShoelessWitness
Staff
Joined
Jan 14, 2010
Messages
31,991
Location
London
Supports
Everton
Surely that's arbitrary?
By the same token, there are thousands of black people who are exhausted by racism and will avoid posting anything, or avoid watching the news for fear of being triggered. I avoided posting anything for the first 3/4 days for this very reason, and I still haven't watched the video of them killing George.
Also there's probably people who simply know they can't educate & then articulate themselves on racism within the span of 1 week, so posting something to show solidarity is the best they can do in a short time. I'm failing to see the harm in any of it.

Sure there are people who are only involved because it's trending & don't really care - but quite frankly, I want to see as many posts on social media as possible. I want this to disrupt, interrupt & inconvenience as many people's lives as possible.
I wouldn't say it is harmful to generate as much publicity and awareness for what is happening and get that it is important to make sure that there is inconvenience to disrupt people who do share racist views and drown them out. I think that it is important for people individually to educate themselves in the meantime while they do share these posts to make sure that it can be a long term process for them aswell as sharing this short term viewpoint though. I completely understand avoiding posting something and don't think anyone should feel ashamed for not posting things if they don't wish to and they shouldn't feel obliged to do that either. I just think from the perpspective of a white person it is important that we educate ourselves as to why there are these disparities, the histories and what the movement means ASWELL as creating awareness in this window that has presented itself. For that long term change it's important that we as an ally know what it means to share quotes by black activists/what blackout tuesday means.
 

carvajal

Full Member
Joined
Jan 20, 2015
Messages
11,182
Location
Spain
Supports
Real Madrid
You’re basically saying that since escalation didn’t work, they should escalate more.
I mean that police/riot police have to respond to the situation generated.
I understand the anger, except for the looting , but then I don't see the meaning in the scrutiny of every police action.
If you accept burned cars and buildings, looting, and personal attacks on the police then I don't understand the outrage at certain arrests, gas, rubber balls, etc. I do not intend to put myself as a defender of the police since there will be a thousand cases that I do not know but I cannot think of other more effective ways of handling the situation.
 

Abizzz

Full Member
Joined
Mar 28, 2014
Messages
7,722
I mean that police/riot police have to respond to the situation generated.
I understand the anger, except for the looting , but then I don't see the meaning in the scrutiny of every police action.
If you accept burned cars and buildings, looting, and personal attacks on the police then I don't understand the outrage at certain arrests, gas, rubber balls, etc. I do not intend to put myself as a defender of the police since there will be a thousand cases that I do not know but I cannot think of other more effective ways of handling the situation.
They aren't "handling the situation". They fecking caused it!
 

Cascarino

Magnum Poopus
Joined
Jul 17, 2014
Messages
7,616
Location
Wales
Supports
Swansea
Yeah I totally understand and agree with what you said, all I was saying was that however irrational my sentiment is, I find it slightly annoying that some are posting just because it the thing everyone is doing without critically thinking about the situation.
It is definitely important that people understand why this is happening and the general framework of the societies in which we live, especially your typical white guy like myself.
 

Annihilate Now!

...or later, I'm not fussy
Scout
Joined
Nov 4, 2010
Messages
50,084
Location
W.Yorks
Exactly. My favourite post so far.
I keep seeing a video of an incident where a cop(s) will do something absolutely abhorrent then wondering "how is this not the top story in the world right now?" ... only to another clip of another cop(s) doing something equally bad 10 minutes later.
 

Simbo

Full Member
Joined
Oct 25, 2010
Messages
5,287
I'm going to be absolutely gobsmacked if Trump gets voted in for a second term..absolutely gobsmacked. The way he's handled the pandemic and the protests is just staggering. The way people are mobilizing, I just hope for America's sake that those four pigs are convicted.

But Trump's lack of empathy, inability to engage with his people and just stoking up the tension has to be his undoing.

Why has he just installed military personnel at the White House instead of addressing the people?
Probably need a separate conspiracy theory thread for this, but I can't help but feel this is helping setting the stage for when he's (attempted to be) removed from office. Police forces around the world know very well how to deal with mass-protest and riots, they know how to de-escalate, whereas in this instance it seems fairly clear the strategy employed has been to antagonise and escalate. Increasing the division and hatred between police forces and civilians, its all very strange.

Trump knows he's going to lose, we know he's going to try and disqualify the result by claiming votes were fraudulent or whatever other excuse they can come up with. All we don't know is how far he is willing to push it.
 

neverdie

Full Member
Joined
Oct 26, 2018
Messages
2,434
I keep seeing a video of an incident where a cop(s) will do something absolutely abhorrent then wondering "how is this not the top story in the world right now?" ... only to another clip of another cop(s) doing something equally bad 10 minutes later.
I've watched this on livestream for days and I've seen police deliberately turn peaceful protests violent with tear gas multiple times. There was a case yesterday where protestors were dancing and playing music. It seemed too peaceful and then the police stepped in.

I wouldn't even initiate dialogue with the cops because it only gets turned against you in the press. Credit to those who do though.
 

Carolina Red

Moderator
Staff
Joined
Nov 7, 2015
Messages
36,774
Location
South Carolina

Abraham Lincoln toured the fecking country and Washington DC army hospitals in the middle of the actual Civil War
Apparebtly the BLM protest “didn’t have a permit” (and yes, a permit from the Gov to protest the Gov is about as dumb as it sounds)
 

villain

Hates Beyoncé
Joined
Apr 22, 2014
Messages
14,974
I wouldn't say it is harmful to generate as much publicity and awareness for what is happening and get that it is important to make sure that there is inconvenience to disrupt people who do share racist views and drown them out. I think that it is important for people individually to educate themselves in the meantime while they do share these posts to make sure that it can be a long term process for them aswell as sharing this short term viewpoint though. I completely understand avoiding posting something and don't think anyone should feel ashamed for not posting things if they don't wish to and they shouldn't feel obliged to do that either. I just think from the perpspective of a white person it is important that we educate ourselves as to why there are these disparities, the histories and what the movement means ASWELL as creating awareness in this window that has presented itself. For that long term change it's important that we as an ally know what it means to share quotes by black activists/what blackout tuesday means.
If i'm being honest I think most people are at the beginning of their journey of understanding racism. Being conscious of & understanding the basic concepts of racism, and treating people equally is, in my opinion the bare minimum. There's not much difference between someone who knows nothing and someone who knows the bare minimum, so I don't understand the judgement. But maybe my standard for bare minimum is too high.

It's absolutely imperative for people to individually educate themselves on the issue, but that's always been the case for any issue at any time.
For white people to be effective at changing racism (& general discrimination) long term, it comes in educating other white people, especially friends & family - having uncomfortable conversations and, sacrifice. If you know someone in your life is racist, especially family members, and you continue to engage with them - I don't think you can call yourself an ally, (I'm speaking generally of course) in some situations (such as the workplace) that's not possible, but generally being a true ally means a lot of sacrifice.
If we're going to have a conversation about being part of something because it's trendy, personally I'd say we would have to start there.
 

RedPed

Whatabouter.
Joined
Jun 24, 2015
Messages
14,558
Probably need a separate conspiracy theory thread for this, but I can't help but feel this is helping setting the stage for when he's (attempted to be) removed from office. Police forces around the world know very well how to deal with mass-protest and riots, they know how to de-escalate, whereas in this instance it seems fairly clear the strategy employed has been to antagonise and escalate. Increasing the division and hatred between police forces and civilians, its all very strange.

Trump knows he's going to lose, we know he's going to try and disqualify the result by claiming votes were fraudulent or whatever other excuse they can come up with. All we don't know is how far he is willing to push it.
Yeah but are Americans really that *brainwashed/bilnkered/dumb (insert correct word) that they would subject their own country to another 4 years of this madness. I just can't accept that is own party are ok with this. But then again, when you see some of the Fox News coverage, I'm beginning to wonder.
 

hmchan

Full Member
Joined
Nov 20, 2017
Messages
1,429
Location
Hong Kong
I'm so disappointed that many have spun the topic from "police brutality" to "racism" in the Floyd incident.
 

Sky1981

Fending off the urge
Joined
Apr 12, 2006
Messages
30,162
Location
Under the bright neon lights of sincity
Probably need a separate conspiracy theory thread for this, but I can't help but feel this is helping setting the stage for when he's (attempted to be) removed from office. Police forces around the world know very well how to deal with mass-protest and riots, they know how to de-escalate, whereas in this instance it seems fairly clear the strategy employed has been to antagonise and escalate. Increasing the division and hatred between police forces and civilians, its all very strange.

Trump knows he's going to lose, we know he's going to try and disqualify the result by claiming votes were fraudulent or whatever other excuse they can come up with. All we don't know is how far he is willing to push it.
Nah, you can't mind control millions of LEO across America, even if you can try to conspire it.
 

MrMarcello

In a well-ordered universe...
Joined
Dec 26, 2000
Messages
52,999
Location
On a pale blue dot in space
Not only that. The more I've thought about it, the more burning down shit makes sense. It's that shit that the police defends when they are killing, it's that shit's taxes that pays their wages, and that shit's voters that don't think change is neccessary. If you feel like the system doesn't care about your life, destructing it's pillars makes perfect sense.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/...e-psychology-rioting-the-language-the-unheard
The Psychology of Rioting: The Language of the Unheard
 

Relevated

fixated with venom and phalluses
Joined
May 3, 2011
Messages
25,995
Location
18M1955/JU5
I'm so disappointed that many have spun the topic from "police brutality" to "racism" in the Floyd incident.
It was all about police brutality towards black people. There's always going to be the element of racism involved.
 

JPRouve

can't stop thinking about balls - NOT deflategate
Scout
Joined
Jan 31, 2014
Messages
66,756
Location
France
I'm so disappointed that many have spun the topic from "police brutality" to "racism" in the Floyd incident.
The two aren't separated. There is the belief that african american's are more likely to be victim of police brutality due to racism.
 

MrMarcello

In a well-ordered universe...
Joined
Dec 26, 2000
Messages
52,999
Location
On a pale blue dot in space
He was called out on those comments and apologised for them:

https://deadline.com/2020/06/lapd-c...-floyds-death-is-on-looters-hands-1202948867/

I still don't understand how he gets from stating 10% of those arrested after curfew were involved in looting/damaging businesses to the conclusion that there were no protests and everyone who was out was involved in criminality.

That seems like a dangerous starting point for the police mindset and not in line with the facts as he presented them.
Must be fired. It was an incendiary comment and quite possibly a guilt projection.
 

hmchan

Full Member
Joined
Nov 20, 2017
Messages
1,429
Location
Hong Kong
It was all about police brutality towards black people. There's always going to be the element of racism involved.
The two aren't separated. There is the belief that african american's are more likely to be victim of police brutality due to racism.
Both police brutality and racism are intolerable, but that doesn't mean we can merge them into one single issue. Similar to murder and rape, you can't call a murderer also a rapist just because the victim happens to be a female, unless the culprit has committed sex crimes before or there's a strong evidence supporting the theory.

Interesting enough I came across a series few weeks ago talking about a similar situation. In episode 4, most of the subjects (including white, black, Hispanic and Asian) shot at the black guy when he popped up together with the white guy. Yes, even black people shot at the black guy instead of the white. It's the bias deep down in our heart rather than racism which causes us to make that decision.

https://www.netflix.com/title/80215997