He's always had that annoying trait, but in comparison to Trump I'm just thankful for someone who can speak clearly and coherently without providing fodder for late night comedians
Protests following the killing of George Floyd
- Thread starter Abizzz
- Start date
He's always had that annoying trait, but in comparison to Trump I'm just thankful for someone who can speak clearly and coherently without providing fodder for late night comedians
He also called the national guard on protesters in Ferguson, Baltimore etc. People have short memories.
Is stuff like this a good action?
Starting a race war or a war against the police isn't going to lead to better conditions for anybody. Just because there are racist cops in the US doesn't mean that every single cop is a racist pig. There are just imo no excuses for unecccesary violence.
Though they are not on duty when in the toilets, so can have them off them. But the moment they go back into work they should be back on. In a world were the police are being trusted less and less, this is the way to go.
It shouldn't be up to fellow citizens to hopefully be around to video the police creating half the situations and then also being the cause of the escalations. It should be the officers responsibility to prove and demonstrate that they are not the cause, at least until some level of trust is re-established.
I think that's a very harsh take. He's showing people a way to effect change from within the system, he reminds them of the power that they can have as a group.
the big old power of empty words and doing nothing for 8 years
I'm not saying Obama is a saint. But whatever potential there is for change is a lot greater when you vote in the people who promise to do something instead of the people who think everything is fine.
a lot of these liberal politicians have been promising to do something for decades, and they have, they've made it easier and easier for police and the justice system to abuse their power and get away with it, see joe biden and prison sentencing, they'll say "enough" to your face and "enough riots" to their donors
So Trump (and the police) have all-but given the green light for groups of (mostly white MAGA-type) armed vigilantes to come and "assist" in controlling the streets.
I suspect we will now see at least one instance of these vigilantes getting violent and excessive against black protesters. That will be the point where the police will have to pick a side - and if they choose the vigilantes (as I suspect they might), I think this whole thing escalates up a notch.
I suspect we will now see at least one instance of these vigilantes getting violent and excessive against black protesters. That will be the point where the police will have to pick a side - and if they choose the vigilantes (as I suspect they might), I think this whole thing escalates up a notch.
Where did he do that?
Ahh yes, here we go again with someone making the same point that’s been debunked numerous times before in this very same thread.
That is quite an.. unusual take on what he said.
I wasn’t talking about violence, I was talking about protests and showings of solidarity by peaceful means.
It’s a time when something can be done about injustice and you get people criticising it.
For me they are deliberately trying to be awkward or there is some underlying issues there.
Okay, I just took this to embracing violence ", I mean it’s quite clear there is a racism problem in the states that should be getting addressed and any action is good action. "
I can't disagree with the importance of peacefull protests to highlight the issues.
All against the backdrop of corona and the massive percentage of unemployed as well. Serious civil unrest and also people so poor they will loot to put food on the table.
This type of things bother me. The looters and anyone committing acts of violence should be dealt with by the judiciary system, impunity for these people isn't part of the protest. The protest isn't about starting a race war, it's about equity and equality in the treatment of people in the US regardless of their race or wealth.
I can see were you could have picked that up, more a case of crossed wires.
You don't even know you're doing it, do you?
So what would you suggest people do, and what have you done yourself?
I'm not really disagreeing with you and I know I'm not exactly making a mind blowing point - but not voting is a vote less cast against guys like Trump.
Do we think that the protests will ramp up here in the UK or will most of us just stand by?
Personally I think one the worst things about the US is that any kind of socialism is considered bad and equated with Stalinism or commmunism. One the reasons politics in the US never really change is because both the democrats and reublicans are both right-wing parties and the greatest evil in the US is raising taxes thereby providing no platform for change really. Personally I think people like Bernie Sanders are needed more than anything. Most of the best functioning developed countries in the world are more or less centrist. The US is comepletely right wing.
‘I am George Floyd’: Air Force Chief Master Sergeant backs protests as Trump threatens military force
The man used to feed police for free...
There were protests in Amsterdam as well yesterday. Lot of backlash for the Amsterdam mayor for not taking any social distancing measures into account at all. Mostly festival organizers who feel a bit let down by being socially distanced into bankruptcy only to see 5000 people clustered together and the mayor saying, ah feck it, it's their own responsibility.
Gotta say I agree with that. Protesting is fine, especially for a cause like this, but maybe we should remember the little pandemic going on? I'm sure medical staff would be elated if there is a second wave, because our rodent attention spans failed to remember last week's news.
Gotta say I agree with that. Protesting is fine, especially for a cause like this, but maybe we should remember the little pandemic going on? I'm sure medical staff would be elated if there is a second wave, because our rodent attention spans failed to remember last week's news.
If its not the protests, the summer weather will ultimately bring people out into crowded areas. Enforcing social distancing is like gripping sand, the longer you go, the more it trickles out.
We've had demonstrations with up to 10,000 here (against the government's Corona policy) as well as a little bit of fun between police and protesters on May Day. Didn't seem to have any effect. All the new outbreaks happened indoors, churches, private parties in restaurants etc.
feck off, serious???
No not serious.
And there's feck all anyone can do about it sadly
On public 'apathy'
I was just reading a piece by a teacher who was complaining that pupils are missing out on an all-round, inclusive English Lit education because of the texts recommended by Michael Gove and his government. This near-total exclusion of works written by Black authors and poets in the curriculum surely has, and will continue to have, a negative effect, not only in terms of empathy but also on inspiring non-Black people to support them at times like these in particular; it also means that the march towards progress is deliberately derailed.
The continued emphasis, in the curriculum, is on the small and quaint literary worlds created by Dickens, Eliot, Austen et al. Now, I happen to love many of their books but, in general, their discussion and theme is the smaller stuff of life (love, marriage, family, provincial life etc). While these things are undoubtedly important to an extent, aside from Dickens' consideration of the poor and the very young, these literary worlds are exclusive; I would in fact argue that the novels are chosen not because of the life-lessons they offer but because they oblige their readers to be insular, and to think in an insular manner - like the teaching of British history in our schools, there are vast 'spaces' - the absence of lives unlike our own - wilfully left empty by design. Is it any wonder if older generations, ingrained with much the same teaching (dictated to teachers by politicians' 'recommendations') and with decades of anti-'other' propaganda, aren't inspired to protest? Thankfully, and often courtesy of much-maligned social media, young people today appear to have a social conscience which is exemplary, despite the obstacles placed in their way by those who rule over us.
I was just reading a piece by a teacher who was complaining that pupils are missing out on an all-round, inclusive English Lit education because of the texts recommended by Michael Gove and his government. This near-total exclusion of works written by Black authors and poets in the curriculum surely has, and will continue to have, a negative effect, not only in terms of empathy but also on inspiring non-Black people to support them at times like these in particular; it also means that the march towards progress is deliberately derailed.
The continued emphasis, in the curriculum, is on the small and quaint literary worlds created by Dickens, Eliot, Austen et al. Now, I happen to love many of their books but, in general, their discussion and theme is the smaller stuff of life (love, marriage, family, provincial life etc). While these things are undoubtedly important to an extent, aside from Dickens' consideration of the poor and the very young, these literary worlds are exclusive; I would in fact argue that the novels are chosen not because of the life-lessons they offer but because they oblige their readers to be insular, and to think in an insular manner - like the teaching of British history in our schools, there are vast 'spaces' - the absence of lives unlike our own - wilfully left empty by design. Is it any wonder if older generations, ingrained with much the same teaching (dictated to teachers by politicians' 'recommendations') and with decades of anti-'other' propaganda, aren't inspired to protest? Thankfully, and often courtesy of much-maligned social media, young people today appear to have a social conscience which is exemplary, despite the obstacles placed in their way by those who rule over us.
That first video is well out of order. It's getting completely out of hand now with random officers getting attacked for the actions of their cnutish colleagues. I hope the driver is found and rightfully prosecuted.
Pex, we're living in the twilight zone right now mate, anything and everything is believable now.
I'm coming round to the view that the Russian people have just as much influence on their leaders as Americans. The land of the free has a police force that seems to kill with impunity, the largest prison population in the world (inc per head of population), more guns than people, a hundred times more rough sleepers per head of population than the UK so no wonder they are rioting. If you are poor its better to live in Russia. Its hard to argue against when the president is sending in the national guard and threatening to send in the army.
No western people get the leaders they deserve but I think the people of the USA get the worst leaders. I wonder how Trump supporters feel about the current unemployment figures. For how long are they going to let the corona virus angle let him off the hook? Can he really get re-elected this year.
No western people get the leaders they deserve but I think the people of the USA get the worst leaders. I wonder how Trump supporters feel about the current unemployment figures. For how long are they going to let the corona virus angle let him off the hook? Can he really get re-elected this year.
So Lee Rigby is trending on twitter now and not on his death anniversary which was only just over a week ago...
It’s almost as if people actually did protest but of course the people complaining wouldn’t know that because they didn’t go or care to find out, they just want to derail black issues. It’s also almost as if his killers were arrested at the scene and both handed life sentences. It’s also almost as if one was an isolated incident of an act of terrorism and the other is years of oppression and silenced voices.
It’s almost as if people actually did protest but of course the people complaining wouldn’t know that because they didn’t go or care to find out, they just want to derail black issues. It’s also almost as if his killers were arrested at the scene and both handed life sentences. It’s also almost as if one was an isolated incident of an act of terrorism and the other is years of oppression and silenced voices.
The video of the girl posing for a pic looking like a model citizen helping a shop owner was the final straw for me. The median of humanity is a selfish, self obsessed wannabe influencer.
To all the people who are protesting in good faith, for the right reasons and will continue to be doing so three months from now, good on you. Those who realize that if you want to make a difference by kneeling today, you need to be willing to kneel tomorrow, and the next day, and the next, all the way through June, July and august, each and every day. If the masses do that, then we MIGHT see tangible change. I fear however that this will go the way the MPH campaign went, the way the ALS ice bucket challenge went and the way the Joseph Kony thing went: it’ll be short term fixes that people get on board with because it’s the “in” thing, and it won’t get close to solving the long standing issue. Here in Canada, where coronavirus still exists (like it does almost everywhere else in the fecking world) and is an even more major threat to people of colour, thousands of people break social distancing guidelines and chant black lives matter. To not even be able to protest and maintain guidelines that will keep the people you are protesting for much safer from a deadly virus, is one of the most hypocritical things I’ve ever seen. There are ways to do things, and so many people are just not getting it.
To all the people who are protesting in good faith, for the right reasons and will continue to be doing so three months from now, good on you. Those who realize that if you want to make a difference by kneeling today, you need to be willing to kneel tomorrow, and the next day, and the next, all the way through June, July and august, each and every day. If the masses do that, then we MIGHT see tangible change. I fear however that this will go the way the MPH campaign went, the way the ALS ice bucket challenge went and the way the Joseph Kony thing went: it’ll be short term fixes that people get on board with because it’s the “in” thing, and it won’t get close to solving the long standing issue. Here in Canada, where coronavirus still exists (like it does almost everywhere else in the fecking world) and is an even more major threat to people of colour, thousands of people break social distancing guidelines and chant black lives matter. To not even be able to protest and maintain guidelines that will keep the people you are protesting for much safer from a deadly virus, is one of the most hypocritical things I’ve ever seen. There are ways to do things, and so many people are just not getting it.
I think educating yourself about global racism and police brutality in the US is a lot more important than posting something on facebook or instagram. Now they could have done both, which I guess is also fine. I just get a feeling that lots of people are hopping on the bandwagon of talking about this just because it's 'in fashion' and not doing it for a sincere reason.
As for myself, I started the 'Cop in America doing a bad job, again' thread so I've had an interest in these types of stories for a long time now and have been educating myself about them for that period of time.
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can you honestly say this guy shouldn't have his stations burned to the ground?