Earlier quoted context omitted.
Which buildings have been burned, exactly? Local reporting covered the Molotov cocktails last night [0] but did not indicate that any buildings were being burned down or even caught on fire. Portlanders continue to note that most of the city is unaffected by protests. Life goes on as normal. Only a couple specific blocks downtown are contested, and only because the police have chosen to make those blocks into a battl…
Police are making it a battleground? Not the people throwing Molotov cocktails, fireworks, and bricks. No, it is the police who have made it a battleground.
'You're Not Allowed to Film': The Fight to Control Who Reports from Portland
141–150 of 325 posts
Re: 'You're Not Allowed to Film': The Fight to Control Who Reports from Portland
#142Earlier quoted context omitted.
I have also seen little reporting on what I suspect (admittedly, merely judging from photos) has driven a lot of the more confrontational protesting in Portland: youthful energy and enthusiasm that doesn’t actually think that much about theory or aims. Press coverage and the attacks of ideological opponents depict these protestors as a focused political force that knows exactly what it seeks and why it is doing the s…
There are well articulated lists of demands from leaders of the movements. Not everyone in the gatherings needs to be super well-versed in the policy details to support them. Here are some examples: More modest: https://8cantwait.org/ Larger scale: https://www.tenforjustice.com/demands You can probably find more local information from your local BLM or other social justice organizations. Here is a specific example fr…
Re: 'You're Not Allowed to Film': The Fight to Control Who Reports from Portland
#143There’s reason to be skeptical. From a local Portland journalist covering the protests: https://twitter.com/alex_zee/status/1302284883625046016?s=21 “ Not that I want to legitimize this @reason piece, but I have filmed copious moments of ppl throwing things at police/vandalizing bldgs/etc & have never been told I’m not allowed to film. I have never heard of the so-called “IPC.” The lack of sourcing in this story show…
Re: 'You're Not Allowed to Film': The Fight to Control Who Reports from Portland
#144Earlier quoted context omitted.
the police have been making it worse. Using questionable tactics, using disproportionate force, lieing, inciting/supporting one side over the other, using beyond questionable reasoning for declaring a riot, using agent provocateur ...i could go on. Check out Blue Leaks as well. The fact is the majority of the media covering Portland are not showing the whole story.
Citizens have constitutional rights to peaceably assemble. The language is right there in the bill of rights. Police don’t show up and corral peaceful protesters who applied for, and were granted, permits for demonstrations. When an assembly becomes not peaceful it ceases to be lawful. If unlawful protesters do not disperse police must use what you call “questionable” tactics to remove them. The rule of law must be u…
Re: 'You're Not Allowed to Film': The Fight to Control Who Reports from Portland
#145Re: 'You're Not Allowed to Film': The Fight to Control Who Reports from Portland
#146The mainstream news reporting on Portland (and other regional rioting) got to the point where they were bald-faced lying about peaceful protests standing in front of burning buildings. The most charitable interpretation I can think of is that these professional journalists think that their readers can’t understand a nuanced world of gray and need everything reduced to black and white. There can be a concept of “BLM”…
> There can be a concept of “BLM” that is obviously right and important to support, while there is also a well organized radical contingent taking cover within BLM that is wreaking havoc on the streets and will bully or beat up anyone who stands up to them (police or bystander alike). For starters I'd suggest not putting black lives matter in capitals since that acronym covers both the tautological expression as well…
People, I know you mean well but remember that bad things that look good can cause much more harm than things that look outright bad. Be skeptical.
Re: 'You're Not Allowed to Film': The Fight to Control Who Reports from Portland
#147Earlier quoted context omitted.
Obviously this is to control the narrative. Why would they shoo and have "minders" ala repressive regimes? Is it because "fake news" (that'd be a tough sell coming from the left who question that assertion). Is it because they don't want people to see the underbelly of the movement or at least the bad elements in their movement? What we do know is that if you are an organization looking for change, if you're not very…
> What we do know is that if you are an organization looking for change, if you're not very careful, your well intended movement will be usurped by those who have ulterior motives It seems to me, as an outsider, that this has already happened given what started as good intentions from occupy Wall Street down to whatever we have now. I can’t imagine the goal was actually burning buildings, but is a subversion of the g…
Re: 'You're Not Allowed to Film': The Fight to Control Who Reports from Portland
#148Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think this is a natural, human tendency. Us vs. them. Tribalism. That sort of thing.
Certainly. I even catch myself doing it too. I’ve had to develop a kind of framework for considering political issues to avoid it: What’s best for me? What’s best for my family? What’s best for my community? What’s best for my country? What’s best for the planet? Often these questions have contradicting answers. However once I think through them, I can at least begin to structure an opinion.
Re: 'You're Not Allowed to Film': The Fight to Control Who Reports from Portland
#149Earlier quoted context omitted.
Citizens have constitutional rights to peaceably assemble. The language is right there in the bill of rights. Police don’t show up and corral peaceful protesters who applied for, and were granted, permits for demonstrations. When an assembly becomes not peaceful it ceases to be lawful. If unlawful protesters do not disperse police must use what you call “questionable” tactics to remove them. The rule of law must be u…
So one person throwing a bottle is a reason to declare a riot? This has happened. Who decides when an assembly ought to be declared a riot? Currently its police and they have shown time and again they cannot be relied on to make a sound judgement in that regard. The majority of time there has been little reason to declare a riot and instead of relieving the tension, government forces have stoked it. What about using…
People are trying to make it grey to apologize for what is happening.
Re: 'You're Not Allowed to Film': The Fight to Control Who Reports from Portland
#150Earlier quoted context omitted.
> any "mostly peaceful" claims can and should be dismissed as unverifiable I honestly thought “mostly peaceful” was a meme at this point. With cities on fire for months and months, how can anyone take such a claim seriously? Edit: Twitter seems to agree with me. https://twitter.com/search?q=%23MostlyPeaceful
According to this report, most BLM protests have been peaceful: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/sep/05/nearly-all-bla... original report here: https://acleddata.com/2020/09/03/demonstrations-political-vi...
Which is one way to say that there have been approximately 542 protests this year involving serious harm to people or property. But sure, nothing to see here. (And by the way, what % of that 93% involved harm that the researchers didn't consider "serious"?)
Next time I see my grandad I'll tell him that there were only 71 bombing raids on London over 8 months of the Blitz, therefore his childhood in that city was "mostly peaceful."