I miss this guy
How to Make this Moment the Turning Point for Real Change
161–170 of 430 posts
Re: How to Make this Moment the Turning Point for Real Change
#162Earlier quoted context omitted.
Perhaps some of your criticism is valid, but would you rather have Obama or Trump? I think we rarely can choose between perfect and imperfect; we have to choose between two imperfects. Both on the left and on the right, many people have to hold their nose and vote for the person they despise.
and the problem there is that the system is designed to present only 2 imperfect choices, so that the 2 parties can seize and hold power. they'd rather begrudgingly share power with each other than let any others join them in the sandbox. and both parties have been co-opted to serve the wealthy, not the people, hence their imperfection.
I think that level of disillusionment is a bit dangerous, because I've seen people starting to support the Chinese way of governance because they say the American one is broken.
Re: How to Make this Moment the Turning Point for Real Change
#163What are some actual laws we can pass from this situation? I was thinking at the very least to get a citizen right where you can request to have any encounter with the police recorded. ‘Officer I request my right to have this encounter recorded’.
1. Community oversight through a board 2. Limit the use of force 3. Independently investigate and prosecute 4. Community representation 5. Body cams / film the police 6. Training in de-escalation 7. End for profit policing 8. Demilitarization of the police force 9. Fair police union contracts that remove provisions within police bill of rights that impose barriers to accountability Look here: Https://bit.ly/3cosVXM
I mentioned this in another thread, but I’ve heard the idea of putting cops on rotations similar to military deployments.
I don’t think a cop can psychologically hold up being on the street for years on end without losing some perspective. The job fundamentally blasts you with the worst of people, and it’s easy to develop a rotten world view if measures are not taken to handle that input.
A maximum limit of X months per year on the street or something, the other half in some other duty.
My take on the Floyd murder was there was definitely an element of a power complex that the cop devolved into over years.
Re: How to Make this Moment the Turning Point for Real Change
#164Earlier quoted context omitted.
>The MLK quote is trotted out pretty often, but "a riot is the language of the unheard". Trotted out by ignorant woke dummies. In his 1967 Stanford speech MLK also says: "Let me say as I've always said and I will always continue to say, that riots are socially destructive and self-defeating. I'm still convinced that nonviolence is the most potent weapon available to oppressed people in their struggle for freedom and…
You cherry-picked just the MLK quote and added an ad-hominem which isn't a very productive argument.
He literally added the context of the quote, without which MLK's views were misrepresented.
Re: How to Make this Moment the Turning Point for Real Change
#165"I’ve heard some suggest that the recurrent problem of racial bias in our criminal justice system proves that only protests and direct action can bring about change, and that voting and participation in electoral politics is a waste of time. I couldn’t disagree more. The point of protest is to raise public awareness... But eventually, aspirations have to be translated into specific laws and institutional practices —…
One big problem is that the elected after being elected, choose to not follow or dilute those promises. There is no accountability. So time and again, democracy fails as they just change their minds after being elected. There is this "damping" factor like a mechanical system, that takes the energy out of the people's hands and dampens it with lobbying, dishonesty, unaccountability and complete neglect for public inte…
One reason for this is because once elected, there is very little that the population can do to hold the official accountable.
You can’t remove officials for not fulfilling their promises. They can also delay until it’s too late by saying, “I’m working on it.” Then once out of office, they are accountable for nothing.
Job safety is built into the position for good reason. However, it’s been perverted to allow officials to do whatever they want. Fixing this balance is not simple, but I believe would be a crucial step towards realizing a functional democratic system.
Re: How to Make this Moment the Turning Point for Real Change
#166Earlier quoted context omitted.
I am disappointed by the lack of leadership from the white house. The president should address the nation, bring it together and create a strategy to resolve these issues. Edit: I should say "disappointed" instead of "surprised". Agree with the responses, there is no expectation anymore from the Whitehouse after 3 years of incompetency.
You honestly expect Trump to lead, strategize, and bring the nation together, to the point of surprise that he hasn't?
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Re: How to Make this Moment the Turning Point for Real Change
#167Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think the real problem is that those two political parties represent factions of the population with incompatible values. We don't need more political parties, we need solutions to manage the incompatibility.
There was nothing incompatible about our values regarding what we saw in that video. The idea that there was a political divide about this incident is a myth. Even the openly racist people I know were saying it was fucked up.
No, but there is a predictable political divide about the fallout.
Re: How to Make this Moment the Turning Point for Real Change
#168Earlier quoted context omitted.
4 years? Probably closer to 40 on all sides of the spectrum
But BOTh SiDES ArE ThE SaME
Liberal leadership in these communities has been in place for decades. If you want you can blame it on one side but I don't think that would be very constructive
Re: How to Make this Moment the Turning Point for Real Change
#169Earlier quoted context omitted.
I cannot condone violence nor encourage it, but you have to admit that the first few protests and property damage drastically influenced the quick arrest of an officer that may not have been arrested or even fired if it didn't happen. The non-violent protests of Colin Kaepernick were mocked and used to rally the other side and just weren't effective. The problem here is not the violence, but a policing system that is…
> The MLK quote is trotted out pretty often, but "a riot is the language of the unheard". MLK Jr was unequivocally non-violent. That quote was in the context of explaining the root cause of the rioting, not condoning or endorsing it. Don't trust anyone trying to tell you MLK Jr would have supported violent protests. They are either trying to manipulate you or sadly ignorant (or both, of course). In either case they h…
Do note the reverse though. Don’t let everyone who labels violence as unequivocally wrong trick you into thinking that all riots are due to bad people. You’re right in that MLK Jr’s point wasn’t to promote riots. However, if you automatically label all riots as being bad, you’ve also missed the deeper point MLK Jr was trying to make:
listen to your fellow humans
When you see news about a riot, your first instinct should be to ask why? What are they rioting about? What was being said that led to this situation? Were people listening? How did they respond?
Not make a judgement of them.
This is where media has great power in controlling the narrative. If they don’t report on what happened prior to the riots (ex: peaceful protests, calls to representatives for action, etc), then it becomes very hard to see rioters as human beings with a voice.
Edit: note that I’m not making a judgement on OP. I writing this because I often see this reaction to riots and people often take away the wrong message both ways.
Re: How to Make this Moment the Turning Point for Real Change
#170Earlier quoted context omitted.
> The office involved should be charged or arrested based on the circumstances and evidence Obviously. But they weren't, and given precedent, probably never would have been. That's why this is happening.
The officer in question has been charged with murder. The Minnesota Governor and AG were both advocating for charges basically since day 1 and well before the protests so it's not at all clear the turmoil influenced his arrest.
There was more than one murderer. There were 4 murderers. The police chief said as such, which is unprecedented for a police chief to say.