4 ms·
I find it pretty hard to believe. I wonder if the statistic takes in account factors like the size of the protest (large sizes alone can be seen as threatening)
by Udik 6y ago
I find it pretty hard to believe. I wonder if the statistic takes in account factors like the size of the protest (large sizes alone can be seen as threatening) or the attitude of protesters- I imagine that left-wing protesters can be more confrontational than right-wing ones, especially when the issue at hand is police violence and partly because rightwing people might see the police more as an ally than a threat (because law-and-order and general conservativism).
- sudosysgen 6y agoHave you ever experienced kettling? Police forces have been pushing left-wing protestors to use violence in order to justify crackdowns for decades. If leftwing protestors were more violent they wouldn't need to use such techniques.
- specialist 6y agoI stopped protesting (marching) in the mid 2000s. It didn't seem to be noticed, or in any way effective, less so over time. Then my (school aged) son and I got caught in the middle of a sudden kettling while waiting for the bus. I determined authorities were only too happy to use violence. Per that John Lennon quote. And once there's any violence, whatever message or intent is immediately lost. So I turned to activism, lobbying instead. That seems more fruitful. Independent of everything else, because I do have a lot of opinions, I am delighted by two developments since. The peaceful women's march was really remarkable. I wish I knew how they avoided or short circuited the backlash. I'm so heartened that the BLM and adjacent issues went mainstream this time. (I'm less impressed by the bored frat boys LARPing as Antifa in places like Portland. After WTO, I personally intervened to stop such nonsense where I could. Like I said, I have opinions.) I guess I have one more opinion. I wholeheartedly support people's right to protest, march, speak, whatever. So I have zero problem with Trump supporters doing their thing and think it's fantastic we live in a place that's encouraged. Civil disobedience, rallies, occupy, whatever. I support it all. But goddammit cut out the violence. Violence only begats more violence.
- fallingfrog 6y agoFrom the article: “ The disparity in police response only grew when comparing peaceful leftwing versus rightwing protests. Looking at the subset of protests in which demonstrators did not engage in any violence, vandalism, or looting, law enforcement officers were about 3.5 times more likely to use force against leftwing protests than rightwing protests, with about 1.8% of peaceful leftwing protests and only half a percent of peaceful rightwing protests met with teargas, rubber bullets or other force from law enforcement.” So it’s actually worse when you take into account how peaceful the protests were.
- Udik 6y agoBeing confrontational doesn't mean being violent. Non-violent ways to be confrontational can include refusing to disperse, not staying within the previously agreed spaces (if any), occupying public space, harassing the police, etc. And the sheer mass of protesters can be already intimidating and cause a police reaction if things are not extremely well managed. Btw, I was looking for large right-wing rallies in the US, and couldn't find any. The "unite the right" rally seems to have gathered a few hundred people in all. Compare with the largest BLM rally in Washington DC, 200 thousand people. How do you compare these two (even if the participants to the first are nazi-like nutters and those of the other are normal left-wing citizens)? And the "unite the right" are the nutters. Where are the large (tens of thousands of participants) rallies of the moderate right? Like the "keep taxes low" rally and the "no medicare" rally?
- triceratops 6y ago> Like the "keep taxes low" rally and the "no medicare" rally? You'll see them if there's a threat of taxes going up or Medicare for all passing.