4 ms·

"Straub said that police officers shouldn’t be expected to determine what's being thrown at them before responding. "“If you're standing there in that skirmish

"Straub said that police officers shouldn’t be expected to determine what's being thrown at them before responding. "“If you're standing there in that skirmish line, and somebody's throwing something at you, is it really up to you to be figuring out whether it's gasoline or whether it's metal, or whether it's water or whether it's acid?”" His use of military terminology ("skirmish line") is telling.

stanski 6y ago
He forgot to list a nuclear device as a potential threat.
sneak 6y ago
That “reasonable people on both sides” cop commentator also called the amount of pepper spray a cop used on a peaceful protester with his hands in the air “judicious”. The terrible (and currently true) idea that the police are exempt from assault and battery laws is so widespread that people don’t seem to notice how biased they are. The police need to be held to a higher standard, as public servants, but the first step is just holding them to the same laws as everyone else that say you don’t get to arbitrarily pepper spray or beat anyone you feel like. Contempt of cop is not a crime, and cops retaliating violently should be tossed in the same hellish system they force others into for breaking the law. There is no equal protection in practice so long as one group can attack and harm anyone they wish under the guise of their job title. They’re already entirely exempt from gun controls that apply to the rest of society; if they aren’t restrained from illegal activity by legal process, then the situation is indistinguishable on a practical level from military dictatorship.
CompanionCuuube 6y ago
Telling of what? That they reuse a term?
- Doxin 6y ago
  It implies that they think of the conflict in military terms.
  - CompanionCuuube 6y ago
    So you would be okay with a term like "avant-garde"?
    - mcguire 6y ago
      'Avant-garde', as a military term, is obsolete in English; the English word is now 'vanguard'. 'Skirmish line', to my knowledge, has no accepted non-military uses, but even if it did the interviewee is clearly referring to the military formation and therefore considering the protesters to be hostile enemies.
      - CompanionCuuube 6y ago
        Well, they are throwing unspecified bottles of liquid at them, so they're not peaceful protesters either.
        Doxin 6y ago
        There's a clear difference between protestors and enemies no matter the amount of hostility. Thinking of the protestors as enemies is bound to escalate conflict instead of deescalating it.

stanski 6y ago

He forgot to list a nuclear device as a potential threat.

sneak 6y ago

That “reasonable people on both sides” cop commentator also called the amount of pepper spray a cop used on a peaceful protester with his hands in the air “judicious”. The terrible (and currently true) idea that the police are exempt from assault and battery laws is so widespread that people don’t seem to notice how biased they are. The police need to be held to a higher standard, as public servants, but the first step is just holding them to the same laws as everyone else that say you don’t get to arbitrarily pepper spray or beat anyone you feel like. Contempt of cop is not a crime, and cops retaliating violently should be tossed in the same hellish system they force others into for breaking the law. There is no equal protection in practice so long as one group can attack and harm anyone they wish under the guise of their job title. They’re already entirely exempt from gun controls that apply to the rest of society; if they aren’t restrained from illegal activity by legal process, then the situation is indistinguishable on a practical level from military dictatorship.

CompanionCuuube 6y ago

Telling of what? That they reuse a term?

Doxin 6y ago
It implies that they think of the conflict in military terms.
- CompanionCuuube 6y ago
  So you would be okay with a term like "avant-garde"?
  - mcguire 6y ago
    'Avant-garde', as a military term, is obsolete in English; the English word is now 'vanguard'. 'Skirmish line', to my knowledge, has no accepted non-military uses, but even if it did the interviewee is clearly referring to the military formation and therefore considering the protesters to be hostile enemies.
    - CompanionCuuube 6y ago
      Well, they are throwing unspecified bottles of liquid at them, so they're not peaceful protesters either.
      - Doxin 6y ago
        There's a clear difference between protestors and enemies no matter the amount of hostility. Thinking of the protestors as enemies is bound to escalate conflict instead of deescalating it.