Lots of big protests happening in the US. Whilst I'm for it, I also feel it's very dangerous given the current pandemic. So many people gathered together with no social distancing is going to allow the virus to spread rapidly.

How long do you expect people to stay peacefull when so much injustice and violence is done to them tho....

 

Catholics in n.irelabd lasted about 50 years...

Sky News says that trouble is starting in LA already and it's only 3.30pm there. Fires seen.

Sky News says that trouble is starting in LA already and it's only 3.30pm there. Fires seen.

 

Precisely why I am against this whole ridiculousless. While of course you get protestors etc. cleaning up the mess others (and maybe even themselves have made) you get others just out to cause trouble for the sake of it, likely knowing a lot of them won't get caught. It's tippled over to lots of American cities now. The narrative switches focus from the real issue (the racist murder) to the riots. The public becomes less sympathetic to the cause. Are all police officers racist because one killed a black man? No of course not. Yet people are using this as an excuse to attack cops.

 

I know many of you see the justifcation in it, but it's just plain ridiclous. Exactly the same thing happened in the London riots as well. What's the end goal in all this? What point are people trying to make about the racist murder when they are trashing CNN HQ? The mind boggles.

I agree with you. The riots are just ridiculous. Trump's not helping either by Tweeting how safe he felt in the White House last night, watching from inside. He says the Secret Service are doing a great job and any breach of the WH perimeter fences will be met with "the fiercest dogs known to man and the most awesome weapons" Agree with some that he should have addressed the nation by now too.

He only addressed the situation as a whole when the riots started too which says a lot!

honestly, no one is pretending to have the answers. i don't know if there's even an end goal. all we know is the pages-long list of people who've been murdered, every peaceful protest that's occurred for nearly a decade now only for the same shit to keep happening, for george zimmerman to go walking free, for law enforcement to continue to be a breeding ground for KKK/neo-nazis. people are fed the f*** up and frustrated and maybe expressing that frustration is its own end goal. and i can tell you it's definitely not to get the current president replaced by the guy who wrote the 94 crime bill that led to overpolicing and mass incarceration in the first place.

Edited May 31, 20205 yr by dhwe

I should also add that I'm seeing far more examples of cops starting altercations with otherwise peaceful protesters, or just encouraging escalation, like throwing tear gas, tasers, rubber bullets, or just roughing people up, as if they saw the chance to get into their riot gear and get a bit violent as an opportunity.

I'm finding it very difficult to keep my mouth shut on this. Rooney you seem very passionate about the subject coming from a white man who has never seen any optession at all, fact is we will never ever know the hurt and torment these people have gone through for so many years.

 

These people have tried peaceful protests and gotten absolutely nowhere. Sometimes for people to take notice you have to protest, it's how people have been overthrown in the past and saw real change. Standing back and allowing it to happen and just hoping that maybe people will change is much worse.

I should also add that I'm seeing far more examples of cops starting altercations with otherwise peaceful protesters, or just encouraging escalation, like throwing tear gas, tasers, rubber bullets, or just roughing people up, as if they saw the chance to get into their riot gear and get a bit violent as an opportunity.

This too, it's mostly them. Celebrities such as Halsey and Tinashe have been live tweeting their peaceful protests and shown they are been fired at for no reason. Don't always believe the media, yes a lot of it is started by protestors but the police are the real ones who are putting more lives in danger.

Cops in New York started running over protestors yesterday. So yeah. Sure. It’s all the protestors fault and nothing to do with the fact that yank cops are programmed to escalate at all costs. Their first instinct is to provoke and escalate not to disarm and de-escalate.

 

 

And I’m bitting my tongue real hard here to stop me going off on a particular persons ignorance and blatant discrimination. Makes me actually sick.

The police are also firing at people standing on their own porches and stealing water from the protestors, as well as all the other things mentioned in this thread

If you can watch these videos and see what the police are doing and still say b..b...but to All Cops Are Bad, disgusting

I'm finding it very difficult to keep my mouth shut on this. Rooney you seem very passionate about the subject coming from a white man who has never seen any optession at all, fact is we will never ever know the hurt and torment these people have gone through for so many years.

 

These people have tried peaceful protests and gotten absolutely nowhere. Sometimes for people to take notice you have to protest, it's how people have been overthrown in the past and saw real change. Standing back and allowing it to happen and just hoping that maybe people will change is much worse.

 

I'm not really sure to make of this comment. My personal viewpoint is I think the looting is plain wrong and many people are attempting to justify their actions. There's no excuse for looting in this situation. Peaceful protests are the, very correct, way forward. Violence does not achieve anything except more suffering for all parties and the many people who get caught up in the collateral damage that follows. I've seen videos where during protestors are goaded by MAGA idiots or the police themselves, in this instance yes, totally. But setting homes, cars, robbing Nike for some trainers or Target for a 4K TV, I just cannot implore. And it doesn't matter if you're black or white, it's plain wrong. Direct the anger at police stations, local and state goverment buildings and the Capitol. A cop in Minnesota murdered a black man, so a shop owner in LA has to pay the price is not the answer to right option.

 

Let's overthrow the President. Heard it all now. Obama was still in charge when Zimmerman did his hideous crime (and the ensuring shitshow that followed). Would people have suggested overthrowing the President then? I don't like Trump for the record. But there's the perfect opportunity for people to protest in 5 months time, yet the harsh reality of this is, the current White House administration will use this to their advantage to get re-elected. But the reality is you need people "in-between" to be sympathetic to the cause and bring about everlasting change, which just is not going to be achieved with violence and looting. I don't think destorying cities, homes and businesses does anything but alientate the cause. But what's my opinion matter as I'm just an ignorant white man apparently.

 

Try explaining the issue to a low paid Target worker who has just lost their job because rioters burned the place down and now will have no money to pay for food or rent. Or a small business owner who just had their business destroyed. Or the old person who can't get their vital medication because the pharmacy was burned down and robbed. You need to get people on your side, not against it. All this will do is achieve the opposite. A peaceful protest and getting the public onside is the first step to achieving change. I totally get emotions run high, but violence is not the option here.

Peaceful protests do absolutely zero. No one cares. It takes years and YEARS of peaceful protesting to get the government to actually listen. They have their own agenda and won't just change it for some people they are supposed to be taking care of. Take it from someone who lives in a country where the most peaceful protests get shut down by violent measures from the police/government and torture by the police is trending.

Edited May 31, 20205 yr by CXNDÆRELLA-12

Indeed again to use an Irish example they tried for 50 years to get self government in the smallest sense of the word and nothing changed then a rebellion happened in 1916 and Wham bam they had self government 5 years later.....

 

Violence does pay mixed with political moves. Changing the debate to the looting that enevitably happens by people who are selfish doesn't change that fact.

Or a small business owner who just had their business destroyed.

Thats a great idea Roo. Let's check in with a small business owner in Minneapolis who's business was burned down shall we?

 

 

@1266375603864735746

 

 

 

Oh. Wait......

And don't even start about the people in that target losing their jobs. Have you ever been in a target mate? most of its staff would have been out protesting on the streets. Retail work is disproportionately undertaken by PoC in the USA

Talking of old people not getting medications, how about this old guy just minding his own

 

 

@1266885769282584576

 

 

 

 

 

Or what about the NYPD who tried to run over a bunch of civilians last night?

 

 

@1266884475268616197

 

 

 

 

Or what about this as LMLou said earlier

 

 

@1266877181164089349

 

 

 

 

f***ing tories man. as long as things and "the economy" have a greater importance than the value of human lives y'all aint got anything worth contributing to society never mind this damn debate. Urgh.

Peaceful protests do absolutely zero. No one cares. It takes years and YEARS of peaceful protesting to get the government to actually listen. They have their own agenda and won't just change it for some people they are supposed to be taking care of. Take it from someone who lives in a country where the most peaceful protests get shut down by violent measures from the police/government and torture by the police is trending.

 

Peaceful protests may take years to achieve, but you build a cause and a movement. You build public sympathy through being stratetic and change can be achieved by peaceful means. People are angry and I totally understand it, but use the anger to be strategic instead of reactive as the ultimate goal loses public sympathy and allows the Government to turn the situation in to their political advantage. The old phrase Rome wasn't built in a day springs to mind. Yes, it's not right and it's not fair, but neither is violence and looting. Many innocent people get caught in the crossfire and for every one person that is content with it, there will be two that are not.

 

The wider problem here is the change that needs to be achieved is cultural, there have been fundamental issues with both the Republican and Democratic administations. So the change that needs to be brought across cannot purely be political. Pressure Senators and Governors. Use the election to send a message. Then hopefully a more Centrist/Left government is appointed that can attempt to bring real political change than in turn turns the culture of a country (and for the record, the cultural issues are not just American specific). \The change that needs to come abous is huge. There is a lot of work to be done, but it can be done.

 

 

Thats a great idea Roo. Let's check in with a small business owner in Minneapolis who's business was burned down shall we?

@1266375603864735746

Oh. Wait......

 

But you're posting one example, does that business owner speak for the entire country? I just really struggle with that fact that people are imploring that ordinary people and their livelihoods being ruined by rioting and looting is being justified. There's no justifcation for it when most of the rioters will go back home and sleep in their own beds the following day. This isn't a case of Hurricane Katrina where looting was entirely necesarrily to survive.

 

Anyway I feel you are taking my views out of context to support an agenda. I don't agree with violent means from either the police or the protestors. Two wrongs don't make a right from either side. I don't implore the police deciding to pepper spray innocent bystanders or using veichles to attack people, but neither do I implore rioters burning down innocent small businesses or local ammenities.

 

There are huge problems in America and there is something rotten in American society and the system has failed a lot of people. And yes since Trump got elected the country has gone backwards in race relations. But burning cities to the ground is not the answer.

There was a black president for 8 years, still nothing changed. It's not as simple as "get rid of Trump" or even get rid of the Republicans, whilst of course Trump and the Republicans being in power doesn't help and he is the absolute worst, it is not gonna change decades, well hundreds of years of attitudes, and the same timeframe filled with pain, loss and oppression for the black people who have truly had enough. There needs to be systematic change, there's deeply ingrained atttudes that shouldn't be there but they're not gonna change overnight with peaceful protests that are going to achieve absolutely nothing.

 

I am so so angry viewing all of the injustice and depravity from these so-called "heroes" from across the pond, I can't begin to imagine how it must feel for the people atually living it. It's certainly not my fight to shape but it is my fight to get involved in and use my voice at the very least.