I read the news today (oh boy) - Current world events | Page 162 | Fab Forum | The Beatles Bible

@QuarryMan Tim Pool makes approximately 600 videos a day, lol, so I’ll forgive you if you haven’t seen the ones he’s done specifically about George Floyd. Perhaps it says more about me than him if that one was the one I chose to share. I rarely post about current events here, but I felt it was actually constructive to share that one, since it featured an individual who could actually be helped in a simple and direct manner, through his GoFundMe (which I’m pleased to report has far exceeded its goal).

whooooa sorry I’m so late to this because it took me two days to calm down from the stupidity enough to not say stupid things (also I was busy actually having a life) (also research)

@Ron Nasty said

@Beatlebug said 

I’ve also heard concerns that a sizeable portion of the rioters aren’t even locals and/or aren’t even black. Make of that what you will.

I’d be interested to know how you know that “a sizeable portion of the rioters aren’t even locals”,

I didn’t know it. I had “heard concerns,” thank you very much. It seems the Minneapolis mayor made a statement that most of those arrested were from out of state. The story was still developing when I said that, and it was later shown that most arrests were Minnesotans. I was responding specifically (though I didn’t make it clear because I was lazily typing on mobile, and that is my fault) to those upthread who made it seem that this was THE FINAL RESORT OF THE OPPRESSED MINORITIES RISING UP and that justified it.

and are you seriously suggesting that those who aren’t black shouldn’t be as incensed and angry by the needless death of a black man at the hands of law enforcement as those who are black?

“Make of that what you will,” you suggest. Sorry, I find that borderline racist.

Says more about you than me if you read racial overtones into what was intended to be more, I don’t know, conspiratorial than anything. I have been mulling it over for days and still fail to imagine how what I said could have been construed as “borderline racist.” My point… I think… (and it was not well stated, to be sure) was that the people who are inciting and/or partaking in the rioting are, too often, not a part of and/or not working in the interest of those they claim to be supporting…

“Umbrella Man” incited the Michigan riots https://www.ajc.com/news/polic…..X0PRwIYIP/
This is not justice https://www.nbcbayarea.com/new…..s/2299729/ (press F for Mr. Dave Patrick Underwood, who, you might notice, appears to be not white)
These rioters are sus https://www.usatoday.com/story…..291658002/
very sus https://www.vice.com/en_us/art…..wsfacebook
They’re LITERALLY BURNING DOWN LOW-INCOME HOUSING https://iotwreport.com/rioters…..g-project/
Counterproductive

Started recording these white guys who was completely out of place planning to "86 this building" it seemed like an organized burning.

They tried to fight. We ran them away.

After tonight I am convinced that the fires are largely organized arson #BlackLivesMatters #GeorgeFloyd pic.twitter.com/AHfqg8Vc3x

— Mike Griffin (@votegriffin) May 30, 2020

It also saddened me to see how many people thanked the post in which you misinterpreted my words as “borderline racist” – Y U CALL ME WACIST I THOUGHT Y’ALL LOVED ME WAAAHHH no, I’m assuming they were thanking it for the words that follow rather than the words above.

As a white straight man, I have stood alongside those of any colour or sexuality who have suffered injustice and discrimination at the hands of the State. Colour or sexuality has never been a reason for me to shrug my shoulders and say, “Nothing to do with me!”

And in my fifty+ years I have found myself, as a white straight man, on protests against the mistreatment of those of colour or a different sexuality that have turned violent. I’ve never once thought that I shouldn’t be there because of being a different colour or sexuality as I consider us all equals and will stand up to oppression wherever I see it, and to whomever I see it being done to. Never thought I shouldn’t be there protesting, only ever thought about my actions while protesting.

When I was one of those who was part of the constant 24-hour picket of the South African embassy in London in the days of apartheid, I never wondered why I was standing there protesting the discrimination against black people in that country when I wasn’t black.  

Lovely spiel there, one with which I actually agree. You can stand for or against any cause, racial or otherwise, no matter your race, and it should mean just as much because it is coming from a place of principle… right? So wouldn’t that mean, as principled people who want to support poor black communities, we would stand against those who destroy said communities?

It has nothing to do with the point I was trying to make, which was this (already posted above, but it bears repeating)…

The rioters are a pretty racially diverse group, but that’s not the point. The point is: they’re not helping the people they claim to fight for in any way. Nor are they doing anything to avenge or in any way honor the death of George Floyd…

and, finally, my sentiments on the whole situation are well summed up by this:

this is also sus af
https://twitter.com/Breaking91…..3032388608

Incendiary materials and accelerants (like water bottles filled with gasoline) have been found hidden in bushes and throughout neighborhoods in Minneapolis. If you find or see anything like this, please call 911. #MACCMN

— Minneapolis Police (@MinneapolisPD) June 1, 2020

We have learned of & discovered stashes of bricks and rocks in & around the Plaza and Westport to be used during a riot. If you see anything like this, you can text 911 and let us know so we can remove them. This keeps everyone safe and allows your voice to continue to be heard.

— kcpolice (@kcpolice) May 31, 2020

hmmm

Also

@Pablo Ramon said

On the other hand, it would not have escaped your notice that people with a different skin color from yours could literally storm the state capitol holding automatic weapons, screaming at cops…and be allowed to drive home to the suburbs in their SUVs.

Are you talking about Michigan (not Minnesota)?

If so… “literally storm[ing] the state capitol holding automatic weapons”… holding. Not using. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/04/15/lansing-capitol-protest-michigan-stay-home-order/5139472002/ Lt. Darren Green of the Michigan State Police said, “They’re being respectful and not causing any issues at all.”

Issues like, you know, arson and theft and actual physical violence against random people. On another topic, these rioters are not even slightly socially distanced, either… unlike the Michigan protestors, many of whom stayed in their cars the whole time.

I also think this is worth reading: https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/06/the-sole-justification-offered-for-the-riots-is-a-fiction/

you can check their sources yourself: https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2019/national/police-shootings-2019/
https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/fryer/files/empirical_analysis_tables_figures.pdf

Finally… back to George Floyd for a moment… although I think the riots, at this point, have almost nothing to do with him and are just people who were tired of being locked down for two, three months, many have lost their jobs, they’re in despair about society in general, and then someone lights the powder keg and they just go out and engage in wanton destruction of things that have nothing to do with police corruption (like CNN HQ, firefighters, local businesses) and looting for its own sake… https://www.foxla.com/news/looter-explains-his-motive-after-being-caught-by-police

but do we have any evidence that the man who murdered George Floyd was racially motivated? Beyond the fact that his skin was light, and Floyd’s was dark? Isn’t it racist to assume someone’s motives based on their skin color? I’m not saying it isn’t quite possible that it was at least in part racially motivated, but I think there’s a lot more to the story than just that, and I also think that the main problem here is police accountability – this dude had a history of misconduct, and the other policemen (who, by the way, were not white) stood by and did nothing while a man’s life ebbed away under their fellow officer’s knee (and, by the way, that whole knee-on-the-neck thing is not a thing you do in policing).

oops I wrote an entire goddamned novel … again