Opinion: Once the current BLM fervour ends people will just go back to the way they were

[Oberon]

And start cracking jokes about black people. Much like they joke about French people.

[OzyWho]

I wouldn't want to be black. Allegedly they have a higher bone density that makes swimming less enjoyable for them due to it taking more energy to keep afloat.

I like swimming. It'd suck to turn black.

[oops_ur_dead]

"I can't wait for black people to stop speaking out against racism so I can go back to making jokes where the punchline is just the N-word" - Oberon

[Oberon]

Well, not really. It's just that I think people have a really short memory span. When an issue is no in the public eye people immediately forget about it. Besides, it's not as if cracking jokes makes you a racist. Depends on a lot of things tbh. I would even go as far as saying that you can even make Holocaust jokes as long as you do them right, and don't have any malevolence attached to it.

[theoneceko]

oh my god.

[theoneceko]

Figure out why you're intentionally giving yourself headaches and using our angry responses to your threads as fuel for your headaches. You're hiding from something. Why do you beat yourself up on Skwirl and this site? You might deny it, but you admitted YOURSELF that you use this site to give you a headache. It's okay to admit that.

Or maybe you're just a bad person. I'm starting to think that, considering how long you've been so difficult to deal with.

FUCK. I'M SO FUCKING MAD!!!

seriously i'm very pissed off. stop the cycle, i want to fucking enjoy this site

[OzyWho]

Figure out why you're intentionally giving yourself headaches and using our angry responses to your threads as fuel for your headaches. You're hiding from something. Why do you beat yourself up on Skwirl and this site? You might deny it, but you admitted YOURSELF that you use this site to give you a headache. It's okay to admit that.

Or maybe you're just a bad person. I'm starting to think that, considering how long you've been so difficult to deal with.

FUCK. I'M SO FUCKING MAD!!!

seriously i'm very pissed off. stop the cycle, i want to fucking enjoy this site

Why is it that the mentally unstable are the best at reading other people?

[SuperJack]

Why is it that the mentally unstable are the best at reading other people?

You're favourite toast spread is sawdust

[OzyWho]

You're favourite toast spread is sawdust

You tried too hard. Wasn't believable.

Good attempt though. But not sure why because nobody here questions your sanity.

[Oberon]

You're favourite toast spread is sawdust

With charcoal as a dressing

[Oberon]

You're favourite toast spread is sawdust

How did you know

[Oberon]

Figure out why you're intentionally giving yourself headaches and using our angry responses to your threads as fuel for your headaches. You're hiding from something. Why do you beat yourself up on Skwirl and this site? You might deny it, but you admitted YOURSELF that you use this site to give you a headache. It's okay to admit that.

Or maybe you're just a bad person. I'm starting to think that, considering how long you've been so difficult to deal with.

FUCK. I'M SO FUCKING MAD!!!

seriously i'm very pissed off. stop the cycle, i want to fucking enjoy this site

You're literally the only one giving anybody headaches here...

[theoneceko]

Opinion: we don't need shit that gives everybody a headache to have a healthy and active site.

[Oberon]

Ceko, here's an idea: if you don't like me or what I've to say, then DON'T READ IT. Block me and move on.

[Voss]

I too wish you'd stop interacting in political threads. You're much more enjoyable in forum mafia.

[Oberon]

I too wish you'd stop interacting in political threads. You're much more enjoyable in forum mafia.

Heh I get that some people don't really like what I'm saying. That's fine. I'm not doing it to piss anyone off (at least not anymore), though. But I guess if people really want me to stop that much, I will.

[Oberon]

I feel like people are misconstruing this thread as me saying I can't wait to crack jokes about black people or whatever. That's not what I'm saying. I don't even know that many black people... And now that I think about it, I can't actually think of any black people jokes, either.

[Voss]

I feel like people are misconstruing this thread as me saying I can't wait to crack jokes about black people or whatever. That's not what I'm saying. I don't even know that many black people... And now that I think about it, I can't actually think of any black people jokes, either.

Maybe try these threads again in 6-8 months, rather than immediately after a ban.

[Oberon]

Maybe try these threads again in 6-8 months, rather than immediately after a ban.

Fair.

[Stealthbomber16]

I don't even know that many black people...

SITUATIONAL IRONY

[oops_ur_dead]

This thread is beautiful because I actually agree with every single post (after my own) so far.

[DJarJar]

i feel like you meant to bait MM but he didn't even respond

[Oberon]

i feel like you meant to bait MM but he didn't even respond

Me?

[DJarJar]

Me?

Yea with the French line

[Oberon]

Yea with the French line

Lol I didn't even realise that damn

[Marshmallow Marshall]

i feel like you meant to bait MM but he didn't even respond

Now I am baited

I feel like this topic is being beaten to death in real life and like it serves no purpose to debate about it online because changing people's minds is strictly impossible, while enriching your own opinion is very hard. That's because the debate is too emotional and too polarized; actual logic is quite rare, and this rarity is fueled by the incredible sensitivity leading to incredible censorship on the matter. Almost anyone trying to be objective (not supposing there's racism everywhere, and not supposing racism is good or solved either) without hiding concepts behind endlessly edulcorated words combined in edulcorated formulas gets censored or labeled as "offensive" by a significant amount of people. Yes, that is what some people with ideologies I tend to strictly oppose call "cancel culture", and sadly, they're right that it kills free speech and genuine debating, which is necessary for any democracy (or rather, for any free society as far as we have discovered them) to function...
And then, on the other end, actual racism remains and is fueled by this overreaction. It gains sympathisers because of the opposite excess. I have witnessed this personally. Yes, online and in the media, but also on a personal, "real life" level. It's incredibly sad, yet incredibly hard to defuse. Because while we're doing this, we're not solving the real issues and we're not actually fighting racism. We're fighting windmills instead.

So, to address the specific topic of the OP, I will say that I completely agree, people will stop caring that much about racism, which will be bad for actual social progress. Plus, the polarized opposite will likely remain longer: "resistance against strong oppression" (which is how the right wing paints itself in America) often is stronger than a reaction against what seems to be somewhat "mild" oppression (actual racism).

Really, after writing this, I regret having delved into American internal social politics once again lol. BLM itself is being used as a political tool in the polarized debate instead of using itself as a tool to gain good human rights for all humans, which is the only thing all of this is about when perversions of the ideal (such as vengeance or domination) are excluded. BLM's spirit is good, but the execution of its goals is terrible, because it lets the organization be used by interests opposed to the achievement of good human rights for all humans.

/RANT

[theoneceko]

UWOWU HEWWO!!!

uwu. HEWWO!!!

[SuperJack]

I think MM already surrendereded

[Helz]

I don't think it will end for a very long time. One issue is that I do not believe our society has moved in any real direction to address systemic racism.

I also see some level of the movement amplifying some police action as racist when it was both justified and not racial as instigating fear in African American / Police interactions and exacerbating the problem and creating more negative outcomes in those interactions. Confirmation bias plays a factor and its natural for a human being to run when they are afraid for their safety and the message that police are out to harm you because of your race creates that fear.

Finally there is a very political side to this message. After having an African American president for 8 years Trump got in office and racism became a political rallying cry. The second he was out of office that message died down. This both suggests political motivations leveraging African American suffering as well as it being an effective tool to push public motivation in the favor of the democrats power structure. I kind of expect this to exploited over and over again.

And start cracking jokes about black people. Much like they joke about French people.

Something is interesting is that racial humor is considered acceptable depending on society's sensitivity to a race. Right now I could crack a joke like
'How do you circumcise a white Hill Billy? You kick his cousin in the jaw!'
This plays on the negative stereotype of white people fucking their cousins which is pretty much negative and racist but its likely nobody would take issue with it.
Then I could crack a joke about black people liking fried chicken.
It is playing on a stereotype but is not negative at all yet I believe it would be much more likely that between those jokes the comment on fried chicken would be found 'offensive' long before the crack on white incest simply because of our society's sensitivity to the issue.

All that to say- I think your right that 'if' the message died down cultural sensitivities would shift and racial humor would become more acceptable (which would arguably be a sign of a hate free society while simultaneously allowing for a form of hate speech to become acceptable) but I do not think it will happen. There is interest within the existing power structures to keep things the way they are and the message is a powerful tool while actually addressing the issue would require those who are better off in our society to sacrifice their 'privilege.' I just do not have faith in the individual or the power structures to act in a selfless manner when there is such interest in maintaining systemic racism.

[Helz]

I also see some level of the movement amplifying some police action as racist when it was both justified and not racial as instigating fear in African American / Police interactions and exacerbating the problem and creating more negative outcomes in those interactions. Confirmation bias plays a factor and its natural for a human being to run when they are afraid for their safety and the message that police are out to harm you because of your race creates that fear.

When you look at people rioting and stuff over Ma'Khia Bryant's shooting and then look at this
Makiah-Bryant-Stabbing-Spree.jpg
I feel like it detracts from people who are actually being oppressed and real police brutality. I do not know if there has ever been a more justified shooting than a teenage girl cowering against a car fractions of a second away from being stabbed but you still have so many outlets and people pushing a rhetoric that perpetuates hostility and fear between African Americans and police. Is there even a word for that process? Like.. Inciting fear and hatred through falsifying oppression?

Not to say there is not a lot of corruption but I really feel like this kinda shit right here is what causes a lot of the issues.

[DJarJar]

When you look at people rioting and stuff over Ma'Khia Bryant's shooting and then look at this
Makiah-Bryant-Stabbing-Spree.jpg
I feel like it detracts from people who are actually being oppressed and real police brutality. I do not know if there has ever been a more justified shooting than a teenage girl cowering against a car fractions of a second away from being stabbed but you still have so many outlets and people pushing a rhetoric that perpetuates hostility and fear between African Americans and police. Is there even a word for that process? Like.. Inciting fear and hatred through falsifying oppression?

Not to say there is not a lot of corruption but I really feel like this kinda shit right here is what causes a lot of the issues.

having watched the released bodycam video, i can understand shooting. But I think there is no need for this girl to be dead. The guy shoots rapid-fire (i hear at least 4 shots in quick succession) and he shoots right in her upper body. I can understand the average person with a gun behaving this way, but I think a policeman should be trained better. He spammed the trigger like someone playing a videogame

[theoneceko]

There's a part of me that empathizes with the black community, but I just felt I'd to take a contrarian stance here. Now that I vented my anger about the Ma'Khia shooting, I can shift gears and take aami's side... OWO HEWWU!!!

[theoneceko]

No actually. I'm still mad at what aami said about the police officer. I think I'm mad at her as a person too.

Welcome to politics, where you suffer if you don't participate and suffer if you do participate. Politics are not a fun time. Values suck. UWU's don't. UWOWU HEWWO!!!

[Helz]

having watched the released bodycam video, i can understand shooting. But I think there is no need for this girl to be dead. The guy shoots rapid-fire (i hear at least 4 shots in quick succession) and he shoots right in her upper body. I can understand the average person with a gun behaving this way, but I think a policeman should be trained better. He spammed the trigger like someone playing a videogame

This is something I hear a lot. Imagine if that cop had not shot. I bet the exact same message could be said on the other side of 'Police officer allows black teenager to be stabbed to death.' People could be talking about how he had a gun and choose not to protect the girl because she was black or some such.
The use of a gun is only allowed in response to a deadly threat and its objective is to 'stop' that threat. Police shoot until there is no threat because people can survive some punishment. Just look up medal of Honor recipient Roy Benavidez who was shot 37 times, took shrapnel and was hurt in hand to hand but lived. If anything I feel like that cop waited too long to shoot. People see movies and video games and think a body shot drops someone but I could tell you some pretty fucked up stories from personal experience of people just not going down while taking crazy damage. The fact he held restraint even after that girl had already stabbed someone is a pretty strong indicator he did everything within reason to avoid killing that girl. I don't know the first thing about being a cop and am trained pretty differently but I would have been laying down rounds the moment that girl had stabbed someone.
People say things like 'Why didn't you shoot them in the leg' but have no understanding for how bullets move in a body or that there is a MASSIVE artery in the leg called the femoral artery that can easily bleed you out in minutes. If you have any interest in it look into gunshot wounds. Bullets move in crazy ways that can not be predicted once they hit a person and shooting someone is never justified in an 'attempt to wound'. Just imagine how the conversation would go if someday a cop kills someone and his defense is "I only meant to would him." He would be absolutely crucified in the court of public opinion as well as real court.

@Helz by the way this link (https://www.scientificamerican.com/a...ter-protests1/) shows that BLM might be effective at reducing police brutality.

I do not mean to insinuate that the BLM movement is bad at all. I think it creates a lot of good although it is exploited in politics. I just take strong issue with situations like this where something so justified is used to spread hate and fear. That girl had already stabbed someone and was moments from stabbing another. I do not think any reasonable person can claim a knife is not a deadly threat but there are those who would push that girl running around stabbing people is a victim. I really feel like this echo in our society of pushing that message of hate and fear causes some of the terrible interactions with police. Its one thing to say a problem exists but quite another to make stuff up to say the problem is worse than it is.

I have seen tons of issues like this before but never this blatantly. Its usually some guy trys to run and is about to run over a cop and gets shot or he wrestles with a cop while trying to get away and while fighting for the cops gun gets shot and such. The same message of 'unarmed black man killed by police' gets thrown around and it just pushes that message that creates the fear motivating more people to run and fight than follow police orders.

I do question if a part of that comes from people speaking outside of their knowledge. There is not really any other field in this world where 'experts' who deal with this all day every day get questioned by people who have never so much as shot a gun and have no clue what its like to be in a deadly situation. Imagine if when a doctors patient died you had groups watching youtube videos arguing medical treatment. It would be asinine to voice those opinions but in the realm of law enforcement its common place to scrutinize the decisions professionals make in fractions of a second. Simple concepts like how training muscle memory to react on call and how that effects how you will shoot under pressure is not understood even by your average gun enthusiast.

[OzyWho]

People say things like 'Why didn't you shoot them in the leg' but have no understanding for how bullets move in a body or that there is a MASSIVE artery in the leg called the femoral artery that can easily bleed you out in minutes.

Heard about this before: https://youtu.be/5S7tFrQI2Bw

I do not mean to insinuate that the BLM movement is bad at all. I think it creates a lot of good although it is exploited in politics. I just take strong issue with situations like this where something so justified is used to spread hate and fear.

Are you insinuating that people spread hate and fear purposefully whilst knowing better or through ignorance?

[OzyWho]

I didn't even notice the French line, that's how accustomed to it I've become.

[theoneceko]

I used to have a rule where I wouldn't speak about issues concerning black people because I believe racial groups should solve their own problems. I am going to discard this rule on a site that doesn't have a single active black member and speak against the majority of the black community in the U.S.

If I was the police officer, I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if I didn't do everything in my power to defend the girl who was about to get stabbed. However, if I was in his situation, I would've either frozen up with the gun in my hand as I watched the girl get stabbed because I was unwilling to kill or shot Ma'Khia multiple times. No matter what I did, I would have an incredibly difficult time bearing the results of that situation.

Criticizing the police officer is the worst thing you can do in this situation. He had to make a split-second decision in an extremely high-pressure situation. He had to protect the defenseless girl. Achieving this without killing Ma'Khia is obviously preferable. However, the officer didn't have the luxury to think about how many times he should shoot Ma'Khia because she was literally about to stab someone. The fact he shot four times probably indicates he shot people before and is more comfortable with using lethal force. Maybe it's because he was forced into similar situations, specifically ones that deal with black-on-black violence. Blacks represent 12% of the general U.S. population, but committed 35% of nonfatal violent crimes in 2018 (https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/revcoa18.pdf). Who do we blame for that? I don't know. However, this is a reality police officers have to deal with.

The fact people chanted "Hands up. Don't shoot." during protests for Ma'Khia is also ridiculous. Ma'Khia was swinging a knife. Her hands weren't up when she got shot, they were holding a knife that could've killed someone. https://abc7chicago.com/columbus-ohi...news/10536792/ By the way, I got this information from a site showing the bodycam footage you were talking about.

I think I feel the same way about that police officer as many people did about George Floyd. I realize that George Floyd is dead while the officer who shot Ma'Khia is alive. However, I've more feelings of sympathy for the officer, probably because I haven't seen people talking about how, broadly speaking, the police are also systemic victims. "[A] peace officer of any race is far more likely to be killed by a Black male than any unarmed Black male is to be killed by a police officer of any race." (https://www.inforum.com/opinion/6951...ling-of-Blacks) Police officers work one of the most dangerous jobs in America, and most of their fatal accidents come from injuries by other people or animals (https://www.ishn.com/articles/112748...-united-states). The root of the problem isn't police, it's the fact that black people are disproportionately poor because of systemic oppression. This is sort of irrelevant, but I doubt any black person would like to hear ME, an Asian, refer to their race as victimized. Also, if you hate me for sympathizing with the police officer, go ahead LOLE. I'll just bully you until you shut the fuck up! I'll literally learn how to be the worst person possible to you, just so you can shut the fuck up!

The way some media outlets portray this particular shooting is portrayed is absolutely insane. Ma'Khia doesn't deserve any pity in the shooting. She may have had a rough life which led her down a path that got her killed. We're human. Sometimes, we can't rise above our circumstances. I understand if people don't want to defend the police officer, but the two women who were attacked by knife-wielding Ma'Khia (the bodycam shows she attacked two people before getting shot) are completely ignored in this debate. Stories aren't written about those people, unless it relates to controversial topics like police brutality. George Floyd is a perfect example of that. It's awful and tragic that he was murdered, but his story generates nationwide protests while no one seems to be outraged over the two women who were attacked by Ma'Khia.

Broadly speaking, blacks have endured, by far, more pain and oppression than any other racial group in the U.S. And even after what they went through, they're at the bottom. I could say this is awful, but at the same time I don't want my life to be negatively affected by other people's problems. In other words, I don't want to be denied entrance to college just because my skin color automatically makes me privileged. If African Americans want to respond to the injustices of slavery by demanding the police to not police them even though they've the highest crime rate, I generally don't care. They can do what they want, and personal experience taught me that in some cases, responding to a wrong with a wrong can't be helped. I think BLM is wrong. Just my opinion. Please hate me for it. It's not like I'm in the police, in the black community or a victim of any form of police brutality. It's not like you're in the police, in the black community or a victim of any form of police brutality. In the end, this all just comes down to which ideological group will hold the most power. Neither side in this debate is perfect, and it's impossible to find a solution to police brutality that benefits everyone. This is part of why BLM is so controversial.

I don't like the direction America is headed in politically, but it hasn't personally impacted my life yet and I'm only one person out of 300 million. goodnight, UWU HEWWO

[theoneceko]

@Helz by the way this link (https://www.scientificamerican.com/a...ter-protests1/) shows that BLM might be effective at reducing police brutality.

[OzyWho]

Blacks represent 12% of the general U.S. population, but committed 35% of nonfatal violent crimes in 2018 (https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/revcoa18.pdf). Who do we blame for that? I don't know. However, this is a reality police officers have to deal with.

"[A] peace officer of any race is far more likely to be killed by a Black male than any unarmed Black male is to be killed by a police officer of any race."

I guarantee you that in every part of the world, the local police are well informed about the description/profile of the most common criminals in the area - as well they should be.
The fact that in America one of such profilings has "black" in it is irrelevant as far as "the police have to deal with it" is concerned. Travel elsewhere in the world and that common criminal profile would be different, but the police would have to deal with it just as much.

@Helz by the way this link (https://www.scientificamerican.com/a...ter-protests1/) shows that BLM might be effective at reducing police brutality.

It's a description of this study:
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....act_id=3767097
I'm sad that I can't follow the study no matter how much I tried - I legit don't know them math symbols and stuff.
However

It found that municipalities where BLM protests have been held experienced as much as a 20 percent decrease in killings by police

seems like a significant correlation tbh.

[OzyWho]

Like what do you think of this scene?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBYiVoNwzQo

Black guys in the 80s dressed up as gangsters, getting "randomly questioned" when in a respectable neighborhood.
I bet you they wouldn't be treated as criminals if they didn't dress as such, yet some bystander assumes it's only because they're black even though the policeman stopping them was black. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Oberon]

You make this seem very convincing. It reminds me of when the Reddit guys screwed with the stock market and the stock market ppl literally said they were racists. Lol

[OzyWho]

2 questions:
1) what's a windmill?
2) we should care but also not overreact?

[Marshmallow Marshall]

2 questions:
1) what's a windmill?
2) we should care but also not overreact?

1) Ask @Oberon , he's Dutch after all now
It's a mill that works with wind.


2) I'm not sure to understand.

[OzyWho]

1) Ask @Oberon , he's Dutch after all now
It's a mill that works with wind.

Cool, thank you, but I was asking more about your use of the word. Could you elaborate on it?

2) I'm not sure to understand.

Spoiler : We shouldn't overreact. :

And then, on the other end, actual racism remains and is fueled by this overreaction. It gains sympathisers because of the opposite excess.

Spoiler : we should care. :

So, to address the specific topic of the OP, I will say that I completely agree, people will stop caring that much about racism, which will be bad for actual social progress.

[Marshmallow Marshall]

Cool, thank you, but I was asking more about your use of the word. Could you elaborate on it?

Spoiler : We shouldn't overreact. :

Ohh xD sorry
It's a reference to Don Quixote.

I wouldn't call anything about racism an overreaction. There's the part about seeing racism where there isn't any and actually harming the fight against racism by adding windmills to fight and by destroying the weapon that would allow us to fight racism: debate. And there's the part about people reacting to this. It's not an overreaction to say censorship is bad and even harms the purpose; in fact, it's a necessary reaction. The issue lies in the use of this reaction by people who don't want equality for all humans, or who want it through strange means that cannot work, like "let the free market deal with everything".

The reason of the existence of society is to create a better life (better survival and better happiness) for everyone. If it weren't, humans would have remained solitary or would have lived in small groups; society exists because the social contract is beneficial to humans. Starting from there, it's obvious we should care about fighting racism: it harms the objective of society, and therefore harms the objective of human beings (the objectives of society and of human beings are the same, as long as you keep the meaning of society defined above).

What you called "don't overreact" is in fact "don't pervert society", "work towards its goal". I'm not advocating for a middle ground between "caring" and "not caring", but rather for a radical approach to the betterment of mankind. Why? Because if human life has a goal inherent to itself, it certainly starts with making humans' lives better. And if it doesn't have a goal inherent to itself, then humans should enjoy enjoyment itself. In either scenario, this approach is the right one. Note that I am not pretending to know the precise path to salvation for all of mankind. I am simply pointing at the broad direction where that path should be, according to the information that is available to us, humans.

[theoneceko]

Like what do you think of this scene?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBYiVoNwzQo

Black guys in the 80s dressed up as gangsters, getting "randomly questioned" when in a respectable neighborhood.
I bet you they wouldn't be treated as criminals if they didn't dress as such, yet some bystander assumes it's only because they're black even though the policeman stopping them was black. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

i might feel surprised seeing ppl dressed like they're from the hood in a respectable neighborhood, but the fact they got questioned for standing around is absolutely ridiculous. what's truly sad is the ppl who were questioned are aspiring ARTISTS, not troublemakers. they're ppl who can create a generation of black wealth. ppl who can lift blacks out of poverty.

there's no need to police ppl that are climbing up the social ranks through legitimate means. which is exactly what these artists are doing. many ppl associate the way these ppl dress with poverty and crime-filled neighborhoods, but maybe getting rid of those thoughts will make it easier for blacks to climb up. Honestly, I think that makes no sense, but if the BLM protests reduced police brutality, maybe this can work as well. Will blacks rise out of poverty if they no longer get policed? It's possible.

Based on my interactions with black people, I know that pretty much all of them hate the police. I never asked them why, but they do. I know there are officers who do some really shitty things to black people, which makes the police look less like officers of the peace and more like playground bullies creating divides by keeping the black community down, and I know there are black people who kill police officers. I linked a statistic showing that more black people kill police officers than police officers kill unarmed black males. What I didn't mention is the amount of harassment blacks have to deal with from police. I feel like statistics on that are pretty hard to believe, because you've to wonder how the fuck that can be measured, but I'm reasonably certain that black people deal with a lot of shit from police just because of their skin color and culture. I need to see an instance of police harassment towards a black person in real life where I can analyze the context around the situation to my heart's content before I'm fully certain. Otherwise, I just feel like I'm regurgitating words that promote a liberal agenda.

However, I've to address how the black officer was the one who approached them first. I could honestly be in the wrong here. Maybe I should advocate for black people to get their shit together and start acting like other races that are financially successful.

In the end, I'm just going to go back to my original point. Black people aren't helpless. They can solve their problems on their own, and they're the ones who know best on how to deal with police. There's something really wrong and nasty about some BLM protests being majority-white. Anyways. I've been racist toward blacks in two ways. I spoke out against their movement and I spoke FOR them, even though BLM is their movement. I should never get praise or glory for helping the poor black person. Because being helpless isn't a trait that is confined to one race. Thinking that, in my opinion, is extremely racist. I know there are people that want to help, and they can do it without looking down on whoever they're helping, but I don't think I can do that. I just want to see people who are stronger, harder-working, and more self-sufficient than me.

God, arguing for the left is so hard for me, because I legitimately have liberal views but had to write so many liberal-sounding essays for my liberal high school teacher that I can't be authentically Democratic. I hate being forced to do shit.

[oops_ur_dead]

Why do white people "supposedly" like the police? Like I'm white and I've never had a single positive interaction with them. All I've had is paranoia and unwelcome questioning from being around them. In any situation where I sought out their help for anything (such as when my shit got stolen or my car got fucked up and I knew who did it), they did jack shit except write a "report" because they can't be fucked to actually help people. I've never actually heard of a single instance from anyone I know where the police has helped them.

Thats why I can't stand bootlickers who unwaveringly lend their support to the police. I recognize the importance of law and of police unholding law. But the average officer and PD is lazy and can't be fucked to actually do anything. Though it's a clichéd thing to say, their duty is to protect the state, not you.

But then reactionaries will oppose police reform just because its black people wanting it, and they can't stand something not being centered around muh white dick. I've never seen opposition to any police reform points, just ridiculous statements like "well if you look at the facts the cops only murder and brutalize 100 more black people a year than white people which is like 1% so really the whole movement is dumb". Absolutely braindead. I guess maybe it's a bit of a PR issue that they labelled themselves Black Lives Matter but I can't blame them for not being able to foresee just how much reactionary Conservatives are absolute pussies that they can't stand any mention of black people.

[Helz]

Why do white people "supposedly" like the police? Like I'm white and I've never had a single positive interaction with them. All I've had is paranoia and unwelcome questioning from being around them. In any situation where I sought out their help for anything (such as when my shit got stolen or my car got fucked up and I knew who did it), they did jack shit except write a "report" because they can't be fucked to actually help people. I've never actually heard of a single instance from anyone I know where the police has helped them.

Thats why I can't stand bootlickers who unwaveringly lend their support to the police. I recognize the importance of law and of police unholding law. But the average officer and PD is lazy and can't be fucked to actually do anything. Though it's a clichéd thing to say, their duty is to protect the state, not you.

I was thinking about this a bit over the last few days and I kinda think our dislike for police is fundamentally tied to the service they provide in our society. When your neighbor is being too loud having a party you don't want to be 'that guy' who walks up and ruins everyones good time so you send the cops instead. They do the uncomfortable deed for you and they get to be the bad guy. A large portion of the services they provide are in this direction.

I do feel you on their lack of usefulness. Even if there was some instance of violence the cops take time to get there to protect. I can not name a time they have helped me past giving me a police report number for an insurance claim after my truck was broken into; while I can name many times I have had negative interactions and even a few weeks ago felt they were using legal excuses to take money from me.

One critical part someone brought up to me years ago is that nobody has a problem with cops when they are protecting people from other people. Any instance where they are preventing someone from being attacked, robbed, or raped is a positive thing. But as a society we have tons of laws passed that seem to be focused on protecting people from themselves which I believe to be unethical. Should I wear my seatbelt? Sure. But be the fucking dick bag who writes me a ticket for not wearing it and I will disrespect you because who the fuck are you to steal my autonomy from me. I believe I have the fundamental human right to be an idiot and take risks with my safety when it does not hurt anyone.

If you think about how any society sorts itself there are norms, taboos and laws. The laws are suppose to be punishments to enforce extreme taboos but our society no longer follows that. Things like smoking pot are extremely widely accepted yet 'illegal' and also follows the unethical model of 'protecting people from themselves.' Combine those two factors and you basically have cops forcing people to do things nobody has a problem with and that do not harm others which makes their function in society hated. The strange thing though, is we blame them although they do not make these laws. Politicians do. I wonder if people thought about the situation differently the hatred cops receive would be appropriately displaced onto politicians.

There is also the issue that its one of those jobs where doing it right goes unnoticed but you are crucified when its done wrong. Its thankless, dangerous work that gets shit pay so I do have some measure of respect for the people who do it. While my interactions with the police have been negative I have yet to get to know a cop off duty and not gotten along well with them. That might just be a veteran thing though.

[OzyWho]

I do feel you on their lack of usefulness. Even if there was some instance of violence the cops take time to get there to protect.

I beg to differ on this assumption https://youtu.be/jAfUI_hETy0

[Helz]

I beg to differ on this assumption https://youtu.be/jAfUI_hETy0

Its not really an assumption. I pretty regularly watch a youtube channel called 'Active Self Protection' which does after action breakdowns of situations covering the legal issues of a situation as well as providing evidence based advice. One very common factor is that once people are fighting for their life the fight is usually over long before the cops show up. If you have ever been in or around a fight just think about how long that lasted. Even when my burglar alarm went off at my apartment which was roughly 1.5 miles from the police station they did not show up for around 10 minutes the first time and 45 minutes the second. I actually brought that up to the officer that called me pointing out that they could have literally run to my location faster than they arived.

My point is just that in my personal experience as well as in the things I have seen police intervention is not something to depend on.