5 ms·

It's just so sad. The biggest one lately for me has been watching the riots which are happening all over the US. The really crazy thing is that all of these t

by blhack 6y ago

It's just so sad. The biggest one lately for me has been watching the riots which are happening all over the US. The really crazy thing is that all of these things are livestreamed usually by 10s of people in every city, who are standing a few feet from the people burning buildings and attacking people. You can virtually attend all of these things from your office. To watch buildings burning, people chanting that they want to abolish the police, or burn peoples homes "fire fire gentrifier.", "out of your homes and into the streets" (while throwing things at windows, spray painting the outsides of homes, and shooting fireworks at homes), "all cops are bastards" etc. And then to see reported in the news that these people are "peaceful". It's a sort of paranoid schizophrenia that I think we're seeing. People are watching their own cities burn, then reading CNN say that it's all fake, and that there is such a thing as peaceful arson, or a peaceful riot, that somehow looting is justified, and repeating that. The news isn't just wrong at this point, they are actively trying to mislead people. It's really, really awful.

082349872349872 6y ago
I would bet the press is talking about different people than the ones you are watching.
- refurb 6y ago
  It’s not that hard to find examples. There are even left leaning reporters who are truly dumbfounded by the spin. https://twitter.com/mtaibbi/status/1300243540497166341?s=20 https://twitter.com/mtaibbi/status/1300243540497166341?s=20
  - djur 6y ago
    Which examples and which left-leaning reporters?
pessimizer 6y ago
Don't think that just because you're your own editor you can't be deceived by editing. You're feeding yourself with the material that you're seeking out. edit: just spend a day only looking up the millions peacefully marching, rather than the 10s of right-wing livestreams. (Also, give me some information about the people you've seen attacking and burning private residences, because I don't know of a single example of this.) After the day you can go back to watching what you normally watch, but if you can't find all of these boring people walking through the streets with signs, I don't know what to tell you. If the millions protesting actually had the aim of burning middle-class people out of their homes, middle-class people would have been burned out of their homes. If there's any problem imo, it's that the protests are generally unfocused street wandering. If there were a specific focus or target, they would be effective at accomplishing that target. But when the target becomes anything other than generalized racism, the ad-hoc coalitions fall apart.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- throwawayhacka 6y ago
  Yes, the protests are 'mostly peaceful' and any violence is due to reactionaries.
  - margalabargala 6y ago
    I don't think anyone is claiming the protests are 100% peaceful. The question, then, is how much violence occurs relative to total protest activity? If fewer than 50% of protestors engage in violence, wouldn't it then be accurate to describe the protest as 'mostly peaceful'?
    - ErikVandeWater 6y ago
      It gives a false impression. If even a few percent of 10s of thousands of protesters is looting and rioting that can do enormous damage.
      - abbub 6y ago
        So the ‘few bad apples’ argument is valid for police force that they’re protesting, but not for the protestors?
    - NicoJuicy 6y ago
      What about those that try to escalate things and aren't affiliated with the protests?
    - liability 6y ago
      > I don't think anyone is claiming the protests are 100% peaceful. Some people certainly are, I've heard a few people who attended the riots in Seattle claim the police were the only ones rioting. They're very adamant about that 'only' and any evidence to the contrary is met with "well he's a cop in disguise." It's a case of No True Protestor. It's very tiresome when people demand you believe their transparent bullshit.
stevula 6y ago
That does not match my experience at all with the many peaceful protests in SF lately. Your sources may be cherry-picking to push a certain political narrative.
- tdfx 6y ago
  I'm genuinely happy that SF is seeing peaceful protests, but I spent 2 weeks driving through National Guard checkpoints in my city due to violent unrest, and I'm aware of at least 5 other cities who were similarly affected. Minimizing the presence of violence on either side is wrong. The "few bad apples" narrative doesn't work for cops or protesters, or we wouldn't be seeing what we're seeing.
  - tomatotomato37 6y ago
    The complete disregard for locality and generalizations over an entire continent-sized country don't help either. It's like if a report on the Belarus election situation was used to insist the entirety of the EU was collapsing, while at the same time a report over protests in, I dunno, Sweden was used to show that everything in Belarus is peaceful.
  - NoSorryCannot 6y ago
    The police and the general population have very different flavors of bad apple. The "good" protestors have no ability nor obligation to remove or control the "bad" ones. It's shameful that some see fit to dismiss the message of them all for the actions of a few. And anyway, the goodness or badness of violent or riotous protests through the lens of history is more than a little bit complicated. The police do have such an ability and obligation. They are organized and they are in a position of power. It is shameful that some see fit to excuse the entire enterprise because not all cops are bad. Neither is as simple as that.
    - deleted 6y ago
      [deleted]
jjcon 6y ago
Hilariously - the protests really are mostly peaceful and the police really are mostly good.
TheGrim-888 6y ago
It's really disheartening. Until recently I lived in Capitol Hill, Seattle, 4 or 5 blocks away from CHAZ/CHOP. I saw with my own eyes what was happening. I saw with my own eyes buildings get set on fire multiple times within a block of my apartment. I saw with my own eyes the riots, looting, violence, nightly political shows of force. Just two days ago they were molotov cocktailing a police precinct. There's even video evidence of all of this. Yet all I read about on mainstream news is how it's actually mostly peaceful. I see Facebook friends who live 2000 miles away from Seattle re-posting news articles about how there's nothing really going on in Seattle. But I've seen with my own eyes what's going on. It's really approaching a 1984 level of situation, where we're expected to just believe whatever we're told, even if we obviously see the problems. Where everybody is supposed to just accept what the media is telling us, rather than what we can see is happening. If they want something to disappear (like rioters throwing molotov cocktails) they just don't report on it, and it ceases to exist. But you can bet if a Republican starting throwing molotovs for their political beliefs it'd be front-page CNN for days on end. It's all so political and so manipulative.
- SQueeeeeL 6y ago
  It's not that I don't believe you, it's that I would love to see the videos of this happening and not just you promising me super hard that you saw it with my own eyes (which you somehow dropped 4 times in your post)
  - djur 6y ago
    I've had people online tell me that I definitely could not have seen the numerous peaceful protests that have happened in Portland, and that I'm a lying shill for observing that the city I live in is in fact not a burnt-out hellhole patrolled by antifa death squads.
- booleandilemma 6y ago
  Your profile is 4 months old, right around when the riots started in Minneapolis. You have 0 karma points. Several of your comments are dead/flagged. I'm wondering if you're some kind of political shill.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
phobosanomaly 6y ago
Maybe take a weekend and go to a protest yourself? I think you would be pleasantly surprised.
unethical_ban 6y ago
To be clear, it is not that bad, which is the point. Many cities protested without these issues. Most protesters are nonviolent. Most cops are not directly evil (murder, assault, intimidation).
humaniania 6y ago
Probably because what happens on a single city street or block isn't reflective of the thousands of other streets and blocks in the city and the dozens of people involved aren't reflective of the thousands upon thousands who are peaceful and justifiably angry about the current state of policing in the USA.
Craighead 6y ago
Your comment will be used in the future to explain what comment gaslighting looks like.

by blhack 6y ago

082349872349872 6y ago

I would bet the press is talking about different people than the ones you are watching.

refurb 6y ago
It’s not that hard to find examples. There are even left leaning reporters who are truly dumbfounded by the spin. https://twitter.com/mtaibbi/status/1300243540497166341?s=20 https://twitter.com/mtaibbi/status/1300243540497166341?s=20
- djur 6y ago
  Which examples and which left-leaning reporters?

pessimizer 6y ago

Don't think that just because you're your own editor you can't be deceived by editing. You're feeding yourself with the material that you're seeking out. edit: just spend a day only looking up the millions peacefully marching, rather than the 10s of right-wing livestreams. (Also, give me some information about the people you've seen attacking and burning private residences, because I don't know of a single example of this.) After the day you can go back to watching what you normally watch, but if you can't find all of these boring people walking through the streets with signs, I don't know what to tell you. If the millions protesting actually had the aim of burning middle-class people out of their homes, middle-class people would have been burned out of their homes. If there's any problem imo, it's that the protests are generally unfocused street wandering. If there were a specific focus or target, they would be effective at accomplishing that target. But when the target becomes anything other than generalized racism, the ad-hoc coalitions fall apart.

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
throwawayhacka 6y ago
Yes, the protests are 'mostly peaceful' and any violence is due to reactionaries.
- margalabargala 6y ago
  I don't think anyone is claiming the protests are 100% peaceful. The question, then, is how much violence occurs relative to total protest activity? If fewer than 50% of protestors engage in violence, wouldn't it then be accurate to describe the protest as 'mostly peaceful'?
  - ErikVandeWater 6y ago
    It gives a false impression. If even a few percent of 10s of thousands of protesters is looting and rioting that can do enormous damage.
    - abbub 6y ago
      So the ‘few bad apples’ argument is valid for police force that they’re protesting, but not for the protestors?
  - NicoJuicy 6y ago
    What about those that try to escalate things and aren't affiliated with the protests?
  - liability 6y ago
    > I don't think anyone is claiming the protests are 100% peaceful. Some people certainly are, I've heard a few people who attended the riots in Seattle claim the police were the only ones rioting. They're very adamant about that 'only' and any evidence to the contrary is met with "well he's a cop in disguise." It's a case of No True Protestor. It's very tiresome when people demand you believe their transparent bullshit.

stevula 6y ago

That does not match my experience at all with the many peaceful protests in SF lately. Your sources may be cherry-picking to push a certain political narrative.

tdfx 6y ago
I'm genuinely happy that SF is seeing peaceful protests, but I spent 2 weeks driving through National Guard checkpoints in my city due to violent unrest, and I'm aware of at least 5 other cities who were similarly affected. Minimizing the presence of violence on either side is wrong. The "few bad apples" narrative doesn't work for cops or protesters, or we wouldn't be seeing what we're seeing.
- tomatotomato37 6y ago
  The complete disregard for locality and generalizations over an entire continent-sized country don't help either. It's like if a report on the Belarus election situation was used to insist the entirety of the EU was collapsing, while at the same time a report over protests in, I dunno, Sweden was used to show that everything in Belarus is peaceful.
- NoSorryCannot 6y ago
  The police and the general population have very different flavors of bad apple. The "good" protestors have no ability nor obligation to remove or control the "bad" ones. It's shameful that some see fit to dismiss the message of them all for the actions of a few. And anyway, the goodness or badness of violent or riotous protests through the lens of history is more than a little bit complicated. The police do have such an ability and obligation. They are organized and they are in a position of power. It is shameful that some see fit to excuse the entire enterprise because not all cops are bad. Neither is as simple as that.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]

jjcon 6y ago

Hilariously - the protests really are mostly peaceful and the police really are mostly good.

TheGrim-888 6y ago

It's really disheartening. Until recently I lived in Capitol Hill, Seattle, 4 or 5 blocks away from CHAZ/CHOP. I saw with my own eyes what was happening. I saw with my own eyes buildings get set on fire multiple times within a block of my apartment. I saw with my own eyes the riots, looting, violence, nightly political shows of force. Just two days ago they were molotov cocktailing a police precinct. There's even video evidence of all of this. Yet all I read about on mainstream news is how it's actually mostly peaceful. I see Facebook friends who live 2000 miles away from Seattle re-posting news articles about how there's nothing really going on in Seattle. But I've seen with my own eyes what's going on. It's really approaching a 1984 level of situation, where we're expected to just believe whatever we're told, even if we obviously see the problems. Where everybody is supposed to just accept what the media is telling us, rather than what we can see is happening. If they want something to disappear (like rioters throwing molotov cocktails) they just don't report on it, and it ceases to exist. But you can bet if a Republican starting throwing molotovs for their political beliefs it'd be front-page CNN for days on end. It's all so political and so manipulative.

SQueeeeeL 6y ago
It's not that I don't believe you, it's that I would love to see the videos of this happening and not just you promising me super hard that you saw it with my own eyes (which you somehow dropped 4 times in your post)
- djur 6y ago
  I've had people online tell me that I definitely could not have seen the numerous peaceful protests that have happened in Portland, and that I'm a lying shill for observing that the city I live in is in fact not a burnt-out hellhole patrolled by antifa death squads.
booleandilemma 6y ago
Your profile is 4 months old, right around when the riots started in Minneapolis. You have 0 karma points. Several of your comments are dead/flagged. I'm wondering if you're some kind of political shill.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

phobosanomaly 6y ago

Maybe take a weekend and go to a protest yourself? I think you would be pleasantly surprised.

unethical_ban 6y ago

To be clear, it is not that bad, which is the point. Many cities protested without these issues. Most protesters are nonviolent. Most cops are not directly evil (murder, assault, intimidation).

humaniania 6y ago

Probably because what happens on a single city street or block isn't reflective of the thousands of other streets and blocks in the city and the dozens of people involved aren't reflective of the thousands upon thousands who are peaceful and justifiably angry about the current state of policing in the USA.

Craighead 6y ago

Your comment will be used in the future to explain what comment gaslighting looks like.