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A collection of videos of police brutality

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Re: A collection of videos of police brutality

#251

Post by pbourke »

chrisco255 wrote: post #181

I know this is hard for some people to accept, but the police deal with the worst dregs of society every day so you don't have to. They get pissed on, stabbed, punched in the face, shot, and killed working for less than 1/4 of the pay of many software developers do. We bitch about JavaScript vs Golang while they have to wonder if the next person they pull over for a speeding ticket is going to pull a gun on them. The…

I know this is hard for some people to accept, but the police in a free and democratic society are ultimately accountable to the citizenry yet some police behave as if they are only accountable to themselves. They shoot, club, pepper spray and choke people and yet only start to face justice for these actions as a result of a literal uprising.

Everyone accepts that the police have a hard job to do, yet the system has grown to shield bad officers from justice and reduce public accountability. This is a system driven by institutionalized racism.

Re: A collection of videos of police brutality

#252

Post by whatever1 »

corrupt_measure wrote: post #239
whatever1 wrote: post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The outrage started not because of the video that was undisputable evidence of police violence, it started because the police did not immediately arrest the officers who committed and helped with the murder of a person. Had Minneapolis have to burn to the ground, so that they finally arrest the murderer policeman?

Ignoring for a moment that the position the police had George in is standard for restraining a person and that George may have died from underlying heart conditions... Without the broader narrative that police disproportionately kill blacks then the killing would not have sparked riots or protests. In fact a white man was killed very recently on almost the exact same manner yet there were no riots or calls to action.…

How is the reaction of the people relevant to our topic? Are you suggesting that the police is acting differently when they suspect that there will be an outrage, and differently when nobody is watching them?

Re: A collection of videos of police brutality

#253

Post by downerending »

wonderwonder wrote: post #161
downerending wrote: post #124

As always, you have to ask, compared to what ? Are the majority of police actions brutality, or only a miniscule fraction? This is the crucial question, and a site like this provides no insight at all. (or so I imagine, since site is down) If you want to fan the flames, though, add a section for protesters savagely kicking unconscious victims in the head.

Just so I understand, how are the 2 related? You seem to suggest that the "protesters savagely kicking unconscious victims in the head" are criminals. I agree, they likely are. By those terms then all of the police officers kicking downed protesters are criminals as well. Why are their fellow officers not arresting them on the spot? There is a very large difference between random protesters committing violent acts an…

For starters, the rioters are already breaking the law at the point of police contact, and they know that they are. Secondly, the officers are typically in a dangerous situation, and have more pressing concerns.

If you find yourself in a riot, leave. Common sense and common decency, no?

Re: A collection of videos of police brutality

#254

Post by h3cate »

devmunchies wrote: post #172
downerending wrote: post #124

As always, you have to ask, compared to what ? Are the majority of police actions brutality, or only a miniscule fraction? This is the crucial question, and a site like this provides no insight at all. (or so I imagine, since site is down) If you want to fan the flames, though, add a section for protesters savagely kicking unconscious victims in the head.

Agree. I wish this stayed on reddit and Twitter. I hate seeing this kind of hot topic stuff here.

Whilst I would usually agree I feel like the technology community as a whole can do a lot in the fight against injustice in this world. I understand your sentiment though and will not post again.

Re: A collection of videos of police brutality

#255

Post by scarface74 »

GiorgioG wrote: post #193
sneak wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wish that were true, but the complete history of policing in America suggests that the police there exist primarily to protect the land and facilities of the ownership class, and have never had nor needed any consent of those outside of the gentry. The more recent history suggests that the people who wish to deter or educate the cops are significantly outgunned, and the brutality will continue until such time that…

> The more recent history suggests that the people who wish to deter or educate the cops are significantly outgunned Then these young people (in the U.S.) should stop fighting for gun control when it only works against them in times such as these. Can you imagine how these protesters would be treated if most of them were carrying a rifle? Could the police roll out tanks in response? Sure, but I do not believe the U.S…

Could the police roll out tanks in response? Sure, but I do not believe the U.S. politicians would be willing to start all out war between police and civilians.

Have you read about what happened during the Civil Rights Movement? How many MAGAs would even blink if police started killing Black people?

More recently MOVE was bombed and no politicians thought twice.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/may/10/move-1985-bo...

Re: A collection of videos of police brutality

#256

Post by pbourke »

quietthrow wrote: post #198

This post was number one on HN. Now it’s nowhere to be found on HN’s pages unless you search for it. I happen to remember the posters handle and was able to dig up the post. The post is not even flagged back so am curious why did it disappear?

It's been flagged to oblivion so as not to pierce HN's tender bubble.

Should have mentioned which JS framework was used to build the site so the post would stay on the front page.

Re: A collection of videos of police brutality

#257

Post by wonderwonder »

corrupt_measure wrote: post #150

Genuine unprovoked and unnecessary police brutality incidents are incredibly rare (relative to all police interactions) and hardly an epidemic. When someone is breaking the law and resisting arrest the police have no choice but to be violent with the resistor. Unfortunately these incidents often get categorized as "police brutality" when they're really just a necessary use of force. More broadly, the entire narrative…

The issue is not the rarity of police brutality (although I disagree) it is the acceptance and silence of the perpetrators fellow officers who witness it. It means that all of these officers who don't intervene are guilty of dereliction of duty and condone the violence. These people should not have power of citizens. It means the entire system is corrupt and broken.

"When controlling for violent encounters with police and crimes committed, blacks (armed and unarmed) are actually less likely to be killed by police than whites." Legitimate Source required? This study seems to indicate black men are killed by the police at a rate of 2.5x that of white men.

Your argument essentially boils down to sure cops brutally kill people and get away with it but its really the media that is at fault for bringing this to the surface. If we just let the cops do what they want everything would be calm and those uppity minorities would know their place.

"Sites like this and an irresponsible media simply exaggerate the issue and needlessly inflame tensions without providing proper and necessary context." Just so I can understand can you please explain the context missing from the video depicting the murder of George Floyd, the source of these nationwide protests. Also please explain why his fellow officers stood around watching and what would have happened if the media had not elevated this incident. Please use small words as I am just some guy that thinks that even a single case of cops getting away with murder is far too many.

All in all this comment is pretty disgusting.

Re: A collection of videos of police brutality

#258

Post by downerending »

hug wrote: post #201
downerending wrote: post #124

As always, you have to ask, compared to what ? Are the majority of police actions brutality, or only a miniscule fraction? This is the crucial question, and a site like this provides no insight at all. (or so I imagine, since site is down) If you want to fan the flames, though, add a section for protesters savagely kicking unconscious victims in the head.

> As always, you have to ask, compared to what? What would you even compare instances of police brutality against? Is there some kind of threshold under which you think police brutality is okay? Should there be a rule that each police force gets one free brutalising a year? Or is it just that if their actions are only a little bit of brutality, just a pinch, that they should get away with it? No one has to ask what t…

As a programmer, I accept that I'll make mistakes from time to time. Excoriating me for doing so would not help.

The bad apples should be removed. Riots and mayhem work against that goal.

Re: A collection of videos of police brutality

#260

Post by downerending »

komali2 wrote: post #235
downerending wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The first link is one of the two I saw today, yes. There's really nothing that convince me that these people are not evil. (The second was in Portland, I think.) The second link doesn't seem to have any video. But head-kicking beyond the point of unconsciousness is not how I would defend myself from a crazy person (if that's even a factual take). The third link is hard to interpret, but until someone analyzes it, I a…

I'm not old enough, but I am aware that history hasn't been kind to Nixon :)

The reference is that he never would have been elected in the first place except for violent protests.
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