17 ms·

And that is possibly the aim. When the protests turn into violence or sabotage, the state uses that to justify its own violent repression.

tonyhart7 2y ago
so you saying if there are violence or sabotage, you let these people do it??? how can that be better
- __MatrixMan__ 2y ago
  They're suggesting that the point of an authority using this weapon on a mass of people may be to cause those people to become violent so that the authority can use the subsequent fear to justify further abuses. Which I think is likely, but also a bad decision. Generally speaking, the job of a legitimate government is to make violent protest unnecessary. So depending on the situation, the best action may indeed be to back down and rethink how things got there in the first place, rather than continuing to provoke more violence. Continuing to escalate is not a sustainable strategy for anyone that intends to maintain power for long, as the numbers are not generally on their side.
  - tonyhart7 2y ago
    Yeah but the problem is with mass movement people like this, there are good chance people that can take advantage of these protest (looting,rob etc) the point of these weapon is not "defeat" but mostly to crowd control right because you cant rule out if there is no crime even in peaceful protest, both things can be true at the same time also if such weapon is not permanently injure or harm people, I can see why this weapon is in need like pepper spray
    - deleted 2y ago
      [deleted]
    - propagandist 2y ago
      That's very charitable to those in power. Believe me when I tell you most don't give two hoots about looting and vandalism. You don't break up a gathering because there's the possibility of crimes occurring unless you live in an authoritarian society.
      - tonyhart7 2y ago
        "most don't give two hoots about looting and vandalism." of course who give a shit is the owner, its all sunshine until it happen on your neighbourhood
        propagandist 2y ago
        I think it's pretty clear the owners of the corner store are not deploying those tactics for they are not the state. Thank you for engaging in good faith.
  - propagandist 2y ago
    That's exactly it. Thank you.

tonyhart7 2y ago

so you saying if there are violence or sabotage, you let these people do it??? how can that be better

__MatrixMan__ 2y ago
They're suggesting that the point of an authority using this weapon on a mass of people may be to cause those people to become violent so that the authority can use the subsequent fear to justify further abuses. Which I think is likely, but also a bad decision. Generally speaking, the job of a legitimate government is to make violent protest unnecessary. So depending on the situation, the best action may indeed be to back down and rethink how things got there in the first place, rather than continuing to provoke more violence. Continuing to escalate is not a sustainable strategy for anyone that intends to maintain power for long, as the numbers are not generally on their side.
- tonyhart7 2y ago
  Yeah but the problem is with mass movement people like this, there are good chance people that can take advantage of these protest (looting,rob etc) the point of these weapon is not "defeat" but mostly to crowd control right because you cant rule out if there is no crime even in peaceful protest, both things can be true at the same time also if such weapon is not permanently injure or harm people, I can see why this weapon is in need like pepper spray
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
  - propagandist 2y ago
    That's very charitable to those in power. Believe me when I tell you most don't give two hoots about looting and vandalism. You don't break up a gathering because there's the possibility of crimes occurring unless you live in an authoritarian society.
    - tonyhart7 2y ago
      "most don't give two hoots about looting and vandalism." of course who give a shit is the owner, its all sunshine until it happen on your neighbourhood
      - propagandist 2y ago
        I think it's pretty clear the owners of the corner store are not deploying those tactics for they are not the state. Thank you for engaging in good faith.
- propagandist 2y ago
  That's exactly it. Thank you.