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I’m bemused to see reports about the police overreacting to peaceful protests, followed by a sentence or two acknowledging that fires were set at those same pro

I’m bemused to see reports about the police overreacting to peaceful protests, followed by a sentence or two acknowledging that fires were set at those same protests.

dungdongdang 6y ago
They were "peaceful" - as in garbage everywhere, and blocking literally every road downtown in the middle of the day as people got off of work. When the cops tried to clear the roads, using megaphones only, the protesters responded by chanting fuck the police. When the police formed a line and walked down the roadway to clear it, hours later, people started throwing shit. Late evening, they lit the parking lot on fire, with regular people's cars. To retaliate to the police trying to clear the road for those cars trying to get out of work and drive home - at like 9pm. In my opinion, there has been literally no police overreaction to protests so far. Even the old white guy who got pushed. Yes, when you're told to leave, and instead you don't, you get pushed. Maybe if you're old and fragile, and it's dangerous for you to get pushed, you should have left. This was nothing though. The next days downtown was destroyed. You had dudes running out of a destroyed starbucks with boxes of coffee, chanting nwa. Yes, 99% of the looters in Chicago were black. Just like all the people who killed someone here (about 400 murders per year). The white people defending the rights of black lives were all peaceful, except for making people's lives difficult with garbage and roadblocks. The next day the girl in the apartment next to mine started dumping out trash out her window on the people looting the stores on the ground floor. She had to move. Her apartment was covered in bullet holes. No, I'm not a trump voter. not a biden voter. not a bernietard. Just a guy trying to live a difficult life and get through the day, like most people are. Black lives do not matter. No lives matter, or should matter to others. But interfering negatively with people's lives matters, to those people. So I cheer every time the protesters get gassed, or shot in the eye with a rubber bullet. Just like I cheer every time a cop gets shot.
jschwartzi 6y ago
A lot of the problem here is that there are two groups at the protests: police brutality protestors, and assholes who just want to watch the world burn.
IAmEveryone 6y ago
There have been quite a few protests lately. Some of them involved vandalism, especially on the first day. In Portland over the last few days, there was some fireworks and a few trash cans were burning. But the vast majority of protests were entirely peaceful. And and even greater number of individual protesters have done nothing wrong. The police doesn’t get to shoot you in the head because you look like the people they saw on the news doing something wrong half-way across the country. And even actual criminals aren’t fair game to police violence. This isn’t some gang war between equals. The police is expected to be better than that sort of revengeful sadism.
- maxlybbert 6y ago
  Here’s a great example ( https://apnews.com/edd4ebdd7a245e568da69db38aea04db https://apnews.com/edd4ebdd7a245e568da69db38aea04db , third paragraph): “[The mayor] put on a pair of goggles someone handed him and drank water but did not leave his spot at the front of the protest and continued to take tear gas as the demonstration raged — with protesters lighting a large fire between protective fencing and the Mark O. Hatfield Federal Courthouse amid the pop-pop-pop sounds of the federal agents deploying tear gas and stun grenades into the crowd.” The federal officers are officially assigned to protect that courthouse. They built a fence but people still managed to build a large fire on the wrong side of the fence. It looks like the officers have a good reason to want the crowd to disperse, although I’m not sure that it’s a great idea to use tear gas so close to a fire. Unfortunately, as I understand it, if the crowd refuses to leave and tear gas has been ruled out, the remaining options are all very violent.
- dungdongdang 6y ago
  "But the vast majority of police were entirely peaceful. And and even greater number of individual officers have done nothing wrong." by the way, peaceful to you is not peaceful to me. when I'm driving home from work and literally every road is filled with people on the road, and I am unable to get home till midnight - you are not peaceful, and you are breaking the law. when you refuse to clear the road and let me come home so I can sleep before the next day at work starts, I'm glad to pay for the tear gas and the rubber bullet that hits you in the head. you clearly don't care about my well-being, so I not only don't care about yours - I want physical harm to come to you. this is why assemblies outside get a permit, and a designated route to follow. so the majority of people, who are not a part of your rage party, can get routed around and live their lives. you choose not to follow the social contract with the rest of society - I see zero issue with police not following the social contract with you. you have escalated the situation, so expect an escalation from the people you're "peacefully" harming - the majority of people.

I’m bemused to see reports about the police overreacting to peaceful protests, followed by a sentence or two acknowledging that fires were set at those same protests.

dungdongdang 6y ago

They were "peaceful" - as in garbage everywhere, and blocking literally every road downtown in the middle of the day as people got off of work. When the cops tried to clear the roads, using megaphones only, the protesters responded by chanting fuck the police. When the police formed a line and walked down the roadway to clear it, hours later, people started throwing shit. Late evening, they lit the parking lot on fire, with regular people's cars. To retaliate to the police trying to clear the road for those cars trying to get out of work and drive home - at like 9pm. In my opinion, there has been literally no police overreaction to protests so far. Even the old white guy who got pushed. Yes, when you're told to leave, and instead you don't, you get pushed. Maybe if you're old and fragile, and it's dangerous for you to get pushed, you should have left. This was nothing though. The next days downtown was destroyed. You had dudes running out of a destroyed starbucks with boxes of coffee, chanting nwa. Yes, 99% of the looters in Chicago were black. Just like all the people who killed someone here (about 400 murders per year). The white people defending the rights of black lives were all peaceful, except for making people's lives difficult with garbage and roadblocks. The next day the girl in the apartment next to mine started dumping out trash out her window on the people looting the stores on the ground floor. She had to move. Her apartment was covered in bullet holes. No, I'm not a trump voter. not a biden voter. not a bernietard. Just a guy trying to live a difficult life and get through the day, like most people are. Black lives do not matter. No lives matter, or should matter to others. But interfering negatively with people's lives matters, to those people. So I cheer every time the protesters get gassed, or shot in the eye with a rubber bullet. Just like I cheer every time a cop gets shot.

jschwartzi 6y ago

A lot of the problem here is that there are two groups at the protests: police brutality protestors, and assholes who just want to watch the world burn.

IAmEveryone 6y ago

There have been quite a few protests lately. Some of them involved vandalism, especially on the first day. In Portland over the last few days, there was some fireworks and a few trash cans were burning. But the vast majority of protests were entirely peaceful. And and even greater number of individual protesters have done nothing wrong. The police doesn’t get to shoot you in the head because you look like the people they saw on the news doing something wrong half-way across the country. And even actual criminals aren’t fair game to police violence. This isn’t some gang war between equals. The police is expected to be better than that sort of revengeful sadism.

maxlybbert 6y ago
Here’s a great example ( https://apnews.com/edd4ebdd7a245e568da69db38aea04db https://apnews.com/edd4ebdd7a245e568da69db38aea04db , third paragraph): “[The mayor] put on a pair of goggles someone handed him and drank water but did not leave his spot at the front of the protest and continued to take tear gas as the demonstration raged — with protesters lighting a large fire between protective fencing and the Mark O. Hatfield Federal Courthouse amid the pop-pop-pop sounds of the federal agents deploying tear gas and stun grenades into the crowd.” The federal officers are officially assigned to protect that courthouse. They built a fence but people still managed to build a large fire on the wrong side of the fence. It looks like the officers have a good reason to want the crowd to disperse, although I’m not sure that it’s a great idea to use tear gas so close to a fire. Unfortunately, as I understand it, if the crowd refuses to leave and tear gas has been ruled out, the remaining options are all very violent.
dungdongdang 6y ago
"But the vast majority of police were entirely peaceful. And and even greater number of individual officers have done nothing wrong." by the way, peaceful to you is not peaceful to me. when I'm driving home from work and literally every road is filled with people on the road, and I am unable to get home till midnight - you are not peaceful, and you are breaking the law. when you refuse to clear the road and let me come home so I can sleep before the next day at work starts, I'm glad to pay for the tear gas and the rubber bullet that hits you in the head. you clearly don't care about my well-being, so I not only don't care about yours - I want physical harm to come to you. this is why assemblies outside get a permit, and a designated route to follow. so the majority of people, who are not a part of your rage party, can get routed around and live their lives. you choose not to follow the social contract with the rest of society - I see zero issue with police not following the social contract with you. you have escalated the situation, so expect an escalation from the people you're "peacefully" harming - the majority of people.