Following yet another horrific and unjust police shooting of a black man—this time the victim is 29-year-old Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin—protesters have again taken to the streets.
In D.C., these protests took the form of bands of Black Lives Matter (BLM) activists roaming the streets and harassing random white people seated outdoors at restaurants. Videos of several of the encounters appeared all over social media on Tuesday. These are short clips, and it's not possible to say for certain what happened immediately before and after the recordings. Context often matters in viral videos.
But by reviewing all the videos, and eyewitness testimony, it's possible to arrive at a general understanding of what was going on, and it's not good. Chanting "silence is violence," the protesters demanded that people they encountered in the street, as well as the patrons of various restaurants, raise their hands to indicate solidarity with the goals of BLM. Many complied, but some did not. One white woman who declined to raise her hand became surrounded by protesters, most of whom were also white. These protesters hovered over her and even got in her face, as evidenced by the video:
Other videos also show direct, face-to-face confrontations between protesters and random white people.
This is the Evergreen College model of social justice deployed off-campus. Readers may recall the infamous 2017 episode involving a progressive professor who was forced to leave campus after drawing the ire of activist students. These students then essentially physically cornered the president of the college and refused to let him leave a meeting until he accepted their demands. In 2020, these theatrics are by no means confined to a college campus: Last night, activists walked the streets trying to bully people into submission. It's a poorly considered tactic almost perfectly calibrated to breed resentment toward the very cause it purports to serve: racial justice.
It's also wrong on its own terms. The U.S. is still in the throes of a deadly pandemic that has claimed the lives of more than 170,000 people. In situations where a lot of people are shouting in each other's faces, the virus is likely to spread more easily. Policymakers, health officials, and the media are keen to remind everyone of this when the topic of discussion is school re-openings, social gatherings, and even funerals. The protesters, though, have often enjoyed an exemption from social distance shaming.
Two years ago, there was a debate about whether restaurants were morally justified in asking Trump administration officials to leave their establishments. It's a distressing sign of the times that such an act of public confrontation looks positively tame compared with what D.C. BLM activists did yesterday. A movement that deploys large crowds to confront, intimidate, and provoke random small businesses and their customers will quickly and rightly find itself demonized by the public.
#1: ghostdogtxn To: Bill D Berger (#0)
ghostdogtxn posted on 2020-08-26 11:01:11 Reply Private Reply
#2: Bill D Berger To: BTP Holdings, Former Lurker, Neocons Nailed Esso, Horse, Ada, Liberator (#0)
Bill D Berger posted on 2020-08-26 11:03:48 Reply Private Reply
#3: TommyTheMadArtist To: Bill D Berger (#2)
TommyTheMadArtist posted on 2020-08-26 12:44:44 Reply Private Reply
#4: StraitGate To: Bill D Berger (#0)
However, the fact that these punks dare commit this obnoxious indecency suggests that the local government is on their side. Not only do they not fear arrest or prosecution, they know that anybody who defends himself from them will be prosecuted.
That's why I loathe and avoid such places.
StraitGate posted on 2020-08-26 15:17:24 Reply Private Reply
#5: NeoconsNailed To: StraitGate (#4)
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*or "against we, the people" as ppl idiotically say
NeoconsNailed posted on 2020-08-26 15:36:15 Reply Private Reply
#6: randge To: StraitGate (#4)
You can carry these things openly where I live as well as a big gnarly old stick.
It is about time a guy starts doing so.
randge posted on 2020-08-26 15:39:14 Reply Private Reply
#7: StraitGate To: NeoconsNailed (#5)
Is everybody who misapplies a personal pronoun an idiot? Woe is I!
StraitGate posted on 2020-08-26 19:12:30 Reply Private Reply
#8: StraitGate To: randge (#6)
As with your sword or big gnarly stick, you have make sure your attackers don't get it away from you and use it against you.
StraitGate posted on 2020-08-26 19:19:00 Reply Private Reply
#9: StraitGate To: All (#4)
Never underestimate the ability of any government -- local, state, or federal -- to seat a jury that will convict you of any and all charges that the government decides to throw at you.
Truth, innocence, and evidence are all largely irrelevant. The cops, the prosecutor, and the judge are all agents of the government, and your lawyer practices his remunerative trade only at the government's pleasure. The government owns the courthouse, the courtroom, the jail, and the keys to it. The government picks the jury and conducts the trial. The government decides what evidence will be presented, and will suppress exculpatory evidence. The government instructs the jury on the law and their duty to convict. If even a single juror votes to convict you, the government with its limitless resources will try you again and again until you are found guilty.
StraitGate posted on 2020-08-26 19:33:38 Reply Private Reply
#10: BTP Holdings To: StraitGate (#9)
The government tried O.J. Simpson for killing Nicole and Ron. He was acquitted . Then he was sued civilly by the families of both victims and the resulting ruling cleaned him out financially.
He was tried and convicted of robbery and kidnapping in the hotel robbery of a sports memorabilia collector.
He contracted HIV in prison and was given 4 weeks to live. Apparently the true story is he came down with HIV from his transsexual lover.
I wasn't aware they allowed conjugal visits with anyone other than your spouse, if that. ;)
BTP Holdings posted on 2020-08-26 20:52:43 Reply Private Reply
#11: Lod To: BTP Holdings (#10)
Lod posted on 2020-08-26 21:43:59 Reply Private Reply
#12: NeoconsNailed To: StraitGate (#7)
NeoconsNailed posted on 2020-08-27 01:28:38 Reply Private Reply
#13: randge To: StraitGate (#9)
It's always darkest before the dawn, as they say.
I talked for a number of hours with a guy who'd been on death row for years and who had been exonerated while the guilty party had been found and convicted in the end.
Facts and truth are stubborn things and do often win out over darkness, greed, ambition and endemic pigheadedness.
randge posted on 2020-08-27 07:07:24 Reply Private Reply