6 ms·

Here's another article uncovering the brutality of the police [1]. Some of the scenes are really inhuman [2] and I feel sorry for the poor people trying to make

Here's another article uncovering the brutality of the police [1]. Some of the scenes are really inhuman [2] and I feel sorry for the poor people trying to make their voices heard. I hope, that both sides, the protesters and police force will find a way, to exit that spiral of violence. But right now it looks like this won't happen. It's a shame. If the state acts harder against protesters, journalists and civilian bystanders it will only fuel their anger. Leading to more violence, used by the state to issue a even worse crackdown than now. And so on and so on. The only hope that I have is, that other politicians from all parties will stand up against that. [1] https://www.bellingcat.com/news/americas/2020/05/31/us-law-enforcement-are-deliberately-targeting-journalists-during-george-floyd-protests/ https://www.bellingcat.com/news/americas/2020/05/31/us-law-e... [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Byk2axDVNHE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Byk2axDVNHE

sixothree 6y ago
Third party oversight. This country was founded on checks and balances. There are no checks to their power as it stands now.
- elliekelly 6y ago
  > Third party oversight. Aren't the journalists supposed to be the third party oversight? Showing and telling the rest of us what's happening so that when one side oversteps we as a society can take action to correct it?
  - zacharycohn 6y ago
    That's hard to do when the police open fire on the journalists.
  - throwaway743 6y ago
    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda_model https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda_model
  - lreeves 6y ago
    That works great until a sitting US president demonizes the journalists for four years.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
  - zenhack 6y ago
    Freedom of the press is certainly important, and if anything changes because of all this, people hearing about it will be instrumental, but it's not a replacement for proper systems of accountability. If the bar for getting away with murder is "don't make national headlines," something is deeply wrong. Up until now the bar has been far lower than that.
  - vkou 6y ago
    The journalists are clipping context out of video that they are broadcasting. The pink umbrella bit was clipped out of the riot started by police in Seattle on Monday - instead the news agencies started showing footage after pepper spray was deployed. In Canada, the CBC cut a video right before a police van physically drove its way through a crowd. [1] Anyone else doing that would be described as vehicular assault, possibly attempted manslaughter. The press isn't holding the police accountable for any of this. It's pushing a narrative that "The appropriate amount of force was used against rioters", without showing the inappropriate use of force that started the riot. [1] https://twitter.com/_llebrun/status/1267209166545981445?s=20&fbclid=IwAR3HHx0Ma46mgeOTLjzYxNMJ50uqb122loNRH59wPWdMIP-0gOM1g0Zq-PE https://twitter.com/_llebrun/status/1267209166545981445?s=20...
  - viklove 6y ago
    No, the Judiciary serves as a check on the Executive, so the courts are supposed to be the ones reeling in the police. That's obviously not happening.
deanCommie 6y ago
> I hope, that both sides, the protesters and police force will find a way, to exit that spiral of violence. But right now it looks like this won't happen. It's a shame. Is it a shame? The only way this de-escalates is if the police violently repress the protests so hard that dissent is silenced. Which is what Trump wants. Which will only push the country further into authoritarianism. And the police have shown themselves completely unwilling to self-interrogate their actions, and truly see themselves as the victim in this situation, justifying their reaction. Honestly, I think the only way through this is down. There needs to be a violent insurrection from the left. Revolution is the ONLY way to enact societal change at this point.
- mythrwy 6y ago
  Violent revolution (attempted anyway) probably will produce societal change. It just won't be the kind you are hoping for.
  - deanCommie 6y ago
    What about the American revolution?
steffandroid 6y ago
> I hope, that both sides, the protesters and police force will find a way, to exit that spiral of violence. The two sides are massively unequal in terms of power, the onus is on the police to stop the violence.
- brobdingnagians 6y ago
  The onus is on both. One may be able to do it better, and more conveniently, but everyone's responsible for doing their bit in ceasing and stopping violence.
  - viraptor 6y ago
    You understand why the protests started though, right? It's not like the protesters can say "ok, if we stop protesting now, will you please consider following the law?" How to you expect protesters to deescalate this with absolutely nothing changing and high level LE people still not accepting any blame and pushing for military help?
    - chr1 6y ago
      First of all they should say that they are not related to any of the looters, that anyone even throwing trash on the streets is against protesters. Use every opportunity to show how peaceful the protesters are. Not gather at nights as at nights there is a higher chance for confusing situation to arise that give opening to police to apply force. Instead of negative chants like fuck the police use positive chants like join us, or police is ours. Police knows how to deal with force, the goal of the protest should be to not give it any opportunity to apply the force, so that even the people who are against protesters can't find a way to justify police actions. It may be too late for applying this tactic now, but if it was applied earlier it would make the protest much more successful. At least that's what happened in Armenia few years ago, when after many years of unsuccessful violent protests, non-violent protest brought a real change.
    - oh_sigh 6y ago
      You understand why US cops are so heavy handed though, right? It may be because they have to deal with a population with 3 guns per capita, where the amount of police killed per year on duty(even disregarding accidents) is more akin to a third world country than anything going on in the EU. > and high level LE people still not accepting any blame I don't know how you get that from OP saying that both sides need to de-escalate.

sixothree 6y ago

Third party oversight. This country was founded on checks and balances. There are no checks to their power as it stands now.

elliekelly 6y ago
> Third party oversight. Aren't the journalists supposed to be the third party oversight? Showing and telling the rest of us what's happening so that when one side oversteps we as a society can take action to correct it?
- zacharycohn 6y ago
  That's hard to do when the police open fire on the journalists.
- throwaway743 6y ago
  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda_model https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda_model
- lreeves 6y ago
  That works great until a sitting US president demonizes the journalists for four years.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- zenhack 6y ago
  Freedom of the press is certainly important, and if anything changes because of all this, people hearing about it will be instrumental, but it's not a replacement for proper systems of accountability. If the bar for getting away with murder is "don't make national headlines," something is deeply wrong. Up until now the bar has been far lower than that.
- vkou 6y ago
  The journalists are clipping context out of video that they are broadcasting. The pink umbrella bit was clipped out of the riot started by police in Seattle on Monday - instead the news agencies started showing footage after pepper spray was deployed. In Canada, the CBC cut a video right before a police van physically drove its way through a crowd. [1] Anyone else doing that would be described as vehicular assault, possibly attempted manslaughter. The press isn't holding the police accountable for any of this. It's pushing a narrative that "The appropriate amount of force was used against rioters", without showing the inappropriate use of force that started the riot. [1] https://twitter.com/_llebrun/status/1267209166545981445?s=20&fbclid=IwAR3HHx0Ma46mgeOTLjzYxNMJ50uqb122loNRH59wPWdMIP-0gOM1g0Zq-PE https://twitter.com/_llebrun/status/1267209166545981445?s=20...
- viklove 6y ago
  No, the Judiciary serves as a check on the Executive, so the courts are supposed to be the ones reeling in the police. That's obviously not happening.

deanCommie 6y ago

> I hope, that both sides, the protesters and police force will find a way, to exit that spiral of violence. But right now it looks like this won't happen. It's a shame. Is it a shame? The only way this de-escalates is if the police violently repress the protests so hard that dissent is silenced. Which is what Trump wants. Which will only push the country further into authoritarianism. And the police have shown themselves completely unwilling to self-interrogate their actions, and truly see themselves as the victim in this situation, justifying their reaction. Honestly, I think the only way through this is down. There needs to be a violent insurrection from the left. Revolution is the ONLY way to enact societal change at this point.

mythrwy 6y ago
Violent revolution (attempted anyway) probably will produce societal change. It just won't be the kind you are hoping for.
- deanCommie 6y ago
  What about the American revolution?

steffandroid 6y ago

> I hope, that both sides, the protesters and police force will find a way, to exit that spiral of violence. The two sides are massively unequal in terms of power, the onus is on the police to stop the violence.

brobdingnagians 6y ago
The onus is on both. One may be able to do it better, and more conveniently, but everyone's responsible for doing their bit in ceasing and stopping violence.
- viraptor 6y ago
  You understand why the protests started though, right? It's not like the protesters can say "ok, if we stop protesting now, will you please consider following the law?" How to you expect protesters to deescalate this with absolutely nothing changing and high level LE people still not accepting any blame and pushing for military help?
  - chr1 6y ago
    First of all they should say that they are not related to any of the looters, that anyone even throwing trash on the streets is against protesters. Use every opportunity to show how peaceful the protesters are. Not gather at nights as at nights there is a higher chance for confusing situation to arise that give opening to police to apply force. Instead of negative chants like fuck the police use positive chants like join us, or police is ours. Police knows how to deal with force, the goal of the protest should be to not give it any opportunity to apply the force, so that even the people who are against protesters can't find a way to justify police actions. It may be too late for applying this tactic now, but if it was applied earlier it would make the protest much more successful. At least that's what happened in Armenia few years ago, when after many years of unsuccessful violent protests, non-violent protest brought a real change.
  - oh_sigh 6y ago
    You understand why US cops are so heavy handed though, right? It may be because they have to deal with a population with 3 guns per capita, where the amount of police killed per year on duty(even disregarding accidents) is more akin to a third world country than anything going on in the EU. > and high level LE people still not accepting any blame I don't know how you get that from OP saying that both sides need to de-escalate.