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Tear Gas Is Way More Dangerous Than Police Let On - Especially During COVID

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Re: Tear Gas Is Way More Dangerous Than Police Let On - Especially During COVID

#51

Post by pgrote »

war1025 wrote: post #2

> Especially During COVID Public gatherings are supposedly extremely dangerous right now. The fact that everyone is suddenly all for mass protests suggests we got the severity of Coronavirus wrong and people are using this as a convenient out for backing off shelter in place orders without losing face. In February the "Philly had a parade, St Louis Stayed home" article was being shared by here and everywhere else. Fr…

>From a people placement perspective, a parade and a protest are pretty equivalent.

Correct. Regardless of which one is more important, the effects will be long lasting. You won't be able to use public health as a justification for forcing Americans to stay home or shutter businesses in the future. You have a constitutional right to assemble.

Re: Tear Gas Is Way More Dangerous Than Police Let On - Especially During COVID

#52

Post by frompdx »

danielbln wrote: post #11
EarthIsHome wrote: post #6

There's a reason tear gas is prohibited in warfare by the Geneva Protocol of 1925 right up there with the other chemical weapons. I got an extremely diluted dose of it while in my apartment with a window cracked, and I had to immediately close the window and leave to another room. I can't believe they're subjecting their own domestic population with chemical weapons.

The reason for that is not necessarily its direct harm though, but to avoid combating parties one-upping each other with chemical warfare, e.g starting with teargas and escalating to sarine gas or whatever. This post explains it better: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/gwtj89/the_c...

> but to avoid combating parties one-upping each other with chemical warfare

That policy makes sense and seems applicable to protests to prevent peaceful protests from escalating and becoming violent.

Re: Tear Gas Is Way More Dangerous Than Police Let On - Especially During COVID

#53

Post by NoSorryCannot »

closeparen wrote: post #35
vore wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or maybe the fact that everyone is suddenly all for mass protests suggests that police brutality is a horrible forever unaddressed injustice that doesn't care if there's a pandemic or not?

Then where were the protests when similar incidents happened dozens of times before COVID? Has there been anything on this scale since Rodney King?

Are you suggesting we shouldn't protest now because we haven't protested at such a scale in a while?

There have been protest since King, though not at this scale, no. The current circumstances are Political with a capital P, the class of things that can reshuffle a society. If this isn't the time to protest for redress of grievances, then there is no time.

And I disagree if you're arguing that protesting is not essential.

Re: Tear Gas Is Way More Dangerous Than Police Let On - Especially During COVID

#54

Post by dashundchen »

tenpies wrote: post #32
aphextron wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Police Brutality isn't a new problem. They should have waited until covid-19 was gone. This wouldn't be happening in a world with 4% unemployment. But 20 million Americans are now out of work, stuck at home, and pissed off. Not to mention without the usual distractions of sports or live entertainment. When the bread and circuses break down, this is the result.

Yes, although I would argue that it's amplified by foreign and internal actors. It is their election year after all and 99% of US media has spend the last 4 years doing its best to destabilize the country. The other alarming aspect for other countries should be that this is quite likely a preview of what other countries will see. The unemployment numbers are awful everywhere and as the programs enacted come to a halt…

> It is their election year after all and 99% of US media has spend the last 4 years doing its best to destabilize the country.

Why blame it just on the media? The current federal administration has done a fantastic job at destabilizing the country with no plans of deceleration in sight.

Re: Tear Gas Is Way More Dangerous Than Police Let On - Especially During COVID

#55

Post by nostromo »

stefan_ wrote: post #39
war1025 wrote: post #2

> Especially During COVID Public gatherings are supposedly extremely dangerous right now. The fact that everyone is suddenly all for mass protests suggests we got the severity of Coronavirus wrong and people are using this as a convenient out for backing off shelter in place orders without losing face. In February the "Philly had a parade, St Louis Stayed home" article was being shared by here and everywhere else. Fr…

Is this peak HN? People are protesting outside at great risk to themselves because they secretly hated Coronavirus restrictions and want to party? What level of deranged unawareness would ever make you say that?

While I don't think it's a conspiracy, I am convinced that the civil unrest was directly tied to the lockdowns.

Floyd's death is the acute cause for the protests, but we've had these protests before and they were much milder.

Add mass unemployment, economic uncertainty, closed bars, closed parks, shelter-in-place orders, zero entertainment, no sports, etc., and you suddenly have an explosive situation.

Re: Tear Gas Is Way More Dangerous Than Police Let On - Especially During COVID

#56

Post by dashundchen »

zaroth wrote: post #22
JadeNB wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The fact that everyone is suddenly all for mass protests suggests we got the severity of Coronavirus wrong and people are using this as a convenient out for backing off shelter in place orders without losing face. Wait a minute, who is suddenly for mass protests? Well, the protestors are, obviously, at least in the sense that they think that they are necessary, but they're not the ones who issued the shelter-in-pla…

For example, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer has been very strictly enforcing the shutdown and social distancing in her State, but yesterday was out with protestors in dense crowds.

Has she? It seems there was no attempt to stop the lock down protests either and those were quite a crowd.

Re: Tear Gas Is Way More Dangerous Than Police Let On - Especially During COVID

#57

Post by missingcolours »

vore wrote: post #4
war1025 wrote: post #2

> Especially During COVID Public gatherings are supposedly extremely dangerous right now. The fact that everyone is suddenly all for mass protests suggests we got the severity of Coronavirus wrong and people are using this as a convenient out for backing off shelter in place orders without losing face. In February the "Philly had a parade, St Louis Stayed home" article was being shared by here and everywhere else. Fr…

Or maybe the fact that everyone is suddenly all for mass protests suggests that police brutality is a horrible forever unaddressed injustice that doesn't care if there's a pandemic or not?

To quote arguments that were thrown at people who wanted to do things like hold funerals for loved ones, visit dying relatives, protest against destroying the life's work of small business owners, etc:

- You can do this over Zoom / online

- Just because this is important to YOU does NOT give you the right to sacrifice the lives of the others who will be denied hospital care because of your selfishness

- You really can't wait a couple months until this LITERAL PANDEMIC is over?

Re: Tear Gas Is Way More Dangerous Than Police Let On - Especially During COVID

#58

Post by agensaequivocum »

jolmg wrote: post #30
agensaequivocum wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except you're still killing grandma which is just as bad as police brutality.

The ones that agree with you would not support the protests, while the ones that disagree would.

Actually, in general we support the protest insofar as we agree that there are problems with certain police incentive structures. We heavily disagree with the rioting and looting.

Where we disagree with some people is the generalized notion that the principles of America are inherently evil and racist and that Americans society now in general is racist.

Re: Tear Gas Is Way More Dangerous Than Police Let On - Especially During COVID

#59

Post by usaar333 »

JadeNB wrote: post #15
war1025 wrote: post #2

> Especially During COVID Public gatherings are supposedly extremely dangerous right now. The fact that everyone is suddenly all for mass protests suggests we got the severity of Coronavirus wrong and people are using this as a convenient out for backing off shelter in place orders without losing face. In February the "Philly had a parade, St Louis Stayed home" article was being shared by here and everywhere else. Fr…

> The fact that everyone is suddenly all for mass protests suggests we got the severity of Coronavirus wrong and people are using this as a convenient out for backing off shelter in place orders without losing face. Wait a minute, who is suddenly for mass protests? Well, the protestors are, obviously, at least in the sense that they think that they are necessary, but they're not the ones who issued the shelter-in-pla…

Not sure about public officials, but here's an open letter explicitly supporting the protests by nearly 1300 various public health and infectious disease professionals ("We support them (protests) as vital to the national public health and to the threatened health specifically of Black people in the United States."):

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Jyfn4Wd2i6bRi12ePghMHtX3ys1...

Re: Tear Gas Is Way More Dangerous Than Police Let On - Especially During COVID

#60

Post by xeeeeeeeeeeenu »

war1025 wrote: post #2

> Especially During COVID Public gatherings are supposedly extremely dangerous right now. The fact that everyone is suddenly all for mass protests suggests we got the severity of Coronavirus wrong and people are using this as a convenient out for backing off shelter in place orders without losing face. In February the "Philly had a parade, St Louis Stayed home" article was being shared by here and everywhere else. Fr…

https://babylonbee.com/news/scientists-confirm-coronavirus-o...
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