May 30, 2020

I haven't read the whole discussion--or what lead to this or if it already hasn't been said--but the unfortunate thing that emerges from this, in huge part to the heavily sensationalized world we live in, is that these minuscule narratives get blown out of proportion. Thus, these movements are painted as these barbaric transgressions.

Racist people will remain racist people, it's hard to change perspectives (taking in mind how some individuals deal with cognitive dissonance which seems all the more apparent with certain sects...). These images unfortunately cast a dark cloud over the overall intentions of what the looting SHOULD be accomplishing, at least to those who already opposed this chain of events.

It's a difficult situation to grasp no matter how many times I replay the scenario, still I firmly believe it's as you're saying just taking into mind every detail the lead to this. I hope these images permeate through some of these hardened people and open their eyes that this country's law system is still entrenched in all types of obstructive customs/attitudes.

 

May 30, 2020

you know why

 

May 30, 2020

it's right, rhetorically and politically

 

May 30, 2020

d---, tonight's gonna go down in history i'm guessing. stay safe if you guys go out, might have crazy armed Trump supporters lurking.

 

May 30, 2020

@cpt awesome WPG joint acc did you know that that sandwich place got rid of its signature sandwich—the “consigliere,” like you are to me—because beer costs got too high

“please say you want cops killed on a public message board,” yes sure officer

 

May 30, 2020

I dont know gri personally. But ur logic is sane

 

May 30, 2020

Not rly mate lol

 

May 30, 2020

No, I’m merely contextualizing your armchair support. Rn you’ve got unemployment, trumps Amex....and the latest deposit from moneybags. Dude I don’t fault u whatsoever. But once u leave that hip, urban existence as I have, u start to see the forest out of the trees . Not sure why you can’t see value in that...

And yeah I don’t see a lot of so-called activism as valuable. I’ve worked in state gov and worked on numerous campaigns. On the ground hollering has its place to a point but it’s inherently tactical - feels cinematic and meaningful in the moment but not significant. And PLEASE this is literally what I’ve been doing irl, and getting paid for it. You’re simply off base to insist I’m some Know nothing when it comes to strategic comms and managing public affairs approaches. Wrong.

BUT while I’m critical of the soft fist cheerleading that activism frequently constitutes (which is often ineffective and annoying but harmless), that by no means mean I support destroying small businesses and death and destruction. The ends don’t justify the means - i say this as someone who studied American history and tbh grown up since the days of going to Iraq war protests etc. It feels good to think there’s “no option left” especially when ur counting ur money in f---ing LA but for the families this is actually Impacting there must absolutely be a middle ground (as understandable and palpable as the rage is)

I see u merely mimicking me tho, I’m flattered, but it doesn’t change the dynamics here. You can learn a lot from me, as ur implicitly acknowledging .

 

May 30, 2020

The thing is, we can argue whether violent forms of protest are right or wrong in the present day forever but no one is reflecting back on the Watts riots or Hough riots & criticizing how those protesters went about fighting for civil rights today.

 

May 30, 2020

no, this has literally always been my line of argument. unless you want to admit that you are being...

...purely theoretical and not living at all in the real world.

it's not surprising that you're totally out of your depth here; you've said many times that you think community activism and organizing is bs. you don't go out to these things, you have no understanding of how they work, you don't see the way cops escalate situations as standard operating procedure. there is no switch that protesters get together and flip to "RIOT." it's a combination of things naturally boiling over and being exacerbated by cops and outside bad actors.

this, as i said last night, should be painfully obvious to anyone looking at the situation objectively. the credulity required to to take police and major news accounts at their word is staggering. you saw them arrest cnn reporters, and those were cnn reporters! last night, the mpd locked the team that live-streams police activity in an abandoned storefront.

for someone who keeps braying about nuance, you seem to think the line between an acceptable and unacceptable (to you) protest is awfully black and white.

my point, for the last time, is that you will not tell us how you think protesters "should" protest, you'll merely appeal to some totally abstract "middle ground," because you're smart enough to know there's no practical version of that. i know you would rather get off snarky jokes that engage with the more upsetting realities here, but i'll reiterate: five years go in minneapolis, people assembled outside a police precinct for days. it was not only "non-violent," but wasn't even confrontational, just an encampment. and still, the police tried to facilitate their murder.

you are living in an absolute fantasy world to believe that the police can be protested in any meaningful way without things turning violent sooner or later. what's more: they know there are tens of millions of people who, like you, have no stomach for a f---ing target of all places being robbed, so they will do everything they can––and the press will mostly bend over backward to accommodate this, as will the white terrorists––to foreground that at the expense of everything else.

believing there is a way to protest the police without violence being turned on the protesters is like the democrats believing that if they're just nice and meek and conciliatory enough, the republicans will meet them halfway. it's charlie brown with the football.

 

May 30, 2020

If Americans storm the Bastille, need them to pose like this on the White House lawn for the culture.