Riots

[NoCoast]

The peaceful protesting turned into riots & looting in my area, as they have all over the US right now. Two people have been killed by gunfire, a police officer shot, & several others injured/properties damaged. Officials have issued a shelter in place order & put a curfew in place due to the civil unrest. Having a hard time finding words for my thoughts & feelings. What are your thoughts/experiences/opinions on any of this?

 

[FireFox]

I dont live in the US but i live in the UK. I have been watching what is going on the USA on tv.

Here in the UK there protests about george floyd too .

I am a massive politics junkie . I am also a brown female.

Personally i think the protestors have every right to be angry.

Too many black men have died before thier time due to police brutality and the justice system does not help either. The charge against the police officer 3rd degree is not suitable . If you put your knee on someones neck it is foreseeable harm will occur and the poor man kept saying loudly he can not breathe. That officer know what was doing.
That officer needs to be charged either with 1st or 2nd degree. 3rd degree is bullshit .

There is a real injustice that is happening

I dont agree with the looting however.

The problem with looting the people who live in the area will be the ones living with the long term damage. The long term damage will economic harm and unemployment due to the business struggling to open due insurance issues and safety issues as well caused by the rioting

If people want to loot they should rob a bank as banks are pools of wealth and banks are insured.
I dont think you can get rid of racism . Racism is a hatred for your fellow human being . Only in a perfect world there is no racism . This world is imperfect and so are human beings so things like racism will always exist.
Humans can create a better world than the one we are living in but will never be perfect.

What state are you in?

Take care and keep safe

 

[Final Escape]

https://open.lbry.com/@DollarVigilante:b/Get-Far-Away:8. It will get worse and this was all planned. They are covering up what was coming anyway. An economic collapse.

 

[Broken Chimera]

There's so many things that don't really make sense about these protests. Like how many of these people are from outside of these cities? Why aren't they social distancing? Why are they attacking people to prove their point? Businesses being destroyed after being closed by the pandemic. Just a few things that seem weird to me.

 

[HelensNepenthe]

To anyone defending buildings being destroyed: It's zero percent of the problem. You're showing your priorities. Yes, having buildings looted or destroyed sucks, what else sucks is the major picture of what is happening in America. You have not spent more than half a century peacefully protesting, voting, kneeling, etc. to only have it marked out with sharpie as another failed attempt in the books. Black suppression, police brutality, and economic factors are larger problems to protestors than buildings.

Rodney King's riots lead to the destruction of property in Los Angeles that totaled to be about one billion dollars. The riots were not as long as this one. There is no interest in protestors stopping. America has become 100% authoritarian. A terrorism executive order that has enough conservatives in the judiciary to be enforced, and now they've sent out the army to deploy on protestors. If the army kills anyone involved in these protests, it'll be too-late eye opener for America that we've become apart of a fascist state.

When everyone living in America in some varying degree has suffered the pendulum of an economic system failing on them, that only amounted in large corporations getting over 500 billion dollars in stimulus money, while giving shit-all to anyone who was fired from their job during the pandemic, it's not an unreasonable sign to see people vandalizing companies that they worked for. They're liberating themselves.

 

[Green Destiny]

I understand the protests and the anger. The fact that this blatantly obvious problem with police officers killing black men happening at the very least every other year has resulted in a powder keg of violence. The rioting however is nothing more than opportunists cashing in on the chaos and widening the gap between people. I won't disclose what state i'm in but the riots here have forced my sister to once again stay at home RIGHT as she was finally getting back to work at her job because people decided to break in and steal from her place of employment, destroying buildings isn't just property but other peoples jobs and even livelihoods. You're not helping the situation with violence, only causing more of it imo.

 

[Arrow]

i fully support the protesters, they are very based and they're fighting for the right thing.

 

[Cosmiq]

I'm in a major city and fully support the protestors. Yeah, there are looters, and those that are opportunists and agitators, but no one should let them take the focus away from the protests. We should not be putting businesses over lives.
Not to mention in my city there are tons of videos caught by the news where protestors tried to stop those looting and inciting violence, while cops just stood by not doing anything. There are tons of videos of cops that were unprovoked acting violently towards it citizens. Plenty of towns and cities have had cops also stand, kneel, and walk with protestors and avoided having violent outbursts.

 

[LastFlowers]

I'm in a major city and fully support the protestors. Yeah, there are looters, and those that are opportunists and agitators, but no one should let them take the focus away from the protests. We should not be putting businesses over lives.
Not to mention in my city there are tons of videos caught by the news where protestors tried to stop those looting and inciting violence, while cops just stood by not doing anything. There are tons of videos of cops that were unprovoked acting violently towards it citizens. Plenty of towns and cities have had cops also stand, kneel, and walk with protestors and avoided having violent outbursts.

I think the point another user was trying to make is that some businesses ARE people's lives. Many who have nothing to do with what happened to GF, and are probably already vulnerable and lost profits from the Corona virus shutting so many people down. They can't afford to fix the damage being done if they are a small business. That's the kind of thing I've seen some people end up on this site for.

I mean, not that I care in the grand scheme of things because at this point in my own personal hell, I would honestly not mind if the whole world burned to the ground. But if we are going to talk about protesting the destruction of one life by destroying others, there are things to be said. I'm not sure how one would go about weeding these people out from those who are there for good reason. Not until something already happens.

I think the protests themselves are warranted and the police force has been extremely problematic for awhile now, for more than just racial reasons. The low bar to enter the force doesn't help anything either. Even in domestic situations, cops are more likely to cause issues, there are a lot of statistics about the type of people who walk our streets in uniform and they are not good.

Has anyone here seen some of the videos? Some of these cops are like children with toys at these protests. The way they wield their authority is disturbing, screaming with pure rage, running people over, trampling someone with a horse, shooting at random passerbys with those rubber bullets or even on the person's own porch steps, tear gassing people who aren't even part of the protest, and generally beating the shit out of people. I'm sure there are some cases that warrant certain reactions considering many people at these protests are just dumbasses or wannabe agents of chaos...but overall, it's just providing more evidence to the fact that the cops need to come back down to earth and abide by the law like anyone else. The good cops don't last long because all the shit ones both literally and figuratively punch them in the face and end their career at even a hint of them stepping in and dissolving that thin blue line.

I usually don't even watch the news but this has been all over the Internet and it's hard to ignore!

 

[Cosmiq]

I think the point another user was trying to make is that some businesses ARE people's lives. Many who have nothing to do with what happened to GF, and are probably already vulnerable and lost profits from the Corona virus shutting so many people down. They can't afford to fix the damage being done if they are a small business. That's the kind of thing I've seen some people end up on this site for.

I mean, not that I care in the grand scheme of things because at this point in my own personal hell, I would honestly not mind if the whole world burned to the ground. But if we are going to talk about protesting the destruction of one life by destroying others, there are things to be said. I'm not sure how one would go about weeding these people out from those who are there for good reason. Not until something already happens.

I think the protests themselves are warranted and the police force has been extremely problematic for awhile now, for more than just racial reasons. The low bar to enter the force doesn't help anything either. Even in domestic situations, cops are more likely to cause issues, there are a lot of statistics about the type of people who walk our streets in uniform and they are not good.

Has anyone here seen some of the videos? Some of these cops are like children with toys at these protests. The way they wield their authority is disturbing, screaming with pure rage, running people over, trampling someone with a horse, shooting at random passerbys with those rubber bullets or even on the person's own porch steps, tear gassing people who aren't even part of the protest, and generally beating the shit out of people. I'm sure there are some cases that warrant certain reactions considering many people at these protests are just dumbasses or wannabe agents of chaos...but overall, it's just providing more evidence to the fact that the cops need to come back down to earth and abide by the law like anyone else. The good cops don't last long because all the shit ones both literally and figuratively punch them in the face and end their career at even a hint of them stepping in and dissolving that thin blue line.

I usually don't even watch the news but this has been all over the Internet and it's hard to ignore!

Losing a business is not the same as losing their lives. I'm not saying that it's not necessary, nor that it won't severely affect the quality of many people who %100 depend on their businesses to survive. But the point I was making is that they still have lives, and can rebuild they still have a chance at survival. If they end up on this site for losing their business, they are making a choice unlike many African Americans in America who have videos of them submitting yet screaming out that they want to live. Losing a business, or a major part that consumes your is not the same as losing your life, or wouldn't that mean many of us would be content with quitting our jobs, school, etc and just running off not owning or having any responsibilities.

 

[Deleted member 17949]

I'm snuggled away in the UK waiting to kill myself, can't relate.

 

[Varstraben]

I'm french so I can relate, riots and protesting is like a cultural thing here .. hum..

But here the most times I see 3 types of public protesting :

- Peaceful, but with some people who come only for looting and break most things as possible, whatever the subject of the protest,
- Hateful, using the argument "If you are not with me, you are against me", as there are a short time ago with the "gilet jaune" movment (maybe called "yellow vest"),
- Peaceful without violence or breakers, the less common unfortunately ...

The problem is, when violence is used by protestor, violence is also used by police in return, so on media we only see the violence, and everyone turns against each other for at the end forgot the original subject and only make small civil war.

Humanity is stupid and doomed to disappear on its own

 

[a.n.kirillov]

I'm torn on the issue. On the one hand, I want to think the reaction is severely irrational and out of proportion. On the other hand, I know that the problem runs much deeper, and it is not just one of race or police killings, but of class, ideology, meaninglessness and just in general, human power dynamics.

One could take an accelerationist stance and say that intensifying the conflict as fast as possible would be a good thing, because the sooner we resolve it and overcome the status quo, the better (whether seen from a right wing or a left wing perspective). But likewise we shouldn't forget that civilization is fragile, and what will come after our current system doesn't have to be something better for everyone. Meanwhile more authoritarian states like China are outcompeting us, because they don't suffer from the same malaises that western democracies do.

Furthermore I think the looting hurts their own cause (especially when it comes to small businesses).

The forces that have been unleashed are too erratic and dispersed and unless they are channeled into some kind of political organization, nothing will change and the US will simply go back to the way it was before; tensions will rise again, because they are systemic, and long term, if not resolved either intentionally or unintentionally, will lead to something like a civil war.

On a personal note, I am becoming more and more disgusted by populism, democracy and human nature in general. Multiculturalism is a failed project and I am now of the opinion that states should be racially and culturally more uniform, like Japan for example. Seeing the "positive" interactions of the last couple of days, like groups of white and black citizens kneeling before each other (thereby, ironically, still reducing themselves to their skin colours) made me sick to my stomach.
.
Well, I hate politics and will always hate it. It's not something for idealists or people who value the truth too much, since political battles are won by emotional appeals, moralizing and false narratives (memes).

 

[Soul]

How can the legitimate protestors distinguish themselves from the agitators and opportunists? In an awful lot of situations the police aren't even trying to make any distinction. They're scared, and they're armed, and it's easy to lose control.
If the legitimate protestors could find a way to de-escalate things - eg staying at home for now and finding a different form of protest - so that the only ones left for the police to subdue are the agitators and opportunists (who include a lot of white bad actors) that would be worth a lot.

It's unfortunate that the US currently has no president. The current resident of the White House has no clue how to de-escalate anything. Posing outside a church like a twat ... Fu icky bah.

 

[ForensicallyAware]

The protesters lost my sympathy when they started looting and burning
We all hate the fucking system but it is the only one we have and there is no alternative
Life is not a gift it is an absolutely merciless genetic struggle

Which is where we came in!

 

[Soul]

 

[whitetea]

I'm sad that there are people on this forum that respect buildings and businesses more than human life

 

[puppy9]

After all this the murderer cop only charged with third-degree murder. Damn, What a joke!!! The President is threatening to send in heavily armed military; for what, a Reagan Make America Great Again Massacre. Kent State tragedy was widely in the news at that time. The same thing happened at Jackson State, the news just don't care because they're predominantly black. They are sick of the system. George Floyd Murder was the straw that broke the camel's back. Sorry I'm just emotional after watching the sickening 8 minutes video of George Floyd's last moment.

 

[mediocre]

I'm sad that there are people on this forum that respect buildings and businesses more than human life

But by destroying a business you're not hurting the government or the police you're just destroying somebody else's livelihood. For what reason? This just creates more divisiveness. Not saying any of the real protesters did this. I don't know that. There seems to be a lot of troublemakers and antifa members taking advantage of the situation and they don't give a flying fuck about George Floyd or the police brutality.

I just don't get why you have to destroy other people's lives to make a point or how it helps in any way.

 

[Krash1990]

3rd degree murder is what he did...

I don't mean to get into a political debate but according to the law, he is guilty of 3rd degree murder.

It was not intentional, it was not premeditated.

Furthermore, his life is over. They will likely throw the book at him. He will have to be in protective custody in prison completely by himself for a decade or more. They hate cops as much as child molestors in prison. Killing him would be an achievement for most in the pen. He lost his career and pension. He'll lose his family through this.

I get George is dead, but this officer will wish he's dead.

 

[Fizzel87]

It's a mob. Once they finish looting places of business they'll start breaking into homes and killing people. It's not just gonna stop until someone starts cracking skulls.

 

[whitetea]

But by destroying a business you're not hurting the government or the police you're just destroying somebody else's livelihood. For what reason? This just creates more divisiveness. Not saying any of the real protesters did this. I don't know that. There seems to be a lot of troublemakers and antifa members taking advantage of the situation and they don't give a flying fuck about George Floyd or the police brutality.

I just don't get why you have to destroy other people's lives to make a point or how it helps in any way.

I get that and totally agree but in the grand scheme of things a small minority of people looting / destroying buildings isn't as important as human life - even if it temporarily destroys human life as people's businesses / homes are damaged. Everything can be rebuilt. The dead can't be brought back.

I don't think opportunists taking advantage of the situation should deflect from what the real problem is.

3rd degree murder is what he did...

I don't mean to get into a political debate but according to the law, he is guilty of 3rd degree murder.

It was not intentional, it was not premeditated.

Furthermore, his life is over. They will likely throw the book at him. He will have to be in protective custody in prison completely by himself for a decade or more. They hate cops as much as child molestors in prison. Killing him would be an achievement for most in the pen. He lost his career and pension. He'll lose his family through this.

I get George is dead, but this officer will wish he's dead.

It may or may not of been pre mediated it's hard to ever know, maybe he was wound up before even arriving at the scene... but personally I think it became intentional once onlookers started asking if he had a pulse and told him to back off because he was unresponsive - as well as his colleagues no longer assisting with the 'restraint'. He had so many chances to step back but he chose to behave like a wild animal.

 

[Pryras]

I don't think anyone thinks the business's are more important than actual lives by disagreeing with the looting and all.


For the record, a lot of BLACK OWNED businesses/storefronts were destroyed in the process. It's not just the department stores or greedy corporations you see plastered all over the media.

The protestors have a right to be angry and I think that needs to be directed towards police and corporations over Vandalizing small businesses and looting

 

[FireFox]

But by destroying a business you're not hurting the government or the police you're just destroying somebody else's livelihood. For what reason? This just creates more divisiveness. Not saying any of the real protesters did this. I don't know that. There seems to be a lot of troublemakers and antifa members taking advantage of the situation and they don't give a flying fuck about George Floyd or the police brutality.

I just don't get why you have to destroy other people's lives to make a point or how it helps in any way.

@mediocre
Rioting just gives governments an excuse to pass more survullience laws and harshar laws.

The problem with looting is that the local community who suffers the most. This is what people are not getting.

How come these looters never raid the banks?

Banks are pools of wealth and are insured from all sorts of damage.

I don't think anyone thinks the business's are more important than actual lives by disagreeing with the looting and all.


For the record, a lot of BLACK OWNED businesses/storefronts were destroyed in the process. It's not just the department stores or greedy corporations you see plastered all over the media.

The protestors have a right to be angry and I think that needs to be directed towards police and corporations over Vandalizing small businesses and looting

@Pryras personally i would love to see the day everybody refuses to paying tax as a protest.
That would be awesome

 

[Fizzel87]

We're coming off 3(?) months of covid and lockdown and now you have your place of business torched and looted. Do you try and rebuild, or do you just say fuck it and move on.

That tax base and those places of employment now leaves the cities. What takes its place? Crime, prostitution, drink and drugs, and more broken families. Nobody is going to invest in a community that ransacks shit.

 

[GoodPersonEffed]

How come these looters never raid the banks?

Banks are pools of wealth and are insured from all sorts of damage.

I saw a photo online of a bank that was burned in the rioting.

But raiding banks would be hard because everything is seriously secured.

When people get caught up in the group emotion of rioting, they lower their boundaries and do socially unacceptable things, like breaking things and stealing. It's pretty powerful emotion. Folks aren't thinking clearly, like about a small business owner.

Think of the high emotion in sports and music arenas, every one has a collective high. It's an altered state. And the hatred people feel toward the members and fans of an opposing team when it's just sports. Rioting has happened after major sporting events, the rage gets huge when it's shared. Or think of how in warrior societies, shaman would do drumming ceremonies to get everyone geared up for battle and bloodshed, and so hyped up they're willing to run to death. Rioting is the same kind of thing. Folks are hyped up and in a rage against something, and the more people that join, the more it builds. They turn into a bunch of Hulks. They will rage and destroy and steal, and feel justified in doing it at the time. I think it becomes a blind fury and a huge fuck you, without seeing the details of what is actually being destroyed.

 

[4eyebiped]

Some people have mentioned banks should be targeted vs small businesses, since they are insured. Banks have vaults for one and they still hire people who would be potentially out of work while repairs and clean up takes place. There are not isles of shelving with cash sitting upon them. Either way, I would prefer no one loot, destroy, burn or block traffic. Burning buildings puts lives at risk. Blocking traffic prevents people getting urgent medical care they need and in turn puts lives at risk. All of the above equals loss of support and possible lose of lives.

If you want to protest, go for it. It is good to bring awareness to a problem you feel needs awareness but there is a proper way to do it. First don't fuck with people or their stuff. Inconveniencing someone in any way does not garner support, but risks losing it. Secondly, come armed with facts and even better, well thought out solutions. Most protests, in general, are weak on the facts and rarely offer solutions. Solutions are those that spot the root causes of a problem and tries to find ways to remedy them at the base level. Learn to say we more than me to be more inclusive. Some problems affects everyone, not selective groups. When you argue the other way, you lose out on support and you for sure skip over the root issue.

The above is my overall opinion on protests in general and isn't directed at a specific one.

 

[Fizzel87]

Some people have mentioned banks should be targeted vs small businesses, since they are insured. Banks have vaults for one and they still hire people who would be potentially out of work while repairs and clean up takes place. There are not isles of shelving with cash sitting upon them. Either way, I would prefer no one loot, destroy, burn or block traffic. Burning buildings puts lives at risk. Blocking traffic prevents people getting urgent medical care they need and in turn puts lives at risk. All of the above equals loss of support and possible lose of lives.

If you want to protest, go for it. It is good to bring awareness to a problem you feel needs awareness but there is a proper way to do it. First don't fuck with people or their stuff. Inconveniencing someone in any way does not garner support, but risks losing it. Secondly, come armed with facts and even better, well thought out solutions. Most protests, in general, are weak on the facts and rarely offer solutions. Solutions are those that spot the root causes of a problem and tries to find ways to remedy them at the base level. Learn to say we more than me to be more inclusive. Some problems affects everyone, not selective groups. When you argue the other way, you lose out on support and you for sure skip over the root issue.

The above is my overall opinion on protests in general and isn't directed at a specific one.

But that sounds like hard work, and I want a new TV.

 

[a.n.kirillov]

I'm sad that there are people on this forum that respect buildings and businesses more than human life

there is something called a criminal justice system that is supposed to handle criminal acts like murders. This is just moralizing, not really an argument. And by the way, people are getting injured everyday by the rioters, and the businesses have owners and employees.

 

[whitetea]

I saw a photo online of a bank that was burned in the rioting.

But raiding banks would be hard because everything is seriously secured.

When people get caught up in the group emotion of rioting, they lower their boundaries and do socially unacceptable things, like breaking things and stealing. It's pretty powerful emotion. Folks aren't thinking clearly, like about a small business owner.

Think of the high emotion in sports and music arenas, every one has a collective high. It's an altered state. And the hatred people feel toward the members and fans of an opposing team when it's just sports. Rioting has happened after major sporting events, the rage gets huge when it's shared. Or think of how in warrior societies, shaman would do drumming ceremonies to get everyone geared up for battle and bloodshed, and so hyped up they're willing to run to death. Rioting is the same kind of thing. Folks are hyped up and in a rage against something, and the more people that join, the more it builds. They turn into a bunch of Hulks. They will rage and destroy and steal, and feel justified in doing it at the time. I think it becomes a blind fury and a huge fuck you, without seeing the details of what is actually being destroyed.

Pretty much this. It's called deindividuation. The norms, morals, and rules we have been raised with, become accustomed to and live by in society so that we don't live in a state of anarchy get broken by a small minority of those rioting, and because the rioters are behaving in a pact almost against the authority, it becomes us vs. them and their own values that they have lived with their entire lives just get lost.
The rioters begin to act as a pact or in a mob because they see themselves as almost anonymous in a crowd and 'normal' behaviour and conventional rules / conduct no longer apply and no logical thinking or reasoning is being applied hense deindividuation.

Same principle applies to any group activity - why nice people can turn to hooligans at football matches etc. Your identity just turns into that of the crowd you're in.